Everything But The Weed

Approved by:
Linda Maze, a Wedding photography Gainesville FL in Gainesville Florida

There are extremely few guitar pickers worthy of C.G.P. (Certified Guitar Player) status. As the founder of that elite club, Chet Atkins should know! And when Chet Atkins calls you “without a doubt, one of the greatest guitar players on the planet”, you know you’re doing something right. Tommy Emmanuel has been doing quite a few things right for more than four decades, wowing audiences of musicians and non-musicians alike throughout the world. Like fellow guitar pickers extraordinaire Chet and Mark Knopfler, Emmanuel appears to have that sixth sense when it comes to framing a melody on the guitar fretboard. His solo arrangements which appear in numerous collection books of country guitar tabs and country guitar tablature never sound clunky, forced, or contrived. As an alternative, they offer the listener a clear road into the heart of the fingerstyle guitar solos he performs.

Born in 1955 to a musical family, Tommy began performing on guitar at the tender age of four. He was initially taught by his mom for the objective of accompanying her on lap steel guitar, but it didn’t take very long for his own interest in the instrument to surface. Emmanuel can clearly remember the first time he ever heard Chet Atkins at the age of seven and it had a profound influence on him. He invested countless hours attempting to decipher Atkins’ complicated fingerstyle guitar methodology. Before he was ten years old, he had already earned many years of experience as a professional musician traveling with his family, playing throughout Australia. Tommy performed mainly rhythm guitar at this time, while his brother Phil (also an excellent guitarist) played lead. The brothers rarely attended school until compelled to do so by the Australian Department of Education.

Tommy’s father died of a heart attack when he was only eleven years old. Thus, the Emmanuel siblings (which includes his brother Chris on drums and sister Virginia on slide guitar) earned the household’s sole revenue for many years. Shortly after his dad’s premature death, Emmanuel wrote a letter to “Mr. Guitar” (Chet Atkins himself) and was shocked when he got a letter back. Although it would still be years before their initial meeting in person, the two grew to become good friends and Chet grew to become Tommy’s mentor. Around the age of 14, Emmanuel moved to Sydney to go after a full-time music profession of his own. He quickly found work in several bands and before long discovered himself in demand as one of the hottest session guitar players in town. He performed on recordings by “Air Supply” and “Men At Work” to name a few. He additionally lent his skills to countless commercials and TV shows. In 1980, Emmanuel finally made the journey to the US, meeting and performing with Chet for the very first time. Since then, “Mr. Guitar” has done a great deal to help Tommy’s career for which Tommy is eternally grateful.

Emmanuel’s initial solo album, “Up From Down Under” appeared in 1987 and numerous future releases enjoyed excellent success in his native Australia. In 1996, he recorded “The Day Fingerpickers Took Over The World” with Chet Atkins for which he acquired his initial Grammy Award nomination. Since then his popularity has continued to grow worldwide, no doubt spurred on by his concert performance at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. He released his initial solo acoustic guitar album “Only” in 2001, starting a trend that quite a few followers have long been waiting for.

With increased publicity in the media all the time, Emmanuel’s fan base continues to increase like never before. Doing close to 300 concerts a year, Tommy is right where he wishes to be – sharing his love for music and the guitar with the rest of us! Fortunately for aspiring guitarists, Tommy has gone on to release numerous guitar tab books and DVD courses that explain his solo fingerstyle guitar arrangements and the playing techniques that he uses to perform them.