Named after legendary country guitar virtuoso Merle Travis, Travis picking is the most popular and commonly used fingerpicking technique.
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The technique essentially involves alternating between different
Named after legendary country guitar virtuoso Merle Travis, Travis picking is the most popular and commonly used fingerpicking technique.
The technique essentially involves alternating between different thumb-picked bass notes on the lower strings while the fingers pick out melody notes based on chord shapes on the higher strings.
Generally, the thumb palm mutes the bottom three strings and “bounces” back and forth between two bass notes in a steady eighth-note rhythm while melody notes are plucked on the higher strings, either on those same eighth notes or in the 16th-note rhythms that fall between the bass notes, creating a lively syncopation.
In this lesson, I’d like to offer a primer on this very useful and fun playing technique.
FIGURE 1 illustrates the typical bass movement, as a pair of E notes, one octave apart, are alternately picked in steady eighth notes with the thumb, as the fret hand forms open E chord shape.
In FIGURE 2, I add melody notes on the higher strings, beginning in bar 2. On beat two, the thumb picks the open low E string, followed immediately by a middle-finger pluck of the open B string. The thumb and index finger then simultaneously pick the fourth and third strings, immediately followed by a hammer-on from the open G note to G# at the first fret, creating a bluesy sound. I begin bar 3 by simultaneously picking the outer strings with the thumb and middle finger, then pull off from the high G note on the first string’s third fret to the open note.
This is followed by the “middle” E note on the fourth string’s second fret, picked with the thumb, after which I pick the open B string and hammer-on to the third-fret D