I am not a beginner guitarist and I am not a beginner at Travis Picking but I still find I have trouble and this tutorial had the "Light Bulb Moment" for me! I've heard and seen these exact patterns before but the explanations seemed to complicate matters and this one-simplified immensely. Now, I just have to practice. Thank you very much!

I'm 64 and been playing with a pick since age 7... Jeff Beck and Mr. Richie Kotzen ( and of course Both Eric's and Chet to name a few) have made me wanting to move to finger-pickin' ... But you've inspired me to throw away my damn pick and go 100 finger-picking till the day I leave this earth. Thanks Mi Amigo TuboViejo

@aldenunion

3 жыл бұрын

Jimmy Page I watched storing the pick in same hand as he finger picked to then use the pick for traditional ... Amazing ....It may have been that Page and Plant tribute tour show from 90's....Darn epic!!!!

@roberttucker4621

3 жыл бұрын

Good luck with arthritis. I have it to but fortunately a mild case. Great lesson arthritis or not!

@aldenunion

3 жыл бұрын

@@roberttucker4621 My Uncle Tom,has it bad and hindering his playing,and my Grandmother mixes this concoction that he drinks daily and after 3-4 weeks it builds up and all of a sudden he can play .. Now he drinks so much a day ,all the time steady.. WELCHES 100% GRAPE JUICE (must be exact) The regular sized bottle,64fl oz size.....ONLY WORKS WITH WELCHES for some reason because of a certain trait they do not refine out prior to bottling. Then a full packet of fruit pectin that women make jam with..Take a entire packet and mix in the welches,shake and drink a big glass on ice daily and after three weeks you'll be playing and notice the difference..Be smart and notice because "It" will be the reason and if you stop,must build it back up again.SO REALIZE THE REASON,won't be it just healed.lol...

@ralex3697

3 жыл бұрын

@@roberttucker4621 It’s more about coordination Add a thumb pick if you really want a challenge

Very nice! When I learned Travis Picking 30 years ago it was with a flat pick 'Pick Fingers' playing a steel string flat top. My old hands are getting harder and harder to play but it nice to see Travis Picking different styles and techniques.

Wow! This actually makes sense to me after watching many videos. Thank you!

Thanks for sharing this, this was a great way to explain the Travis picking, I was finally able to pick it up.

Thank you for your Travis fingerpicking lesson. I am at the intermediate level of acoustic fingerpicking guitar playing. I like the fingerpicking music of Merle Travis, Mississippi John, Etta Baker, and many others. However, unlike these fingerpicking pioneers, right from the beginning I decided to play fingerpicking style using three fingers and the thumb of my right hand as many classical guitarists do. I never wanted to restrict myself to using only the thumb and the index finger or only the thumb, index, and middle fingers. That is just my preference.

Nice alternative approach Steve. Very helpful to get on the first few rungs of fingerpicking.

An excellent short lesson. Very clear and give you the basics. It was very useful for me.

Thank you, Steve. 👍 This Lesson will help me to relearn, refresh and improve. 🙏🌷

Watered the roots instantly Steve, very many thanks (!)

Have seen these patterns demonstrated in separate videos and you demonstrated all three together and your instruction method helped me immensely, and I am confident that I can master all three patterns in short order. Also on the last two patterns you are the only instructor who made the rest between the first two bass notes evident to me, thank you very much for the great lesson

@SteveGilson

3 жыл бұрын

Glad I could help! good luck with it.

Great lesson Steve! You helped me tremendously - thanks very much!

Thank you Steve. I realize this post is dated but the technique and your explanation are timeless. This provides a great place to start, develop the muscle memory and then integrate in to my playing style.

I was searching for the best explained and here it is, thank you!

Great clear and methodical tutorial. Thanks Steve. 👍

This is such a useful tutorial! Thank you, Steve 😊🎶🎵👍🏼

Best tutorial yet. Thanks Steve! Hope it helps me nail the Detectorist theme tune.

Appreciate your pacing and clarity. Thanks!

Hi Steve, the travis picking is coming along nicely, I've been practicing daily, thanks for the tutorial cheers

Thanks for this. You've approached this and other lessons (the three note per string scales for example) from a different angle to that normally given. It's always good to see different perspectives. Very sorry to hear of your arthritis hampering your fingerstyle playing, must be very hard.

Thank you very much for this unique tutorial to travis picking variations of patterns. I find it way better than the "classic" approach to separet the thumb first and add the melody fingers afterwards, this makes much more sense and leads faster to real playing. Great job!

@SteveGilson

3 жыл бұрын

Glad to help!

Nicely explained thank you Steve.

Excellent tutorial Steve, thank you☺🎸

Thank you so much. This was very helpful.

Thanks for the simplification of the picking pattern (!)

Precise, straightforward, very useful... thx

looked at a few others.....this one is the best yet. thank you.

The best beginner lesson, thanks ❤

Excellent tutorial!

Thank you for your lesson. It was very helpful 😁.. well explained..

Nice Steve. I like this video. Take care. Hal

Very helpful ! Thank you so much.

That was useful for me. Thank you

it is easy to understand and follow. thank you

I have been sort of doing this with two fingers but this was a very easy way to pick up a three finger style. I like it! Thank you for the lesson!

@SteveGilson

5 жыл бұрын

Glad to hear it helped!

thanks . excellant tutorial. most comprehensive

VERY HELPFUL THANKS

Nice lesson and thanks for it.

Now I got it. Thanks a lot!!

This is really cool easy way to learn this pattern thank you Bobby

Thank you so much. This is the clearest instruction I've seen and has really helped me.

@SteveGilson

5 жыл бұрын

Great to hear! You're welcome.

Awesome thank you! Subscribed

I'm a long time hobby player who is reasonably proficient wielding a pick but finger picking has always eluded and frustrated me. Yours is the first video that I've been able to follow and may actually be able to learn this long elusive skill. Thank you!

@SteveGilson

4 жыл бұрын

Glad to help!

Extremely helpful!!

Steve - I came across this video purely by accident, but I'm glad I did. I was a classical guitar major in college in 1973. Unfortunately, life got in the way and I haven't played much in the last 45 years, but now that I'm retired, I thought I'd try to learn Travis picking. I still have the guitar I bought in '73 for my lessons, and noticed that it is EXACTLY like yours! Mine is labeled HIKARI. Anyway, thanks for the video.

@SteveGilson

4 жыл бұрын

Hi Skip! Great to hear that my video helped! Good luck with your music - Steve

Thank u So much, I hope to be as good as u are. U almost had me in a trance , watching & listening to u play ❤️

@SteveGilson

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you, good luck with your music.

So helpful thank you 🙏🙏🙏

Very good tutorial👍

Soo beautiful Thank you

wow that was really helpful. thanks!!!

EXCELLENT!!!! Thank you😃😃😃

dust in the wind uses this same pattern, 2 chords c maj and a minor

Nylon Guitar

Very helpful thanks

Nice 1 Dude! :D

Thanks so much. The picking is so clear was able to follow

@SteveGilson

3 жыл бұрын

Glad it helped!

Wow that helped me a great deal, Thank you so much..

@SteveGilson

3 жыл бұрын

Great to hear! you're welcome.

Great lesson , I'm New to finger style and will put this into my practice routine and I'll get back to you in a month's or so and let you know how it's going , thanks 😎

@SteveGilson

5 жыл бұрын

Good luck with it Kevin!

@vikinglord7252

2 жыл бұрын

Kevin, you never got around to Travis picking did you?

@FaithBiete

2 жыл бұрын

@@vikinglord7252 Legend says he is still Travis picking...

So helpful 🙂

thanks so much steve.. am beginner at this and learning the first pattern is happening.. Appreciate your help with the second pattern.. would u mind repeating it here, saying exactly what i must do? am having trouble understanding it.. really appreciate your help.

Excellent video! Could you share what and how you played what you played in the beginning of the video?

It’s so interesting to me that what is taught as Travis Picking really bears little resemblance to the actual style that Merle used. Generally he used his thumb to play an alternating bass line, as you indicated, but after that he seldom used more than his index finger to aggressively play upstrokes on multiple strings to get a rich chordal quality to his playing. The style you showed was a fairly simplistic version of how Chet Atkins adapted some of Merle’s techniques as you didn’t get into showing any syncopation. I realize it’s a beginners lesson. Jerry Reed really took it further. Chet used his thumb and two fingers and Jerry used his thumb and three fingers until he got older and developed arthritis in his right index finger, then he would curl and tuck that finger and play with the middle, ring and pinky finger. To me the great part of Merle Travis style was actually his left hand. Man that guy could play some chords. Sorry to be so long winded but I love this style of playing.

@keefbigman

6 жыл бұрын

you're right about one thing... it is an introduction AND a beginners lesson. Anyone wanting to progress to the 'pure' MT method needs to be at a different level. I'm sure you can find further lessons on the internet to help you...

@bradh6185

5 жыл бұрын

I wouldn't even call this a beginner's lesson to Travis picking. It's just fingerpicking.

@failuremagnet

5 жыл бұрын

@@bradh6185 Agreed. Somehow, fingerpicking/fingerstyle has become known as Travis picking when it's clearly not. Just because you're using thumb and fingers, it's not TP anymore than it's classical or flamenco. TP is a particular style as stated above using the thumb for alternating bass (or sometimes, just a static sixth string thump) and fingers picking out a melody and brushing surrounding chord tones, and definitely involving syncopation. Merle Travis, Thom Bresh, Mose Rager, Ike Everly, Scotty Moore and sometimes Chet Atkns and Jerry Reed are Travis pickers. James Taylor, Paul Simon, Mark Knopfler, Tommy Emanuel and Andres Segovia (who all play with their fingers) are not! I wish people would stop confusing it.

This is good

Great camera work ! Many thanks, and you classical guitar sounds great playing Travis style.

@SteveGilson

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks David, I appreciate it.

There are so many variations to learn....These when starting I needed to know to adjust height of pattern according to based note. Example:The G major included low E,then when C start pattern on A string..Right?

Perfect. I really needed this particular approach. Now I've got about 5 patterns I practice and this is going to get me over the top!! Thanks buddy.

@SteveGilson

4 жыл бұрын

Glad to help.

Thanks steve,im in fear of damn covid but smileing now i can travis pick alittle,brilliant no sleep tonight,have to get this right,.

@SteveGilson

3 жыл бұрын

Good Stuff! Keep going!

@kathreenmargaret1883

3 жыл бұрын

NO fear because the Lord protects His people from Plagues etc. 🙏🌷 Just pray to Jesus with Faith and play your guitar with Joy. Amen.

Ha! Brilliant thanks. That's tomorrow afternoon dealt with :) Hope you can progress on to some acoustic blues fingerpicking when you have time.

@SteveGilson

7 жыл бұрын

trollfiddler Glad you liked it, you'll need to get this really motoring if you want to play Stagolee 🙂

@trollfiddler

7 жыл бұрын

Haha! Well I wore deeper dents in my callouses today and have your three variations going at a good old crack now :) I've been hacking at Stagolee for a month or more now and have about three quarters of it in some sort of fashion. Brushing strings I shouldn't be quite often, as I pass over them. But I have hope, where before I had none! Thanks for your time providing all this content, greatly appreciated :)

@SteveGilson

7 жыл бұрын

+trollfiddler Good stuff! Have you been able to mix the 3 up over a chord progression?

@trollfiddler

7 жыл бұрын

Well...sort of :D I can mix them up over one chord and I can more or less mix them over two chords without screwing up too many times. I picked a G as it is a wide chord and it turned out a lot harder than the C example. Not sure which top strings to pick. I'm using the E and D strings for the bass in G, and the B and E for the top strings. I can change between the chords and mix the picking once I've got settled in the new chord but not immediately after I change chords. I haven't tried three chords yet

thanks !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

thanks again steve... learning patterns with c chord easy..... having trouble learning other chords because do not know which strings to play with thumb and 2, 1 fingers... how do i find the right strings for a given chord to play the same pattern as the ones with the c chord? love the sound. and grateful for your help.

@SteveGilson

2 жыл бұрын

There's no right or wrong string as such, just go with what sounds good to you.

Steve any chance you can post a tab of the base approach and variations as I find it tough to follow just watching the video

@SteveGilson

6 жыл бұрын

I'll see what I can pull together later in the week.

thanks

Been struggling with this Travis picking for 50 years ---do you have any TAB I can practise your pattern with ?

Hi, just wondering how to adapt these to other times. For example 3/4. Or would that be another set of patterns?

@SteveGilson

7 жыл бұрын

Yes it's another set of patterns - sounds like a good idea for a follow up video!

@trollfiddler

7 жыл бұрын

Thank you :)

In "Streets" you anchor your 3rd finger on Top E string. Is that usual for you Steve. Thanks Chris

@SteveGilson

5 жыл бұрын

I'd not noticed until you pointed it out. I do it either way. It's always worth being able to play without anchoring, but it's useful if you're going to be moving round on stage.

And now the left hand?

Hi Steve Are you able to put text on the screen? It’ll be easier to follow?

@SteveGilson

4 жыл бұрын

I can't burn in text directly into the video without rerendering it and uploading it as a new video. You tube does have the ability to display captions (for the hard of hearing etc) is this what you're looking for?

I find it very difficult to get my middle and ring finger coordinated

I have some experience with finger style guitar playing. Well, I thought I did anyway. I'm learning this Travis style of picking because I want to learn to play Don Quixote by Gordon Lightfoot which uses Travis picking. You familiar with the song?

@SteveGilson

5 жыл бұрын

I took a quick look at this video kzread.info/dash/bejne/a2Zox5qomrrcYMY.html If you look closely you can see he's predominantly using the first form that I describe here. Good luck with it, it looks like a fun song to learn.

@dwbiggly6907

4 жыл бұрын

Love that song. It was the reason I bought a guitar and have been playing for almost 45 years...and still learning. There was a song book with chords ...Gord’s Gold (I still look at it once in a while). It had the song in key of C. Through the woodland, through the prairie...

Am noticing that you are planting your third finger... Do you use any picking patterns using your third finger or sometimes referred to as the a finger? Do you also pick with all three fingers or do tremelo?

@SteveGilson

4 жыл бұрын

Yes I use my third finger all the time so planting is the exception rather than the rule for me, for example kzread.info/dash/bejne/f4l6mtZuj5SdaNo.html There are quite a few videos in my back catalogue covering these more advanced techniques, if you're interested.

@zu0832

4 жыл бұрын

Hey thanks!

First of all, Thank you for your lesson! I don't find it that difficult to play the pattern by itself, but when it comes to use it in a real song my "melody fingers" can't resist to play two or three notes in a row, while the thumb stops. Simply don't know how to overcome this. :(

@SteveGilson

5 жыл бұрын

Hi Karl, You're not going to like the answer, but it is to practice (with singing). Your ultimate goal is to have the movements become totally automatic, so you don't have to think about them at all. The only way to get there is to spend time on the instrument. FYI, when I play fast lead guitar lines I can have a normal conversation with you at the same time, because my hands are almost completely dissociated from my conscious thought. I got there by putting the hours, days, weeks and months in.

@lacucinadipapa3932

4 жыл бұрын

Karl you are not alone. I am the same way.

Thanks for the exercises. Now how do you add all of them and play them together???

@SteveGilson

5 жыл бұрын

The next step is to switch between them. Just improvise around the chord changes you're playing over. See if you can create a flow. That was all I was doing in the opening section, (with the addition of a melody line using the techniques taken from part 2).

@sidjones_46

5 жыл бұрын

@@SteveGilson ok, I will do that or try to do that! But my attention just goes bonkers when I start playing arpeggios. My mind can only do one thing at a time! Life is hard sometimes!

@SteveGilson

5 жыл бұрын

@@sidjones_46 Yes that's the challenge, especially if you're singing too. The more you do it, the less you need to think about it until it becomes an unconscious skill - a bit like learning to drive took all of your attention when you first started.

First is third ???

HELLO. I would like to invite you to discover a Cuban (and Latin American (known throughout Latin America)) singer-songwriter, troubadour and guitarist named Silvio Rodríguez. In the dozens of recordings that he has, he uses a lot of Travis picking (arpeggios), and other techniques. I recommend that you start by listening to the album "Mujeres" (Women), from 1978 (Silvio's third album). I think he will like it. PS: Silvio sings in his native language, which is Spanish, the language of Latin America and Spain; however music is a universal language. Greetings from Santiago of Chile, South America.

Love that guitar...what make is it?

@SteveGilson

Жыл бұрын

It's a Yamaha Classical guitar. It's the first half decent guitar that I owned. My parents bought it for me when I was about 9 or 10 I think.

@stevenburton7922

Жыл бұрын

@@SteveGilson That's an awesome story! My parents bought my first good guitar for me when I was 18 for a graduation present. 1612 Ovation. Still have it 40 years later!

sorry palm rest on bass strings gives that thump sound , thumb and index finger,bro

that LP looks hawt

Gordon Bennet - this is 5 videos I've watched, and none of them sound anything like Travis picking!

Is that a folk guitar ?

It would help if you would show the strings on line.

The very important thing, if you want to be an authentic Travis-picker, is to pick with two fingers only. Almost everybody in these "Travis-picking" videos picks with multiple fingers, which is more of a Chet Atkins picking style, based on Travis-picking.

I wish someone would say the strings instead of the fingers used :)

@SteveGilson

4 жыл бұрын

HI Hanorah, I guess I focus on the fingers rather than the strings, because string choice is up to you. As long as you play chord tones, it should fit over the music. Was there something in particular you wanted to play?

@Fairy-door-78-86

4 жыл бұрын

Hi Thanks for the reply I didn't expect one ! I really need to sound more interesting playing fingerstyle. I have a couple of patterns embedded in my brain and always wander back to them. I play and sing a lot of folk songs.Do you know what pattern Sarah Jaroz uses when she picks or Townes Van Zandt (if I needed you) If you have time listen to me playing a song and you will see what I mean ! kzread.info/dash/bejne/o2thxryEp7nfqNY.html @@SteveGilson

@SteveGilson

4 жыл бұрын

@@Fairy-door-78-86 Hi Hanorah, I think your sound sounds lovely as it is, so my advice would be to let your voice carry it as it does right now. I don't really know either of the singers you mention, so I took a quick look at them on you tube. From what I see of a live version of the song by Townes Van Zant, he was using a lot of the techniques I talk about in a follow up video here... kzread.info/dash/bejne/hZd8t9mOnqm4nto.html Sarah Jarosz was using a combination of strums and finger picking to obtain her sound. This video seemed to give a very clear view of what she was playing. kzread.info/dash/bejne/fZZ9z9Coh6zAh5c.html I hope that's helpful.

@Fairy-door-78-86

4 жыл бұрын

I really appreciate that you go the extra mile to help people ! I will check out those videos and see what I can come up with. Thanks very much I am your latest subscriber !

@AcesGaruda

3 жыл бұрын

@@SteveGilson Amazingly helpful. You are a cool person :D

Still don't know what Travis picking is

@kencaleno1674

6 жыл бұрын

This definitely isn't Travis picking.Travis picking uses a damped bass rhythm, and melody is picked on the three treble strings using either index, or index and middle fingers

Thanks, slow but for sure.

Merle Travis, for whom Travis picking is named, did not pick patterns. He played with an independent bass like Mississippi John Hurt and Blind Blake. This pattern picking is fine for loosening up your right hand and for accompanying a singer but it's not Travis picking. Sorry.

Ooh! First finger not first string.

Why are you saying Thumb, First when it is clearly Thumb Third that you are playing??

@SteveGilson

6 ай бұрын

The underlying mechanic is a variation of alternating thumb, finger, thumb, finger etc. The thumb is playing the first and third note.

True Travis picking is only the thumb and first finger. Anything else is not true Travis picking. Just watch a video of Merle Travis. He never uses his thrid or second fingers.

Sorry, but this isn't Travis Picking! You're demonstrating even-time, finger picking. Travis Picking is a swing-time, syncopated finger-picking. See Tommy Emmanuel's version instead. He shows the thumb playing strings 4, 5 and 6 only. He shows how to anchor the little finger and how to use the ring finger as well as the index and middle fingers: kzread.info/dash/bejne/p2SjxcyNY8q1kqg.html

Why are you saying "first" when you hitting the 3rd string? Makes no sense. What am I missing?

@nickoconnor53

4 жыл бұрын

1st finger

@uptownrocker

4 жыл бұрын

@@nickoconnor53 Yeah I figured it after watching for a while. I'm used to PIMA for the fingers and numbers for the strings.