Unit 3: Travis Picking Part 1

Travis Picking

Travis picking is the first step towards acoustic fingerstyle playing. The creator of Travis picking is Merle Travis, an American country and Western musician, who was the pioneer of this syncopated picking technique and therefore the style was named after him.

To begin with, let’s look at the finger symbols that you may well see on TAB. The picture to the left shows how each finger is named with either c, a, m, i or p. For Travis picking, we mainly use the thumb, first and second finger, with the occasional use of the third finger. We very rarely use the little finger in this technique. The basic concept behind Travis picking is that the thumb plays a note on every beat. This moving thumb bass line often creates the sound associated with the style. Below, we will look at your first picking pattern.

The 4 Step Pattern

Take a look at the tab for the 4 step picking pattern. Remember to play it nice and slowly using the slow down function and loop it for as long as you want!

Adding Chords

To start with, let’s learn the chord shapes. You should be very familiar with G, but maybe not with Cadd9. We won’t go into the theory at this point, but just be aware that you can generally interchange C major chord for Cadd9. It creates a slightly different effect but is fundamentally the same chord. The chord shapes can be found in the fretboard diagrams.

Moving Chords

We will practise our Travis picking by moving between these two chord shapes. Notice that when you move to the Cadd9, the root note is now on the A string. This means your thumb plays the A string rather than the E string. Here is the tab for this exercise so remember to use the looping and slow down features to help you practise.

"Let Them All Go"

Travis picking can take a few weeks for your fingers to get used to, and what better way than to spend those weeks than playing this awesome song? This song uses the pattern we have learnt so far as well as a number of beautiful open chords that really add character to the song. Listen to the entire tune before moving onto the next lesson and starting to learn it!

The Chorus

When you use Travis picking, altering chords very slightly can have a massive effect on the sound. In this song, we take only a few basic chords and subtly alter them by changing the root notes. Let's start by learning the chord shapes for the chorus section, which can be found in the fretboard diagrams.

The Chord Chart

Here are the chords in order for the chorus sections, which is all you need to worry about for the moment!

Song Tab

Take a look at the tab for the full chord chart. You only need to worry about the chorus parts at the moment. Use the slow down function to make sure you are in control of the right-hand picking pattern.

The Verse

We will now take a look at the chorus and then piece the entire song together. The course has exactly the same picking pattern, just a different set of chords. The chords can be found in the fretboard diagrams.

The Chord Chart

Here is the full chord chart, including the verses that we are currently learning. The song is very repetitive, so you only need to learn the verse and chorus and then repeat!

The Tab

Take a look at the tab for the full chord chart. This will help you gradually piece the song together and also allows you to slow the song down as much as you like. As well as the video file on the tab, there are audio files that allow you to focus on the guitar without the vocals and other guitar parts.