Part II of the Dickey Betts interview continued from the October/November
2003 issue of Musicians Hotline.

BG: What scales do you use for your leads?
DB: When I play blues, I play out of a dominant 7th kind of chord. It's basically that scale, but when I'm playing Blue Sky or Jessica or that kind of song, it's a pentatonic scale, it's got that 7th left out.

BG: Is Jessica played mainly with two fingers, like a Django Rheinhardt thing?
DB: I was thinking about Django Rheinhardt when I wrote that thing. Well, I still listen to Django, but at that particular time that's all I was listening to. I was trying to get that Django sound, that real happy kind of a thing that he does. I was playing it like a two finger thing because you know Django only had two fingers because his hand was burned, so yes you can play that tune with two fingers, but I don't do it that way. When I was writing it I was kind of playing it with two fingers to try to get that sound. The skip hop sound.

BG: When I listen to One Way Out on Eat a Peach, it's one of the greatest solos I have ever heard, how did you get all those great riffs in one lead?
DB: I don't remember exactly what I did on that record. That is a fun song to play, but I probably put a little western swing kind of thing to it. Duane was more of a spitfire kind of a player and my playing was more western swing type. I grew up with a guy that was and still is a great, great western swing player, in fact he is on the acoustic album that we did this past winter. That's Dave Lyle sitting to my right on that little couch and I learned an awful lot from him. He is a great player.

BG: When I hear that lead, it is pure tone, I can actually smell the fresh cut wood when I hear it.
DB: I think as far as my sound goes, I try to keep the effects out and I am not being derogatory about people that use effects, I don't mean it that way at all, but for my sound, I just want the speakers, the guitar, and piece of wood, I get a pretty truer sound that way.

BG: What guitar players influenced you the most?
DB: Well Dave Lyle, the fellow I was just talking about probably influenced me the most. I think my favorite blues player was Freddie King although I really studied BB King a lot. My vibrato or shake, I think I got from listening to BB so much. BB has got a wonderful vibrato. I listen to Django a lot and I listen to Charlie Parker, the horn player, but I don't really sit and try to learn the licks. I just listen to it and let it influence me naturally. I really enjoy just sitting back and listening to the music. Paco DeLucia is, Good God that thing he did with Jon McLauglin and Al Dimeola is just a wonderful CD. Probably right now I listen to that more than anything else.

BG: When you pick out a guitar, what is most important, the neck, the sound or the body?
DB: Well it's interesting because when Gibson came to me with these new Custom Shop guitars and I had left Gibson, because the people that were building their guitars they just didn't care what people like me had to say to them, so I just left Gibson. Anyway they approached me like two or three years ago and brought me these Custom Shop guitars and it tickled the hell out of Michael McGuire that builds the guitars, it really tickled him because they brought a little amp on the bus and I said I don't want the amp, I just want to listen to it. What I am getting at is if I am looking at an electric guitar, I would rather just play it and hear what it sounds like right off the wood without putting it in to the amp. If it sounds good right off the amp, you know it's gonna sound great with an amp. Acoustic guitars, you know I'm not a big acoustic player, although slide guitar I look for a real sharp hard sound like these little 3/4 bodies, a good sharp edge to it for slide. I've got a Gibson 1950 J-50, regular guitar and I love that thing, it's a slope shouldered thing, doesn't have the big rounded curves. It's built more like a Martin, almost squared off. This little thing here, this 1929, listen to this sound (Strums the guitar). I mean that's got such a nice hard sound to it.

BG: I spoke to Dan about guitars.
DB: Dan Toler? Boy it's great being back playing with him again. You know we have a long history together. You know the way we met was when I was putting the first Great Southern Band together back in the mid 70's and then he came with The Allman Brothers after we regrouped. Actually Danny was the first guitar player we had after Duane died. We never had another guitar player. It was just Chuck Levell you know and we kind of doubled up the harmonies with the piano and keyboards.

BG: Now when I see you, it's almost like you are back in your 20's again you look like you are having fun on stage like it's not really a job.
DB: We have really got a lot of nice creative enthusiasm going with this group. They are a great bunch of guys. They are all just heavy hitters. They all can play their ass off. But it does take more than just getting a bunch of good players together. There is a real nice understanding about what we are trying to do. It's really coming along really nice. It's a great experience.

BG: I saw you up in Dover, which was the last concert of the year for you and you were only supposed to play for two hours and you guys played for about 3 and half hours, like the old Fillmore days. How do you explain after being on the road, the last show and you just went on playing?
DB: The hard work on the road is not the playing. The hard part is the traveling and getting up. The odd hours sleeping. You know you sleep three hours on the bus then you get up and you go in to the hotel and you sleep for another three hours there and you get up and go to the show. The show part is the fun part of being out there. We try to get the most out of it and I think the audience appreciates us giving them a good long show.

BG: I hear a lot of people coming out of your shows saying, "That's the best show I have ever heard."
DB: Oh my (Very appreciative). We are just trying to be the best that we can.

BG: The two main things that you are known for is tone and that you don't play fast leads, every note is just right where it belongs. When you hit a good note, you hold it for everyone to hear instead of rushing on to the next note.
DB: I try to play fast, but just not a real fast player (With a laugh)

BG: If you played fast, it just wouldn't sound right.
DB: I really put a lot of stock into the tone of my guitar and try to get the emotion. That's what it's all about. Whether it's happy or you're talking about a busted up love affair or whatever, you just pour it all in to it. You are right. It is not how fast you can play, like Django Rheinhardt for instance, he got the same thing I am talking about by playing fast. He'd get you real excited and everything by playing fast, but everybody doesn't play fast to play good.

Thanks to Bob Goldman and a very special thanks to Dickey Betts.

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