Roy Clark on the Odd Couple

I was playing my guitar while looking around on youtube and found this. I’m not a great guitar player whatsoever but I know enough to know how hard this is.

Roy Clark makes this look easy and believe me when I tell you…it’s not! He meshes many different techniques and styles in this. I don’t know if you remember in the 80s “finger plucking” was big (around 2:16)…here is Roy doing a little bit of that in the 70s. I’m not a huge country fan but I am a Roy Clark fan…he had a skill set that was unbelievable. He could play country, polka, heavy metal, blues, bluegrass, rock, jazz, or soul.

You can see Tony Randall and Jack Klugman just stop acting and start admiring. Roy Clark was known as a country artist but he could play anything with strings. He starts playing around 27 seconds in…watch his right hand at first and listen to the different rhythms… it is mind-boggling. To play this…your wrist would have to be tension free and very flexible…the plucking part that comes later in the video is great.

I would love to hear from guitar players about this from any genre. 

Hope you enjoyed it.

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player.

32 thoughts on “Roy Clark on the Odd Couple”

  1. Not bad! Growing up Roy Clark always seemed so cheesy because of “Hee Haw.” Only later did I learn he could really pick it on guitar. As for me I would love to learn the “Odd Couple” theme on piano – now that’s the jam right there!

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    1. Oh yes I do like that theme. I did learn the Scooby Doo theme and our band played it…people got a kick out of it.
      Yea Roy Clark was a master on guitar…he could play anything. I think the Hee Haw thing made people look past his guitar playing…which is a shame. Jerry Reed was another guy that could play anything.

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      2. I like Jerry Reed too. My friend gave me a CD of Jerry Reed and Chet Atkins together and it was so nice. I’m not really sure anymore if he gave it to me or if I just borrowed it and then took it over, but I think I still have it. I dont remember if it had any singing on it or if it was just all instrumentals. I think both. I also like When You’re Hot You’re Hot, which was so great. It was like rap, only better. Or at least more fun. I’d like to hear more by Chet Atkins too because I like that kind of guitar he does on Mr. Sandman and stuff like that. It’s like countryish but a little jazzy. I heard he was like one of the developers of the electric guitar way back in the 40s or 50s or something. He used to make them or design them or something. Maybe something to do with Les Paul.

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      3. My stepdad had Jerry Reed’s greatest hits on 8-Track and I wore it out. The two songs I would go to were When You’re Hot You’re Hot and Amos Moses…the guitar playing on the later one is just great.
        Yes Chet Atkins could do about anything. I’ve heard that style and Reeds called “chicken picking”… I don’t see how they do it.
        I wouldn’t doubt if Atkins helped out with the electric…Les Paul I don’t know much about but I love his guitars.

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  2. I really like his playing too. I always liked this kind of guitar stuff. You know what else I love? Hee Haw. I used to love watching him on that show when it used to be on TV Land. I like the whole show really and I think it was hysterical. And also it had other musicians like Buck Owens and some other old time guys. I wonder if it hurts your fingers when you play guitar like this.

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    1. Oh the talent on that show was incredible. I did watch it some also. I remember when I was around 12 or so…WOW those women in the cornfield!
      Buck Owens was a really good artist as well. Clark could play anything I believe. I’ve played for years but I never attempted something like that but yea…at first your fingers would hurt!

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  4. What a treat to be able to watch that. He was amazing. It seems like I remember him being called the best guitar player in the world.

    When I see mention of Malaguena I think of Keith Richards. He wrote in his memoir about being a kid with his first guitar, and his grandpa taught him to play Malaguena.

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    1. Oh yes I remember that! I should have put that in the post. It just blows me away how he could switch from one style to another. I saw a video of him doing a Motorhead type song.
      I would agree with that title

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      2. I just saw him on the news the other day playing in Nashville at one point. He was playing some heavy metal riff on acoustic live…it was great

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      6. That is great…country needs him. I’m suprised they have welcomed him. Anyone different and they have a hard time accepting. Nashville eat’s it’s own. I”m hoping it will improve…by accepting him…that is a start.

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  8. that was impressive indeed! Like you said, Klugman in particular looked genuinely impressed. I would recognize Clark’s picture and knew he was somehow involved in country music but I had no idea he was really a serious musician. Seems like if he’d picked up a Stratocaster he might have been Nashville’s answer to Eddie Van Halen.

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    1. I totally agree with you! I’ve seen guitar players use those plugins to cover up the lack of playing skills.
      Roy was plain out gifted but a lot of work went into that gift. I can’t imagine how much he practiced.

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