Happy Again - Teaching
With
Chet AtkinsChet Atkins breaks down his fingerpicking tune Happy Again - its augmented-ninth chords and the steady alternating bass that drives it.
What's in the course
19 lessons (1h 24m) · 1 free
01. Maybelle - Performance
Free lesson2:37
02. Bye Bye Blackbird - Performance
2:31
03. Londonderry Aire - Teaching
6:25
04. Petite Waltz - Teaching
4:14
05. Young Thing - Teaching
6:17
06. Young Thing - Performance
3:14
07. Chet talks
10:26
08. When You Wish Upon A Star - Performance
2:35
09. Londonderry Aire - Performance
3:12
10. Mr. Bojangles - Teaching
6:45
11. Mr. Bojangles - Performance
3:11
12. Lover Come Back - Performance
2:19
13. Maybelle - Teaching
3:02
14. Petite Waltz - Performance
2:24
15. When You Wish Upon A Star - Teaching
5:23
16. Lover Come Back - Teaching
5:51
17. Bye Bye Blackbrid - Teaching
6:33
18. Happy Again - Teaching
You are here4:41
19. Happy Again - Performance
2:24
Lesson transcript
Music Lesson: "Happy Again"
That's a tune titled Happy Again.
I wrote that after the Grim Reaper swung at me once, and he swung at me several times, really. I ducked, as Mark Twain said. So, I was happy to get all that sickness over with. I wrote that tune called Happy Again.
I think probably I should have called it Lucky Again because that's what I was. I was very lucky.
Overview of the Tune
It's just a simple little tune. A lot of the finger pickers are playing it, and Tom Bresh plays the heck out of it. I wish I could play it as well as he does.
Chord Progression
The tune starts out with an E augmented ninth. You know, the way you figure out what chords are is:
- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
- You flat it. That's a flat 9 to a major sound.
See, what I do is get that going in the chord, and then while you keep the alternate bass going. Easy, simple, if you practice.
Now, let's break down the chord progression:
- G flat 9 to D minor
- Play a G flat 9 flat 5 to G7 to B minor
(I don't know what that is. I just like it.) - Leave the second string open (B second, I guess you'd call it). I mean an A with a second in it.
- Then,
- C
- It's a little hard to grab that.
Next, I don't know what that chord is, but it's an E augmented with a D in the bass.
-
Then it transitions to D major 7 to E.
-
C sharp 7th with an A flattened bass back to G to G9.
-
This would be to F sharp minor to B minor.
-
Finally, to B and then to a C with a 9 in it.
Practice Tips
I usually play these things a little faster than I'm playing on the tape because I want you to learn the things and see what I'm doing.
Ending
And the ending is... and then a B in the bass.
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Meet your guru
Meet your guru
Known as "Mr. Guitar", Chet Atkins is the most recorded solo instrumentalist in music history. His signature picking style was inspired by Merle Travis, with other major influences including Django Reinhardt, George Barnes, Les Paul and, later, Jerry Reed. That trademark picking style and musicianship won him admirers within and well beyond the country scene, both in the United States and internationally.
As a studio musician, his playing graced records by Elvis Presley, Kitty Wells, The Everly Brothers, Hank Williams and dozens of other Nashville legends. His style went on to influence pop greats such as Mark Knopfler, Duane Eddy, George Harrison, The Ventures, George Benson and Eddie Cochran, as well as thousands of country pickers. He won nine CMA Awards as Musician of the Year, four Playboy jazz poll honours and thirteen Grammys.
With more than 35 million copies of his 75-plus original releases sold, Atkins was also a recipient of the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
He helped create the Nashville sound, a style of country music that owed nearly as much to pop as it did to honky tonks - and without him, country may never have crossed over into the pop charts in the '50s and '60s.
Learn from the master - just click on one of the courses on this page!
