TRAVIS PICKING … The Most Popular FINGERSTYLE Technique on Guitar
In short, the Travis picking technique is achieved by playing two bass notes with the thumb while the fingers take care of the treble side.
The Travis technique is one of the most popular fingerstyle technique on acoustic guitar. It was popularized by the country legend Merle Travis which used this technique all the time.
I used this technique all the time, especially when I wanted to play bluesy or country stuff, but I didn’t really know that it was called Travis picking.
In this fingerpicking lesson I am going to show you how to use the Travis picking technique over a chord progression in C major.
We are going to follow the Travis rule and alternate the thumb between two bass notes while playing a fingerpicking accompaniment with the fingers.
There are three steps:
- Step 1: Learn the chord progression and the thumb movement.
- Step 2: Add few notes around the bass line.
- Step 3: Fill in the gaps and make it musical.
Enjoy the lesson.
Tab Available on Patreon!
Get the Tab here!Learn the Chord Progression
The Travis picking technique allows you to make simple chords sound amazing and groovy.
In this lesson there are two different chord sections.
Section one, played with C major, A minor, E minor and G major chord.
Section two with C7, F7, F#dim and G7.
The major and minor chords in the first section changes voicing all the time and should be practice separately.
The Travis Picking Technique
Merle Robert Travis was an American country and western guitarist, singer and songwriter born in Rosewood. He died in 1983 after a life spent playing guitar and releasing about 30 albums and inspiring a lot of fingerpicking country and blues guitar players all around the world.
It is his unique fingerpicking style and repertoire that made Travis one of the most popular fingerpicking guitar players of all time.
Merle was obsessed with learning Muhlengerg Country’s unique fingerpicking style at age twelve. This technique involves picking two bass notes of a chord with the thumb while simultaneously playing a lead or accompaniment on the treble strings with the fingers (He mainly only used his index finger).
Travis Picking Technique in This Lesson
Today I am going to write my first idea using Merle technique. I am going to start with the chord progression which will be in the C major key.
This technique is mainly used for playing blues dominant 7 chords but because I am a Pop guy I decided to play basic triads. One of the awesome things about the Travis picking technique is its extremely versatile!
The chord progression goes as follows: C Am Em G7. Each chord will be played with two different voicing.
There are three different sections throughout the video in which I show you step by step how I wrote this guitar part. If you are a beginner, start from step one where I show you the simple bass line before moving on to step two and three.
Good luck!
Merle Travis Influences
Merle’s guitar player style was developed out of a native tradition of fingerpicking in western Kentucky. Guitar players such as Arnold Shultz, Kennery Jones, Mose Rager all had in common the same fingerpicking method in which the thumb pluck two bass notes while the finger play the top strings. This technique creates a solo style that blends lead line picked by finger and rhythmic bass patterns played with the thumb.
Travis Picking Style
Merle Travis in now one of the most influential American guitarists of the 20th century. His unique fingerpicking style inspired so many guitar players after him. One of the most amazing thing about Merle Travis is that even thought some of his tutors were among the first guitar players using the thumb technique, Travis was able to take it a step further.
So many other guitar players have been inspired by his playing. Players such as Scotty Moore, Marcel Dadi, Thom Bresh said that Travis took the fingerpicking style to a whole new level. His music scale incorporated elements from blues, jazz, ragtime and country. The chord progressions have always been marked with rich chords and bluesy chord progressions.
Travis was also extremely versatile and he could easily shift from one style to another within the same song. One of the many guitar players who was inspired by him said “I thought it was just the coolest sound, because it sounded like a whole bunch of instruments coming from one guitar”
I highly recommend you watch how the Travis’ style is explained and exemplified by Marcel Dadi . He made a DVD The Guitar of Merle Travis, which includes live video performances by Travis of classics such as “John Henry” and “Nine Pound Hammer” as well as transcriptions of Travis solos in tablature.[16]
Easy Travis Picking Pattern
One of the cool thing about this beautiful guitar technique is that we can make it very simple and perfectly approachable for beginners. I this section I am going to show you few simple examples that you can practice right now just to get started. If you are a guitar beginner, I am sure you will find this three simple Travis picking patterns very useful.
Travis Picking Basic Exercise 1
In this first example I am going to show you a very simple way to implement the picking thumb basic pattern over two simple chords, the C major and G major chord.
Notice how for the G major chord the thumb has to skip the A string and jump from the low E string to the D string.
You should always keep the thumb relaxed and close to the strings. Pluck the strings using the big knuckle from the thumb. If you want, you could also rest the index, middle and ring finger on the strings.
IMPORTANT: The thumb will only pluck the bass notes. For the C major pluck the A and D string with the thumb while playing the B and E string with index and middle finger. For the G major chord, the thumb will play the low E and D string.
Travis Picking Exercise 2
Let’s spice things up a little bit and try a Travis picking pattern that is played on three bass notes rather than two. This is another thing Merle Travis used to do a lot and there are a lot of his folk songs using this technique.
Now that the thumb plays on three strings things get a little bit more difficult for beginners. Take things step by step and play the exercise slowly.
Merle Travis Guitars and Gear
He always used different model of Gibson: Gibson ES-295, Gibson L5 and a Gibson super 400
Travis Picking Songs List
Albums
| Year | Album | US Country | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1947 | Folk Songs of the Hills | Capitol | |
| 1956 | The Merle Travis Guitar (Instrumental Album) | ||
| 1957 | Back Home (LP reissue of Folk Songs of the Hills plus some songs not released before) | ||
| 1960 | Walkin’ the Strings (Acoustic instrumentals and songs recorded in the 1940s and 50s) | ||
| 1962 | Travis (Compilation of songs recorded in the 1940s and 50s) | ||
| 1963 | Songs of the Coal Mines | ||
| 1964 | Merle Travis and Joe Maphis | ||
| 1967 | The Best of Merle Travis | ||
| Our Man from Kentucky | Hilltop | ||
| 1968 | Strictly Guitar (Instrumental Album) | Capitol | |
| 1969 | Great Songs of the Delmore Brothers (with Johnny Bond) | ||
| 1974 | Merle’s Boogie Woogie + 3 (with Ray Campi) | Rollin’ Rock | |
| The Atkins – Travis Traveling Show (with Chet Atkins) | 30 | RCA Victor | |
| 1976 | Guitar Player | Shasta | |
| 1979 | Country Guitar Giants (with Joe Maphis) | CMH | |
| The Merle Travis Story: 24 Greatest Hits | |||
| 1980 | Light Singin’ and Heavy Pickin | ||
| Guitar Standards | |||
| 1981 | Travis Pickin’ (Instrumental Album) | ||
| Rough, Rowdy and Blue | |||
| 1982 | Country Guitar Thunder (1977–1981) (with Joe Maphis) | ||
| The Clayton McMichen Story (with Mac Wiseman) | |||
| Farm and Home Hour (with Grandpa Jones) (includes the 1981 re-recording of the instrumental “Rose Time”) |
Posthumous albums[edit]
| Year | Album | Label |
|---|---|---|
| 1991 | Merle Travis Unreleased Radio Transcriptions 1944–1949 | Country Routes |
| 1994 | Guitar Rags and a Too Fast Past (5 CD-Set) | Bear Family |
| 1995 | Country Hoedown Shows & Films | Country Routes |
| Unissued Radio Shows (1944–1948) | ||
| 1998 | Turn Your Radio On (1944–1965) | |
| 2002 | The Very Best of Merle Travis | Varese Sarabande |
| 2003 | Boogie Woogie Cowboy 1944–1956 | Country Routes |
| In Boston 1959 | Rounder |
Selected compilations and reissues[edit]
| Year | Album | Label |
|---|---|---|
| 1990 | The Best of | Rhino |
| 1993 | Folk Songs of the Hills: Back Home/Songs of the Coalminers | Bear Family |
| 1995 | Guitar Retrospective (instrumental compilation album) | CMH |
| 2000 | The Best of Merle Travis: Sweet Temptation 1946–1953 | Razor & Tie |
| 2002 | Sixteen Tons | ASV Living Era |
| 2003 | Hot Pickin | Proper Records |
| 2005 | I Am a Pilgrim | Country Stars |
| 2008 | Merle Travis: The Definitive Collection | Delta Leisure Group |
| Legend of Merle Travis | Country Stars |
- The 2008 2-CD Delta Leisure Group album is a digitally remastered compilation of recordings from the 1940s and 1950s.
Singles
| Year | Single | US Country |
|---|---|---|
| 1946 | “Cincinnati Lou” | 2 |
| “No Vacancy” | 3 | |
| “Divorce Me C.O.D.“ | 1 | |
| 1947 | “Missouri” | 5 |
| “So Round, So Firm, So Fully Packed“ | 1 | |
| “Sweet Temptation” | 5 | |
| “Steel Guitar Rag” | 4 | |
| “Three Times Seven” | 4 | |
| “Fat Gal” | 4 | |
| 1948 | “Merle’s Boogie Woogie” | 7 |
| “Kentucky Means Paradise” | 9 | |
| “Crazy Boogie” | 11 | |
| 1949 | “What a Shame” | 13 |
| 1955 | “Wildwood Flower” (w/ Hank Thompson) | 5 |
| 1966 | “John Henry, Jr.” | 44 |
Music DVDs
- 1994 Rare Performances 1946–1981, Vestapol (with 36-page booklet)
- 2002 Legends of Country Guitar, Vestapol (with Chet Atkins, Doc Watson and Mose Rager)
- 2003 More Rare Performances 1946–1981, Vestapol (with 21-page booklet)
- 2005 At Town Hall Party, Bear Family
Music films
1. Soundies Distributing Corporation (1946)
- “Night Train to Memphis”
- “Silver Spurs”
- “Texas Home”
- “Old Chisholm Trail”
- “Catalogue Cowboy”
- “Why’d I Fall for Abner” (with Carolina Cotton)
- “No Vacancy” (with the Bronco Busters and Betty Devere)
2. Snader Transcriptions (1951)
- “Spoonin’ Moon” (with the Westerners and Judy Hayden)
- “Too Much Sugar for a Dime” (with the Westerners and Judy Hayden)
- “I’m a Natural Born Gamblin’ Man” (with the Westerners)
- “Petticoat Fever” (with the Westerners)
- “Sweet Temptation” (with the Westerners)
- “Nine Pound Hammer” (with acoustic guitar)
- “Lost John” (with acoustic guitar)
- “Muskrat” (with acoustic guitar)
- “John Henry” (with acoustic guitar)
- “Dark as a Dungeon” (with acoustic guitar)
Filmography
Film appearances as musical performer
- 1944: I’m from Arkansas – Musician (uncredited)
- 1944: The Old Texas Trail – Guitar and Banjo Player (uncredited) (U.K. title: Old Stagecoach Line)
- 1945: Montana Plains (Short) – Musician
- 1945: When the Bloom is on the Sage (Short) – Himself
- 1945: Why Did I Fall for Abner? (Short) – Vocalist-Lead Guitarist
- 1945 Texas Home (with Carolina Cotton) – Himself – Lead Singer-Guitarist
- 1946: Roaring Rangers (U.K. title False Hero) – Guitar Player Travis (with the Bronco Busters)
- 1946: Galloping Thunder (U.K. title On Boot Hill) – Guitar Player (with the Bronco Busters)
- 1946: Lone Star Moonlight (U.K. title Amongst the Thieves) – Himself (with the Merle Travis Trio)
- 1946: Old Chisholm Trail (Short) – Vocalist
- 1947: Silver Spurs (Short) – Vocalist-Guitarist
- 1951: Cyclone Fury – Guitar Player (with the Bronco Busters)
- 1953: From Here to Eternity – Sal Anderson (vocal with acoustic guitar)
- 1966: That Tennessee Beat – Larry Scofield
Other film appearances
- 1945: Beyond the Pecos – Slim Jones (uncredited)
- 1961: Door-to-Door Maniac (U.S. video title Last Blood) – Max
- 1962: The Night Rider (TV Short) – Kentucky
- 1982: Honkytonk Man – Texas Playboy #3 (final film role)
Original film music
- 1976: Harlan County, USA
Tabs available on my Patreon page.
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