Travis Pick Guitar In 3 SIMPLE Steps!

In this video, you learn how to travis pick on guitar.

Travis picking is a syncopated fingerpicking technique that consists of the bass, rhythm, and melody parts of a song, all being played on one guitar, at the same time.

It derives its name from guitarist Merle Travis, who developed this cool and unique way of playing the guitar and has since become a big part of the style of such greats as Chet Atkins, Jerry Reed, and Tommy Emmanuel.

In this lesson, we break the style of Travis Picking down into 3 simple steps:

• Step 1: Bass

You learn the 4 common bass patterns used in Travis Picking and how to train your thumb to play these independently of what your fingers are doing on the higher strings

• Step 2: Harmony

You learn how to add harmony parts into the mix and how to play these independently of the bass that is happening at the same time on the lower strings.

• Step 3: Melody

Finally, you add melody to the harmony and bass parts culminating in the Travis Picking sound.

You learn how best to train all three parts of Travis Picking as well as an example of Travis Picking in action via one of the most famous songs in this style of playing guitar.

[CarlWinter-oyuf]

Really groovy those Travis picking patterns ---never really got them down --till now ----superb on screen TABS --they help enormously !---thankyou

[koontzman]

Thank you, excellent recommendation to this lesson.

[douglasholdenjr.]

I look forward to this lesson...tomorrow. 1:35 am in South Florida!!!😂😂 I do love your lessons and channel, brother!!! I always learn alot!!! Thank you, Sir, & God bless!!!

[scottsnet]

Freight Train, the masterpiece! Love this lesson Simon.

[stuartarnold]

Been trying to play “mr sandman” like Chet Atkins on and of for months. I should have started with this lesson. Thank you Simon.

[mookytc]

Excellent thank you. Congrats on 10K subscribers Simon. - Dave

[jamesyoxall]

you've put 2 on the D string A7 Chord should that be open string

[dieselman]

Great lesson my man I’m trying to get this style down this past year I want to break my maton against a wall 😄😄but I won’t bro 😀it’s a frustrating style to Learn especially when u can play guitar it’s so different I use Fred Kelly picks !! Thanks man more lessons like this would be great !! Thank you your work is much appreciated!! Brian Ireland 🇮🇪 thanks

[jamesyoxall]

sorry I meant on the E7 SHOULD IT BE OPEN STRING ON D STRING good stuff by the way

[ThefrenchFranz]

Hi Simon, thank you very much for these lessons you kindly share with us clumsy starters ;-) I also downloaded a pdf from another lesson of yours (can't remember which one...) : _"How to improve your acoustic solos by using these 5 cool and easy tricks"_ and it is great great stuff! It will take me a couple of months to understand and practice this! but it sure will "dramatically improve my knowledge of the fretboard", as you put it.

As for this very lesson, it took me about two weeks to reach the 10th minute (time to master the bass...), and now I wonder if the tab on the bottom is accurate : you write E7 and do play an E7, but you seem to play the D string open (I think I hear it, and the video shows your ring finger lifted up) whereas the tab shows "second fret", at 11:41 for exemple... am I mistaken somewhere? It is not really important musically but I wish it get it right, from the start.
Thanks very much for caring!

[tjstevens]

Don't forget The one and only Doyle Dykes!

[sandrabowman]

Good guitar lesson, but did you know that Merle actually only used 2 fing we s to Plat, Thumb and Index finger

[tunalm]

For some reason I find this very difficult to follow, trying to see what your right hand and left hand are doing plus trying to follow it on the tablature all at the same time. I tried watching just one hand left or right plus trying to follow the tablature, still difficult. Try zooming on either hand go real slow at first then speed up, then the next hand same thing. And on the tablature if you had a coloured dot or bar that would follow along with every note or set of notes would make it a lot simpler to follow I have seen other instructors on other sites do it that way. Makes it way easier to follow. I hope I haven't offended you I really do like your teaching and will continue to follow you, I do like the way you teach though, maybe it is just me, I will also follow you on Facebook as well, I don't have Twitter.