MIke Dawes - Merle Travis 'Travis-Picking' Acoustic Lesson

[rodrigomatos]

I started learning this song a couple of months ago and I'm still only 7 minutes in 😂, but so far I've been practicing quite a bit and I'm surprised with my own progress Whoever feels like this is impossible to learn, don't give up! If a beginner like me can get this far, you can too!

[pickerdad]

Great lesson Mike, and nice tune for Travis Picking. Interesting that the comments are split fairly equally between boggled and bored. What that tells you is that it takes a bit to get the knack, but once you do, it seems crazy simple. So if this is your first Travis Picking lesson, stick with it. Suddenly one day your thumb will do the alternating bass on autopilot while you pick out melodies on the on- and off-beats, and you'll find you can do almost anything with it. Merle Travis built a whole career off this trick and cowboy shirts. Start with the Merlefest crowd - e.g. Doc Watson - then move to the traditional Delta Blues Men - e.g. Mississippi John Hurt. Then you too can be bored with Mike's lesson and become the local guitar hero who can seemingly play anything, once you figure out the chords. (The chords are pretty predictable too).

[DaveSmith-wnkj]

I rarely comment on these things, but I have to say thank you. I've been a screaming metal player for years, and as I get older, tastes change. I followed your other video(s) of "Boogie Shred" and got that down in a couple of days.
I always half-heartedly attempted Travis picking over the years, and never really got it.
Thanks to this video I am now well on my way.
The speed that you move and the explanations in your videos is perfect for me - and particularly helpful when you were teaching JustinGuitar - perhaps in the one-to-one videos you teach in a slightly different way, but I got it instantly.
Straight to the point, no excessive talking (as many tutorial videos tend to be), and really, really useful.
Keep up the fantastic playing.
Thank you.

[mxmlapsh]

Many thanks to Mike and Guitar World magazine for such a great lesson!

[skone]

Your video is the one that finally did the trick. First part clicked for me in mere minutes. Thanks so much. Gonna play it a million times before I bite off the next piece...

[derrio]

This guy is such an awesome guitar player !

[mvansome]

first three seconds of him playing....30 hours of practice for me!!

[bills]

Mike's guitar has great tone and I like the headstock as well.

[house_church]

Anyone who watches a Mike Dawes video or sees him in person - should be given college credit. A lot of it!

[_Dio_Brando_]

This guy is my guitar idol. I mean, initially it was uncle Chet and aunt Leona that got me to love guitars and inspired me to try and learn how to play. But my greatest results came from hearing Mike Dawes play, his style is right up my alley and he gave me the big inspirational push i needed to pick the guitar up again after 6 years of absence. And to think there's a Mike Dawes lesson where he teaches the style of playing uncle Chet always used. The guitarverse is coming together for me. i have a lot of work to do but i have this man to thank for how far i've gotten.

[drsteviejasengnsangma]

Real business of Travis Picking,
very pratical though its hard to play.
One of the best lesson on Travis picking.

[davidhoxit]

That was fantastic Mike! Jerry Reed, Merle Travis, Tony Rice and many others still inspire me today. As well as yourself sir 😎🎶

[chaputmi]

Cheers...been playing guitar for decades and have done a share of finger picking but this lesson was still very valuable...thanks!

[marcushendriksen]

Bit late to the party with this, but seriously - what an awesome lesson! Not because of the actual content itself (which is still top notch btw), but because of that bit of gold about how Jerry Reed uses open strings to buy time to shift hand position. I'm already imagining various ways I can incorporate that into my playing, because the way I'm re-learning the fretboard could benefit from it, as well as the number of different sounds I can get from it. Liked, subscribed, and resolved to check out some of Mr. Reed's music :D

[soulvaccination]

Takes some getting use to but I think I can get it.Thanks for this

[BreadLightPray_EWFMgtr]

I think the ultimate objective is to learn to use your right playing hand fingers independently of each other while each finger can also create its own subtle tone differentials. Travis picking is a great place to begin to learn the techniques of playing hand finger independence.
Next, learn to unlock the musical secrets of the fretboard with your left hand, and you just might get to the beginning level of learning to play like Mike Dawes !❣
but you're still not at the place where you can slap, tap, scratch &per-cuss @your guitar and make that sound musical !😕 Ând oh yeah, learn to play all your melodies using harmonics only !😰
then throw all those techniques into a bag give it a good shake &mix it all up real gudd so that each time you pick up your guitar it will sound like a unique improvisation, so that the same tune will never sound exactly the same way twice 😲😵
(if you don't want it to)😉
And finally, throw in some good luck for good measure, might be a good way to achieve it all !😊😉

[stevedowler]

Love your percussive style, Mike and the jazzy mellow tunes too. Just jumped onto your channel after hearing you on Anderton's playing the Sire guitars - yes, crazy low price for such beautiful instruments. Now to the Travis style. I first learned this thumb bass picking from the Folkways Elizabeth Cotten vinyl. For anyone looking for a different take, get some of her tunes on iTunes and listen to "Freight Train" and "Going Down The Road Feeling Bad". Then jump to "Vastopol" and the open D tuning on "Spanish Flang Dang". Once you've heard those and started playing them just by ear, check out the fact that she is playing a right-hand strung guitar left-handed! Now forget that and just play it your way. Her style is not "simple" but it is iconic and a great starting point before working on Travis' tunes. Most of all have fun.

[solfeinberg]

Very tasty selection. I shall enjoy savoring this.

[danielemory]

Love it, thank you, glad I found this one on Travis picking. Fantastic guitarist Mike, thanks.

[davidwright]

Blues; I'll tell you why. It's what gave Martin's first guitar in America, the Dreadnought body acoustic guitar; which evolved the instrument it's capabilities when a piece of glass and brass was put on and Capo. Delta Blues was born. Robert Johnson; was the first icon of Guitar Mastery. Including Supernatural Tales.