Hey guys, welcome to another guitar lesson.

Today I want to show you how to take the Merle Travis picking approach, change it up a bit, and make it super melodic.

When we pluck the strings using the Merle Travis style, the thumb will be plucking on two bass notes in a steady rhythm.

Then, we can add chords on top of that bass line.

Now, Merle Travis was a Country player, so he used this technique to play Country songs mainly. His way of plucking the strings was unique; in fact, he would only pluck the top strings with the index finger.

We are going to use the Travis picking with thumb and index and the middle and ring finger.

You don’t have to play the chords as fast as the instrumental I played at the beginning of the video. I played the chords that fast to give it a lovely groove, but you can use this chord progression and plucking as an exercise to improve your finger-picking technique.

We have a lot to cover, so let’s just right in.