Fingerpicking Guitar

Hi Everyone,
 
Here at Rhythmstrummer.com we have a wide variety of online guitar lessons. Many of them are geared towards folks who want to strum their guitar and sing. We help the beginner and intermediate player learn a multitude of chords and techniques by teaching classic rock, blues, folk, and country songs. But some of you may not want to strum and sing, preferring to let the guitar do the talking. Our guitar technique lessons also cover alot of instrumental styles, including fingerpicking, brazillian samba, and travis picking, which is what i want to talk about in this blog post.
 
Travis picking, or also called alternating bass, got its name from Merle Travis, widely credited as exposing the style to the masses. Other well known players in this style include Chet Atkins, Tommy Emmanuel, Thom Bresh, and Pat Donahue, just to name a few. This is a very popular style of instrumental guitar, and works great for playing arrangements of popular songs, spirituals, country songs, and instrumental tunes.
 
The main component to the travis, or alternating bass style, is well, the alternating bass. The thumb alternates on the beat between the 6th, 5th, and 4th strings depending on the chord. So for a basic G chord on beat 1 your thumb will hit the 6th string, then on beat 2 it will hit the 5th string, on beat 3 the 6th string, and on beat 4 the 5th string. Its this steady back and forth rhythm with the thumb that gives Travis picking its signature bounce. With other chords the thumb may alternate between the 5th and 4th strings, or the 6th and 4th strings. The fingers then play the melody where appropriate either in a pinching motion with the thumb, or syncopated if they are off the beat.
 
The travis picking style is normally played with a thumb pick, and the bass strings are often muted with the heel of the palm. Good travis pickers often sound like two or three separate instruments with the bass thumping along, the melody going, and then playing a third part on the middle strings. Done well its pretty jaw dropping to hear.
 
Right hand technique is pretty varied among travis style players. Folks like Merle Travis and Doc Watson only use their thumb and index finger, which i find pretty amazing. Present day players are more apt to the use the thumb and index, middle, and ring fingers.
 
When first trying to learn this style its important to get the thumb totally independent. You want to be able to go back and forth between the bass strings without even thinking about it. Finger a G chord and just spend time going from the 6th to 4th strings, and 5th to 4th. Switch to a C chord and go 5th to 4th, and 6th to 5th. If you have a family or roomates you may want to go to a location that is out of earshot.
 
For more an in depth look at all this check out our free travis picking lesson.
 

[photo by jstanier]
 

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 12th, 2009 at 6:42 pm and is filed under Playing Methods. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.