Like I mentioned earlier, he was a practice freak sometimes up to 16 hours a day. He introduced those styles to many players who’d never really heard classical or flamenco guitar. His influence was vast as he branched out to styles like jazz, classical, and flamenco. He mixed harmonics, arpeggios and pure notes with a brilliantly clear tone there was no cheating in his playing by using distortion effects. What Made Him Great- Where do I start? He was an amazing finger stylist who perfected the ability to play chords, melody, and bass lines simultaneously. His memorial service was held at Ryman Auditorium in Nashville.
He died of cancer on June 30, 2001, at his home in Nashville, Tennessee, ten days after his 77th birthday. In 1993, he was honored with the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Atkins received numerous awards, including 14 Grammy awards and nine Country Music Association awards for Instrumentalist of the Year. He is considered one of the ten most influential guitarists of the 20 th century. He never like being called a “country guitarist,” rather he preferred being known as a guitarist, period. Guitar” grew and he branched out to jazz and even classical music. He went on to have hit albums and became an RCA executive, which he grew tired of by the late 70s. There, he modernized country music, taking out the fiddles and steel guitars and creating the Nashville Sound, smoothing out country music by adding strings and sophisticated background vocals and giving country more of an opportunity for crossover success. He began doing sessions and producing, and eventually taking over RCA Victor’s Nashville division. At 23, he made his first recordings for RCA Victor. Chet began a long-time association with Gretsch guitars.
Chet expanded the “Travis Picking” style to include the use of two more fingers of the right hand. When he was 15, he heard the great fingerpicker, Merle Travis, which pretty much changed his life. He was a practice nut and by high school, was an accomplished guitar player.
On those nights, he played his guitar until he fell asleep holding it a habit which lasted his whole life. Because of his illness, he was forced to sleep in a straight-back chair to breathe comfortably. Because of an asthmatic condition, he eventually moved to live with his Dad outside of Columbus, Georgia. He started on ukulele and fiddle but moved on to guitar at age nine. His folks divorced when he was six and he was mostly raised by his mother. The Lowdown- Chester Burton Atkins was born in Luttrell, Tennessee, near Clinch Mountain and was the youngest of three boys and a girl. Guitar” at the top of the list just out of respect. I’m going to list them randomly, but I’m starting out with “Mr. All have played a role in my own musical development, especially Merle Travis. These 10 players are part of the foundation of country guitar picking and they are my favorites. But, in this article, I want to focus on my favorite old school guys the pioneer guitar pickers. And who doesn’t love a little “chicken pickin'”? There are so many great players out there like Vince Gill, Brad Paisley, Doyle Dykes, Keith Urban, Brent Mason, and others. The great players like the ones we’re going to discuss, almost always throw in some rock and jazz licks. Of course “country” encompasses other styles too like rockabilly, bluegrass, folk, and even blues. In a genre as basic and simple as country music, it’s fascinating just how great these guys are.