Chet Atkins — caught in the act

For people who play guitar and know about sweep picking, here’s one for you. I remember listening many years ago to the instrumental “Snowbird” by Chet Atkins and thinking, Is he sweep picking? I remember even mentioning to one of my guitarist friends about Chet sweep picking. I think he just kind of laughed. I think a lot of guitarists believe Yngwie Malmsteen or Frank Gambale was the first to sweep pick in the early Eighties. They definitely popularized it! But listen to “Snowbird” and you’ll hear that Chet was doing it over a decade earlier!

— Yancy Rose