I was hoping to breeze through this but its way too good and you get star stuck.
Chet performs 10 excellent songs and right after each he shows each song to us 'slow' and giving us that all important view of both hands via split screen.
The camera work is great except when it zooms in on one hand which it does too often. Those tight zooms don't help when its the wrong hand.
Mr. Atkins just remarks within that if we were having trouble sussing out his guitar fret board manipulation, to rewind it, and watch it again as its hard for him to explain.
He mentions note names and all and gives guitar tips. Between his adroit playing and his skills as a raconteur Chet does keep us entertained. His reminiscences at the end in Ch 10 are particularly good.
A meaty 80 page TAB pamphlet is printed out and in the lesson case. That has to win the record for any pamphlet in my collection. This guitar lesson is @82 minutes long.
This is a major fingerpicking teacher we have here so flat picks aren't visible. However, Chet's got on a plastic thumb pick and cracks these funny jokes like "all mistakes are intentional" and other little puns and plays on words. He is Homey, Charming, Folksy and Disarming. Also he is playing a nylon string guitar. He says about some aspects of guitar playing "There are no short cuts and I've been looking along time."
Its likely that if you aren't a finger picker, that after watching this Chet Atkins guitar lesson, you are going to want to learn to pick. At least that's how I feel and after having just reviewed 11 steady thumb fingerstyle instructionals also, like this one, by Stefan Grossman and his Guitar Workshop.
I am looking for interesting things to tell you about the differences between the two. Neither is easy until you learn to fingerpick. Chet sings too when he feels its appropriate. I will go out on a limb here and hypothecate that steady thumb guitar fingerstyle is harder simply because you have to play steadily. Chet's got great time don't get me wrong but his is less rigid more fluid use of the major scale. There is still a heck of a lot of thumb activity and on all three bottom strings.
Chet Atkins Page One | Page Two | Page Three
We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light. –Plato