Chet Atkins "Take Five"

[Murdilizer]

Two words...good song

[rhymenocologist]

I've been working on this tune with a few guys lately. It's a beast. The 5/4 time is a killer

[ladyl34dfoot]

absolutely amazing! i never knew that ANYONE tried to play this, other than brubeck, who didn't try, but did. i was lucky enough to hear him do it with the other members of the orignal brubeck quartet in baltimore back in 1974, or maybe it was 1975, at johns hopkins university. that was a blast.

this version, however, is quite excellent in its own manner. it's a rare person that can play in odd meter, and hit it right on the nose. thank you for posting it. ;-D

[JazzyMagician]

I had no Idea that Chet had recorded this piece... Take Five is one of my favourite jazz pieces,, and I can only imagine how difficult it must be to play,,,what a nice surprice to find this...

[treatb09]

damn that dude is perfect

[jlb5154]

Chet is quoted as saying this was the most difficult piece of music he ever played. He learned well.

[daffydoug]

@jlb5154 That was very interesting! I had never heard that! If this was difficult for Chet then I am never going to attempt it!

[50itty]

@daffydoug it's not too hard to learn and once you get it down its really enjoyable to play. The only part that really needs to be grasped is the time signature.

[MelmoIsAwesome]

@daffydoug I'm currently practicing his version of the song and have it down reading the tab at about half this tempo haha. Soon enough I'll have it though! You can too.

[hydra8]

@daffydoug doable. it's just hard to learn.

[crl15]

Finger picking in 5/4 time, and not a note missed or muffed.

[Alan62651]

Chet really was "Mr. Guitar" for his generation. Tommy CGP was wise to spend some time with him when he came to Nashville, because when Chet "blessed" someone's work, it stayed "blessed."

[ice0wn4g]

sad that not many good duitarists know who this is.

[contact1araya]

@ice0wn4g Sad that not many know how to spell guitarist !!

[CarlstonOKC]

i love the harmonics in this song.

[tyfriot]

I hate guys like alan62651

[juziapinkfloyd]

me also ...

[Alan62651]

Hey, SLOW-MO! You've seen all the posted "evidence," and you still persist in your name-calling pissing contest. You're wrong, and it's been proven. There's nothing wrong with appreciating Chet's music, but he would have been the first to admit that he didn't "invent" harmonics. They have been part of main-stream music for CENTURIES.

[Zimplify8989]

alan62651 is correct. chimes have been used for ages. more recently, look at artists like lenny breau for where he took them after watching chet do them.

[rorygg1]

@Alan62651 chet invented the MERLE TRAVIS guitar style. as good as chet was, i just knew he had to invent something

[Alan62651]

No, Carcassi the video wasn't recorded in 1833, as SLO-MO is now complaining, but I'm beginning to believe he's never seen "published" music before. Maybe these "harmonics" don't count because they weren't called "chimes" by those crazy 18th century Italians. Didn't they speak "hillbilly?" LOL

[Alan62651]

I did post a video. The Youtube # is fYV2iKOnVUQ.

Having trouble with your reading, AGAIN?

[Alan62651]

Chet wasn't even the first "modern guitarist" to use harmonics. Django Reinhardt, the illiterate gypsy jazz guitarist with only two fingers used them prior to 1940.

This is described in the book "Django Reinhardt" By Dave Gelly and Rod Fogg.

This takes nothing away from Chet's mastery, but does set the "historical record" straight.

[Alan62651]

Check out George Benson or Al Jarreau for some different takes on this classic tune.

[SupernothingTK]

I'm fifteen and been playing five years, trained in jazz. Doing my best to learn this but it's SO difficult.

[Alan62651]

STK, The importance of this piece is to get away from "thinking" in traditional 3 or 4 beat time. It's not so hard, but you must resist your natural affinity for 3 or 4 beat measures. Try thinking of it as 3 + 2 for starters and see if that helps. Pink Floyd's Money (in 7) exercises some of the same mental twists.

[SupernothingTK]

Thanks for the tips, Alan! It's actually not the 5/4 that gets me, it's just the fingerings and focusing on rhythm and lead at the same time. Money is also a fun one, isn't it? :)

[Alan62651]

Don't feel bad about that. Few people have mastered the technique of playing rhythm and lead simultaneously the way Chet did. That's one of his "signatures." I'm really glad that Tommy Emmanuel is producing instruction videos, as they really help with that technique.

[tosky89]

uooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo­

[Steelman1982]

Hehehehe.... If you think this song is hard to play on guitar try playing it on a pedal steel guitar! As far as chiming is concerned.... lap and pedal steel guitar players were playing chiming notes and runs way before Chet was playing them.

[MartijnHover]

Even Chet sounds a bit stiff on that middle bit (I mean where it goes to C on the guitar, C flat on the Brubeck recording.). That sure is a bitch to play on the guitar.

[daffydoug]

I never learned this, but I can tell by listening to it that it is definitely a bear to play!

[therag]

is this all done by chet, or is it overdubbed with the leads and rhythms and such? because to my knowledge i don't believe he is one of those 2 handed tapping kinda guys like andy mckee or antoine dufour?

[daffydoug]

This is all, pure Chet.

[daffydoug]

Check out Chet playing the Stars and Stripes Forever....he becomes a one man orchestra!

He literally plays ALL the parts at once.

[moproducer]

Chet INVENTED chiming! Just listen to some of his early '50s stuff, he was really into it.

[Alan62651]

Harmonics have been around as long as string instruments. Chet used them nicely, but Tommy Emmanuel has taken them to new heights, IMO.

[moproducer]

OK, Alan...find me a recording of Tommy Emmanuel doing chiming before 1948, and I'll believe it! :)

[Alan62651]

Reading comprehension getting you down? I never said Tommy played harmonics first, but they have been around as long as instrumental music. Matteo Carcassi wrote them into his classical guitar pieces, and he died before the Civil War. Andres Segovia used them in his classical technique, and his development work also began in the 18th century. Django Reinhardt used them when Chet was still in diapers. As for "modern guitar," Using open harmonics is not a "new" idea.

[moproducer]

Fine genius...post a recording prior to '48. Or shut up.

[Alan62651]

Which would you prefer? "Recordings" of Carcassi's published works in the 1830's or the "lost" recordings or Pythagoras, 600 BC - transcribed from ancient Greek? You really should slap your school teachers for their utter failure to educate you. The world began LONG before Nashville started "recording," in case you missed that fact.

[moproducer]

Y'know, punk, you sure are long on concern over my education and short on ability to prove anything. Get a video on The 'Tube or shut your cakehole.

[Alan62651]

Do a YouTube search on LearnClassicalGuitar, YT# fYV2iKOnVUQ.

At least the worst thing coming out of my "hole" is cake.

[rorygg1]

@Alan62651 chet is the man who took it to the masses without compromising his or the music integrity. please post some of your playing for all to see and hear

[MartijnHover]

All this stuff was actually 'discovered' by Pythagoras (6th century BCE) although no doubt stone age people already applied harmonics in their music.

[Amylisa99]

Chet Atkins is simply the best! Perfect !Thanks for the tune.

[shanehennessyguitar]

classic

[RynBeL]

Awesome.

[MaventaofCosta]

Simply Amazing.

[daffydoug]

Indeed. This man has amazed me for 30 plus years!