Easiest Travis picking beginner song

[Sponserv]

I have only been playing a couple years and dabble in strumming cowboy chords and very basic fingerpicking songs. I have Dust in the Wind down fairly well.

Can anyone suggest a very basic fingerpicking song that:

A) uses basic open chords

B) has the same fingerpicking pattern

Thanks in advance for your suggestions

[Pixelfergus]

"Don't think twice it's alright" by Bob Dylan

you could Travis pick anything you wanted, there are no rules

[deltoid]

Freight Train - There are various lessons on YT. Pick the one that works for you.

[macmanmatty]

Fish and Whistle John Prine

[JonPR]

There's plenty of songs with simple patterns, but - if you're not a singer - it's harder to find simple instrumental pieces (other than Freight Train, which a lot of people make unnecessarily complicated).

If your OK with song accompaniments, Jackson C Frank's "Blues Run the Game" is a nice classic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgY4GnLGsLQ

Also some early Bert Jansch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgY4GnLGsLQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-HkBak9lmM

[JosephW]

Originally Posted by Pixelfergus

"Don't think twice it's alright" by Bob Dylan

you could Travis pick anything you wanted, there are no rules

+1 for that. I'm finding it pretty easy to transform the pluck and pick pattern of Dust in the Wind to the Dylan song. It may not sound "original" but it sounds ok to me.

[rick-slo]

I wrote a piece some years ago called "Thumb Play". I deliberately made it a simple piece with which to practice alternate thumbing. You would have to retune the guitar though (Open G Tuning DBGDGD). It's on my tablature page.

[Luke_]

Any basic 1,4,5 or a blues progression is where I started. The more comfortable I got the more melody I added

[Toby Walker]

Originally Posted by Sponserv

I have only been playing a couple years and dabble in strumming cowboy chords and very basic fingerpicking songs. I have Dust in the Wind down fairly well.

Can anyone suggest a very basic fingerpicking song that:

A) uses basic open chords

B) has the same fingerpicking pattern

Thanks in advance for your suggestions

Just a little correction on the use of 'Travis Picking,' a style that refers to playing an alternate bass line over a combination of melody notes and chord tones. You would rarely play the same pattern from one measure to the next when 'Travis Picking' because the melody is changing. 'Freight Train' would be an example of that.

The style that you are suggesting by the example of 'Dust In The Wind' and 'the same fingerpicking pattern' is different, as it uses pretty much one pattern over and over again throughout the song with little or no regard to the melody. You would have to supply the melody from either another instrument or a vocal part. Once you leave those out it's almost impossible to tell what song you may be playing.

[SteveBurt]

"Make me a pallet on your floor" is pretty simple; even I can play that with Travis picking. Only 4 chords - C, G, B7, D7

[JonPR]

Originally Posted by Toby Walker

Just a little correction on the use of 'Travis Picking,' a style that refers to playing an alternate bass line over a combination of melody notes and chord tones. You would rarely play the same pattern from one measure to the next when 'Travis Picking' because the melody is changing. 'Freight Train' would be an example of that.

The style that you are suggesting by the example of 'Dust In The Wind' and 'the same fingerpicking pattern' is different, as it uses pretty much one pattern over and over again throughout the song with little or no regard to the melody. You would have to supply the melody from either another instrument or a vocal part. Once you leave those out it's almost impossible to tell what song you may be playing.

Yes!

It's worth distinguishing alternating bass song accompaniment - which is generally a matter of stock patterns, adaptable to pretty much any song - from instrumental pieces with distinctive composed melodies.

"Dust In the Wind" and "Don't Think Twice" (and countless others including the tunes I mentioned) are examples of the former. Good for cutting one's teeth on, getting to grips with the coordination of thumb and fingers - but they don't make performance pieces unless you (or someone else!) is going to sing them.
Freight Train is a song, of course, but the accompaniment also features the melody, so it can be played as an instrumental piece.

Mississippi John Hurt's "Payday" (in open D) is similar: he plays the melody on the guitar as well as singing, so it could be an instrumental. (Very simple too!)

[mitchel674]

Recently met Tommy Emmanuel before a local show. His advice to my son was to learn "Windy and Warm". Tommy felt that old Chet Atkins tune should be a first for all fingerstyle players.

I've been working on it that past few weeks and almost have it down. Nice,easy melody with some good picking and options for improvisation.

[JonPR]

Originally Posted by mitchel674

Recently met Tommy Emmanuel before a local show. His advice to my son was to learn "Windy and Warm". Tommy felt that old Chet Atkins tune should be a first for all fingerstyle players.

I've been working on it that past few weeks and almost have it down. Nice,easy melody with some good picking and options for improvisation.

Worth checking out Doc Watson's version too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YS9oRdOfGDI

[rick-slo]

"Windy and Warm" is a classic tune, though a stretch to put it in the "easiest" songs category for starting out. Probably non syncopated songs first, then add syncopated ones.

[JonPR]

Originally Posted by rick-slo

"Windy and Warm" is a classic tune, though a stretch to put it in the "easiest" songs category for starting out.

I agree! It starts off easy enough, but soon gets tricky....

My vote for "easy" goes to:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-p214l5QLI

However, it doesn't answer the OP's request for "basic open chords" - because it has no chords at all! Open D tuning means it's pretty much a RH exercise, LH only having to negotiate D major pentatonic on the top 2 strings.