Keener Music

The title of this post is one of my favorite Chet Atkins quotes.

Although we all like some consistency in our lives, we also especially like (pleasant) surprises. Chet knew that and masterfully wove surprises into many of his tunes.

Many guitarists never get this, and, while they may be technically superb on the guitar, they never really attract a following.

If your fan base is starting to shrink, maybe this is something to look into.

Also, implicit in Chet’s message is that a guitarist should never stop learning, and should never want to stop learning. He was always learning something new. And, if you look at the best fingerstyle pickers of today, like Richard Smith and Tommy Emmanuel, they are always learning something new, too.

I know from talking with Richard that he is always listening for he what he can learn, from a variety of different styles of music, and from a variety of instruments (he loves learning from piano music, for example). And, from what I have heard, Tommy Emmanuel keeps a copy of Ted Greene’s Chord Chemistry with him and works through it a little at a time while he’s on the road.

I’ll eventually have a post (or maybe a few posts) on recommended resources for learning. In the interim, I’ve placed a few key learning resource links at the top of the sidebar. I highly recommend these.