I hate to admit it, but I only got into Atkins recently. Being a young punk and metal head, it has taken me a long time to appreciate certain forms of music. There was always country or Christian music playing in my house when I was growing up. That's the music my parents listened to. I don't feel any angst about it (any more), but at the time my music was as much a rebellion against theirs as it was the music I enjoyed.

So, years later, as I mellowed and matured, so did my musical appreciation. New
musicians pop up that make you rethink the ones that you've been listening to. "Hey that lick sounds just like something Jaco Pastorious played!" "Man, I don't know why they have to play so many notes right there."

Chet Atkins does this to you. You hear him play something – his style was unique – and think you've heard it before. But of course you have; so many of today's guitarists are hybrids of so many different styles. You can hear some Chet in Mark Knopfler's solos. You can hear some Chet in most
rockabilly guitarists. Mostly though, you hear Chet's influence in countryguitarists. Country guitarists that care about playing music, mind you. Not the pop crap on the radio that passes for country.

Anyone who plays guitar knows how difficult finger picking can be. Atkins developed a style influenced by Merle Travis. While Travis used his thumb for bass notes and his index finger for high end, Atkins added his middle and ring fingers giving more depth to his sound. This style is considered one of the hardest styles of playing to pick up on.

While generally considered a country guitarist, Atkins always maintained that he was just a guitarist. And if you look through his catalog of albums, you can see a lot of variety. Growing up in rural Georgia in the late '20s through the '30s, country/hillbilly music was certainly an influence. There's plenty of jazz in his music also, but mainly it's just Mr. Guitar. His sound. His gift to us.

Cullen writes daily at Half a Pica Distance