HANK GARLAND AND CHET ATKINS, "THE HOT GUITAR" WITH EDDIE HILL

I think this is the hot cut I heard a dj play once almost thirty years ago, and have been searching for ever since. It's one of those songs where the singer acts as an announcer, and guitarists ape a bunch of other great pickers. But this one features the stellar lineup of Hank Garland, Chet Atkins, and steel guitarist Jerry Byrd trading breaks-- killer.

You have to guess who plays which break, but I'm assuming Chet plays the Chet and Merle stuff, plus some Chet-like hot licks. (We hear so much melodic Chet-style playing that it's easy to forget that Chet played hot licks too!)

Then I think Hank Garland probably handled the other imitations. He has a slippery way of picking that you don't hear in Chet's playing. Although it often seems that Chet can do anything, even virtuoso and versatile players usually run to form, and where Chet's playing usually has a prim consistency, Hank's looser phrasing and articulation can help you tell the two apart. (Unless I'm wrong!) At any rate, Chet was the guy who told the young Hank Garland about Django Reinhardt, probably the source of that bubbly and hell-bent quality in his sound.
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"WILDWOOD FLOWER," CHET ATKINS

The usual jaw-dropping (yet still mild-mannered) arrangement by the great Chet Atkins. It's interesting to compare this to Maybelle Carter's classic version.

karlstraubguitar.blogspot.com/2009/11/wildwood-flower-maybelle-carter.html
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DUO-LECTAR, 1960

Here's a crazy clip of Dave Bunker from 1960, playing the Duo-Lectar which he designed and built. This instrument was an early example of the "touch" method of playing guitar, where you have enough sustain on your instrument that just touching or tapping the neck will give you the sound. With this method, you can play two parts like a pianist. After the clip (it sounds like the Wills tune "Right or Wrong") I'll include some thoughts of mine about the pros and cons of this approach, which tends to polarize listeners. You may or not want to read my blather about it-- that's okay with me. (thanks to Charlie McCardell for sending me the Dave Bunker clip.)

"Tapping" and "touch" playing tend to polarize listeners. Here's where I stand, if anyone cares. I like to hear a variety of articulation and attacks on guitar-- originally the guitar was technically a percussion instrument, at least in part. Electricity has moved the instrument away from that, and I like to try to keep at least some percussiveness in my playing; if you work at it, you can develop a variety of attacks and keep some snap and bite in your sound. The touch approach takes all the edge off your attack, and for me the monochromatic result is less than thrilling. I remember when Stanley Jordan was hot years ago, and in a Blindfold Test in some magazine Leslie West (I think it was Leslie West) said he thought Jordan sounded like two lame players playing a duet. Jordan's hard work and virtuosic technique deserve credit, certainly, but I thought Leslie had a point.

I like Dave Bunker's sound. He essentially is playing in a Chet Atkins style, but the two-handed approach enables him to play a Chet backup part with chords and bass while he adds slides and double/triple stops in the melody. It sounds nice, but arguably has the same pros and cons of Chet's work. Don't get me wrong; I love Chet, Merle Travis, Mose Rager, et al. but they fall into the category with Stanley Jordan, Johnny Smith, and everyone else who uses a complex and unorthodox system to get more out of the guitar at one time than most players can get. These approaches, which often sound very beautiful and musical, mostly involve heavily practiced patterns and little or no improvising. There's nothing wrong with that, obviously, and I've stolen what I can from some of these guys, but I'm generally more excited by the improvising players. The placid quality of most of these maverick players loses me after a while. I feel the same way about the many whizkids you can find on youtube, playing heavy-metal two-handed versions of classical pieces, Queen songs, etc. For me there's a staleness about this kind of music-- it's fun watching someone play two or more parts at once, but ultimately it seems more a circus trick than creative art.

For anyone who feels that these are "fightin' words" I would encourage everyone to check out the late genius Ted Greene. Greene blended Bach-inspired counterpoint with jazz vocabulary, improvising in this style. I think there's a lot more going on musically in Ted's work than in that of the touch and tap guys. Check out the tribute site for Ted's music and teaching--

tedgreene.com/default.asp

The site has killer video and audio clips, plus many lessons for anyone serious or crazy enough to try to play this way. I have a few lessons on my guitar blog
karlstraubguitar.blogspot.com/2008/12/bach-counterpoint-exercise.html
karlstraubguitar.blogspot.com/2008/12/improvising-counterpoint-two-voices.html
about counterpoint playing; my stuff is pretty crude compared to Ted but it can get you started.

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