Travis Picking and palm muting

[Bunny64]

Ok so I am looking into Travis picking. Can anyone enlighten me about palm muting whilst Travis picking?

Does one always palm mute in this style or is it a case of only when you want a more percussive sound?

Any thoughts and advice welcome.

[Bob from Brooklyn]

There's no rules. It depends on the tune. I have a song or two I can do it on where it works but typically I don't palm mute while finger picking.

[Bunny64]

Thanks Bob

[nickv6]

I think you need to mute most of the time.(bass only of course) It provides that rthym percussion and somehow produces more bass to the sound. It also allows more emphasis on the melody strings, they ring out more in comparison. Though, as said above, there are no rules. Everything can be played around with.
Just my opinion etc.
Nick

[reeve21]

Hi Bunny,

It depends. I had the same question when I started finger-picking a few years ago. Certainly there are styles that cry out for it (Travis, Atkins, Hurt).

I found it difficult to do for quite a while, so I didn't. Depending on the tune and the guitar and your attack this may sound ok, or not. Not muting can result in a bass heavy sound, but I can think of at least person I know who rarely mutes and he sounds great. If you intend to use a thumb-pick then I think muting becomes more important, maybe required.

The good news is that this is something that will feel like second nature if you stick with it for a little while. It may sound horrible to start with, but it does get a lot better with time and practice.

Congratulations on exploring this style. I think you will find it very rewarding!

[Bunny64]

Thanks so much everyone. I really like the groove of it and will give it my best shot. I suppose recording for comparison would give some pointers when it works well and when not.

[islandguitar]

Bunny, I only have a few of my tunes(fingerstyle) where I palm mute. But, it's really great for when you do need it. As they've said, no rules, other than what your ear is telling you.
Also, I've found that palm muting the lower strings really helps your ear, and in turn your technique when working on alternating bass work with the picking. I think that's true with either a "boom chuck" with 3 alternating bass strings, or just two bass strings........something about the palm mute sound when you're playing that lets you translate that picking for any alternating bass. At least that's my experience.

[TBman]

I used to palm mute a lot. I just rest my wrist on the bridge sort of and it just happens.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by Bunny64

Ok so I am looking into Travis picking. Can anyone enlighten me about palm muting whilst Travis picking?

Does one always palm mute in this style or is it a case of only when you want a more percussive sound?

Any thoughts and advice welcome.

Hi Bunny

Here is a link to Thom Bresh (Merle Travis's son) who played with his dad, and knows his style in-n-out. Thom is an amazing fingerstyler, and Travis picker.



This is not even about palm muting, but you cannot disconnect them from Merle Travis' styling.

Here he is rambling for TrueFire in Feb 2019 about using Thumb Picks. It was not about how they relate to Travis picking, but as he demonstrates his dad's style, the palm mute is employed all the way through. If you just watch all 11 minutes you will see the palm mute demonstrated numerous times from the son of the guy who pioneered it.

And you'll get a history lesson of several great pickers like Jerry Reed, Chet Atkins, ad others. Thom's hand position manages the palm mute anchored near the bridge and floating around up the string bed.

Hope this adds to the discussion…

[BFD]

Plenty of good and I believe correct advice already here. And I agree palm-muting is a core skill for many acoustic AND electric styles. One thing I'll note, since you have a "Bluegrass.." model guitar listed in your signature is that while flatpicking, picking hand anchoring on the bridge or guitar top in general is purposely avoided by several top players. The main reason is the sacrifice of tone that results, so you may want to keep your skills discreet.

[nickv6]

What a great Bresh video, thanks for posting.
That's a lovely guitar he has. Anyone know who made it for him?
Nick

[JonPR]

I regard palm muting as part of what defines "Travis style". If it's not palm muted, I just call it "alternating bass".

I.e., the broad name for the style of playing is "alternating bass", although I've also seen it called "Piedmont style" and "thumb style" (because the thumb leads by playing all the beats). When you damp the bass strings, then you're producing a sound more like Merle Travis's (and Chet Atkins and so on), which he got from players like Mississippi John Hurt, Blind Boy Fuller or Blind Blake anyway.
In fact "Piedmont style" also usually damps the bass, so is not essentially any different from Travis style.

I have nothing against Merle Travis btw! I just hate the implication that he invented that style of playing (and I'm sure he wouldn't have claimed that) ... In fact, the one original personal detail he added was to play with thumb and index only, resting the other 3 fingers on the scratchplate. So if you use two or more fingers, you're not playing "Travis style" anyway! You're playing "Piedmont style", "thumb style", or plain old "alternating bass".

Nice documentary here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwmYScVhyAs
- and there you see Etta Baker playing "Travis style" (index only - did she get it from Travis? or from her daddy before that?), but not damping the bass.

[JerrysGuitarBar]

Originally Posted by JonPR

I've also seen it called "Piedmont style" and "thumb style"

I've also heard Ralph McTell and Donovan call it "clawhammer".

There is no rule of thumb for this, so I'll make one up
If you're playing blues/ragtime with alternating thumb, mute the bass. If you're playing folk or folk rock (McTell, Donovan, Paul Simon, Tom Paxton etc.) don't mute the bass.

[Chipotle]

There are also different ways to mute strings. I don't really palm mute much when playing alternating-bass picking, but I'll often dampen the string by letting up with my fretting finger after plucking it. It's a different, in-between kind of sound: you don't get the muted "chunk" on the notes, but you do eliminate the sustain that can get in the way of the melody/other strings.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by nickv6

What a great Bresh video, thanks for posting.
That's a lovely guitar he has. Anyone know who made it for him?
Nick

Hi nickv6

Merle Travis had Paul Bigsby replace the neck on a Martin D-28 with a Bigsby neck in the late 1940s, and played that guitar the rest of his life. This was Pre-Fender if I remember the timeline.

Paul Bigsby used that headstock and built solid body electrics before Fender (in the late 1940s). This was before he invented the Bigsby vibrato tailpiece.

Martin made a Signature version of Merle's D-28 with the Bigsby style headstock…not sure if they still do or not.

Fender now owns Fender, Gretsch, & Bigsby.