The Bells of St. Mary   Arranged by Chet Atkins    Edited by Jack R. Baker Transcribed from the RCA Camden LP
"Chet Atkins and His Guitar"
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i ŔĆF  Çf ü˙    B Bigsby Dip  M  I  P  etc. b Substitute measures 17 -  33 for those that wish to attempt to play this section as double stops. E Rhythm Guitar Chord Diagrams are a repeat of the first time through.   ˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙C p  OPrĐ  Ld˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙C ˙  MR  	  Ld˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙F Q^r	  Md 	 ˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙G T[rń	  Qd ń	 

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  Od 
  LS	˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙Em 
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˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙D7    ˙   
 

˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙G13   
˙
	˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙G7  (  (	˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙C  8  	8  ˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙C  	  ˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙G9+5    (
		˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙C9+5 8  8˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙F    	˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙F6  	  
 	

	˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙F#dim7   8  ˙˙˙˙˙˙˙C     ˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙G9    	 ˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙Am11     ' 
    ˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙D9               ˙  ˙˙˙˙˙˙˙G9        F     ˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙G7     
˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙C Maj7   

 		˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙E7    			˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙Am6 	(  0˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙G  
   

	˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙G7               ˙	˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙C +5             
˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙G Drone          ˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙C                 ˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙G Drone           ˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙C                ˙˙  ˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙G Drone          ˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙C7               ˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙G7               ˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙Am               ˙	˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙C6  	(  0	˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙E7    ˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙Am6 (  	(		˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙Em7 pÁ   QNpÁ  	

˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙C Ldp  O@p ˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙F#dim7  X   Y @˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙G13   <#   7d2
Transcription Information:
Original draft by Michael Joyce; michaeljoyce@hotmail.com
Editing:  Russ Jenkins; russ_jenkins@lineone.net
               Lee Ramirez;  leeram@texas.net
               Jack Baker;  jbaker7@ix.netcom.com 
              Larry Kuhns; lakuhns@sprintmail.com.

One of the first albums of Chet's that I ever received had The Bells of Saint Mary's on it.  I was familiar with the tune as a bluegrass group I played in during the early '60's played this piece as a banjo and fiddle tune.  

Chet later recorded this piece on an album called "Super Pickers".

I probably should have written this piece with twice as many measures so that the rhythm would be 1/4 notes instead of 1/8's.  But when I listen to this piece, I get the sensation of double-time rhythm.  For that reason and that reason alone I tabbed it the way I did.

Measures 18 to 33:  The pitch of the notes is pretty accurate, but I don't have a clue as to how Chet played this.  After additional study and conferring with Russ and Lee, I determined that this is actually Chet playing in harmony with a steel player.  My initial tabbing had Chet playing both notes.  There are several different positions on the fretboard that these note could be found with harmonics, but all seem impossible.  I tried each of these and deducing by applying known Chet tricks, but I wasn't happy with any of them.  Lee Ramirez suggested moving the notes of the third string to the second string.  At the end of this piece is this scheme.  

Chet played harmonic chords much more often than not with the harmonic on the lower string and the fretted note on a higher string.  To play the chord, he struck the lower note with his thumb while the "I" finger of the RH lightly touched the string 12 frets up the fretboard.  Then the "A" finger played the fretted note at the same time.  Because the harmonic is of a note that is so high to begin with, I'm curious as to how Chet found the "sweet spot" (12 frets or 1/2 the length of the string from where it was noted.)  I've seen other guitarists, notably Charlie Byrd play artificial harmonics from the 1/3 or 1/4 position.  Charlie himself in a video says that this is extremely treacherous.

Measures 37 and 38:  I believe Chet rushed the chord changes here and got that effect.  Also, the last note, an open 2nd string "B" is what I believe Merle Travis used all the time:  a transition note to shift hand positions.

I did not make any attempt to transcribe the rhythm guitar section.  I just wrote the simplest accompaniment that I could using a minimum of open strings.    c          0r  %).38%).38Chet Atkins         c          0   %).38      Rhythm Guitar r     c          0  %).38      Steel Guitar ar   
