Chet was born on June 20, 1924, in Luttrell, Tennessee, near the Clinch Mountains, and grew up with his mother and two brothers and a sister, he being the youngest. His parents divorced when he was six. He started out on the ukulele, later moving on to the fiddle, but traded his brother Lowell an old pistol and some chores for a guitar when he was nine.[1] He stated in his 1974 biography, "We were so poor and everybody around us was so poor that it was the forties before anyone even knew there had been a depression." Forced to relocate to Georgia to live with his father due to a near-fatal asthma condition, Chet was a sensitive youth who made music his obsession. Because of his illness, he would be forced to sleep in a straight-back chair in order to breath comfortably. On these nights, he would play his guitar until he fell asleep with it, a habit that lasted his whole life.[2]Stories have been told about the very young Chet who, when a friend or relative would come to visit, and if that person played a guitar, would crowd in and put his ear so very close to the instrument that it became difficult for that person to play.[2] This was an early demonstration of his affinity for the instrument that would later become his life, and that he would take around the world, playing packed concert halls from Nashville to the Boston Pops.Atkins became an accomplished guitarist while he was in high school.[1] He would use the restroom in the school to practice, because it gave better acoustics.[3] His first guitar had a nail for a nut and was so bowed that only the first few frets could be used.[citation needed] He later purchased a semi-acoustic electric guitar and amp, but he had to travel many miles to find an electrical outlet since his home had no electricity.[4]Atkins did not have a strong style of his own until 1939 when (while still living in Georgia) he heard Merle Travis picking over WLW radio.[2] This early influence dramatically shaped his unique playing style. Whereas Travis's right hand utilized his index finger for the melody and thumb for bass notes, Atkins expanded his right hand style to include picking with his first three fingers, with the thumb on bass. The result was a clarity and complexity that became his unmistakable sound.
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