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  #16  
Old 05-27-2014, 08:31 AM
Tanque Verde Tanque Verde is offline
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Thanks everyone for these fantastic suggestions. You've given me a lot of material to launch this project.

I had NO idea how lousy my fretwork was. Strumming glosses over a lot of sins that picking lays bare.

Practice, practice, practice.
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  #17  
Old 05-27-2014, 08:43 AM
coopman coopman is offline
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Check out "Spike Driver Blues" from Happy Traum's book. It was my first book many, many years ago and the foundation has served me well. Spike Driver Blues is a good one because it's all based on one chord (G) so there's not much left hand worry while you work on getting your right hand thumb to behave Plenty of other good tunes as well ...

Also, just got an email from Stefan Grossman regarding Rolly Brown's Finger picking nuts and bolts - he is a good teacher ... as is Toby Walker ...

There are so many sources ... pick one or two that are not too hard and have fun. The nice thing is almost all the tunes are on Youtube in one form or another so you can hear and see them.

I've never understood why people post songs they are obviously still learning. It might be a source of inspiration ("they can do it, I can do it") just beware they some of them have serious timing issues. Thankfully, most songs have many video versions to chose from.

Happy learning ... stick with it ... not natural at first ... but once you "get it" the door is open to a lifetime of learning and fun
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  #18  
Old 05-27-2014, 08:52 AM
JonPR JonPR is offline
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BTW, in case you haven't already noticed, don't use videos of Elizabeth Cotten as teaching aids...! She played a right-handed guitar left-handed, strings upside down; picking bass with her fingers.

OTOH, this one for Spike Driver Blues is useful:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vphs2YYBSr0

And check this one for similarly economical use of that G shape:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gytJemzNTM
genius...
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  #19  
Old 05-27-2014, 09:02 AM
JonPR JonPR is offline
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More gold standard reference:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlSIQmFQPBM
(Tuning = DGCFAD, ie standard, whole step down, so he's in key of D concert, but playing E, A7 and B7 shapes.)
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  #20  
Old 05-27-2014, 04:17 PM
TheIntermediate TheIntermediate is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by clintj View Post
Check out Mark Hanson's books. They'll give you a good route into basic to intermediate alternating bass playing, which is basically what Merle Travis played. Some easy songs I like are Landslide and Can't Find My Way Home. Neil Young's Needle and the Damage Done can be played as alternating bass. Julia by the Beatles is a pretty one with an easy pattern, but there's a G9 chord in there that gave me fits for a few weeks.
Ill second this recommendation. Mark Hanson has a very organized approach which really gets you going in the right direction. By the end of "The Art of Contemporary Travis Picking" you'll be playing a simple version of Freight Train and will have built a great foundation on which to build.

Other resources are just as good I'm sure but I can vouch for that one personally. If you really want to learn how to Travis pick, I very highly recommend his books.
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  #21  
Old 05-27-2014, 05:20 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tanque Verde View Post
Toby, maybe I'm just dodging the rough stuff, but I can't find a tab of Freight Train that I'm entirely comfortable with. The version on Songsterr is hard to read (what do the Xs signify?) and the most popular version on UGT has a G7 that gives me fits. Practice, practice, practice. Incidentally, my boss attends Swannanoa and loves it.
You can always transpose the song into another key but I'd say that if you're having trouble with a G7 chord then you've got some wood-shedding to do.

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  #22  
Old 05-27-2014, 05:26 PM
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Originally Posted by JonPR View Post
Fully instrumental pieces (originally written that way) are harder to find - and also tend to be more challenging. Eg:
Blind Blake: Guitar Chimes, Southern Rag, Blind Arthur's Breakdown
Merle Travis: Cannonball Rag
Stefan Grossman: Dallas Rag
With the exception of 'Cannonball Rag' and possibly 'Dallas Rag' the rest of those songs fall quite a bit far from the 'Travis picking tree.'

Blake, at least to my ear had more of a syncopated 'be-bump' to his bass lines then the straight alternating bass that Travis employed.

I would suggest songs like 'Avalon Blues' and 'Mermaids Swim With Me' by Mississippi John Hurt if one wanted to play in the Travis style. Also anything by John Jackson, John Cephas would fit the bill nicely.

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  #23  
Old 05-27-2014, 06:24 PM
stanron stanron is offline
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OK, so I might be entering curmudgeon mode here, but you might have got more replies asking for 'Easy songs for alternate thumb picking'. As I see it 'Travis Picking' is a sub set of 'Alternate thumb picking'.

As is 'Clawhammer'. Clawhammer is not used so much these days and is different for guitar picking compared with banjo picking. Banjo clawhammer is completely different and now seems to be combined with 'Frailing'.

Poor you. Terminology has got to be more complicated than it used to be. It was all much simpler before the internet. Back then we just played music.
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  #24  
Old 05-27-2014, 09:10 PM
Tanque Verde Tanque Verde is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Toby Walker View Post
You can always transpose the song into another key but I'd say that if you're having trouble with a G7 chord then you've got some wood-shedding to do.

G7 ain't an honest 7. It's false advertising. Playing 7s ought to be like suffering from road rage: without even thinking about it you've raised your middle finger.
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  #25  
Old 05-30-2014, 01:18 PM
ShawnH ShawnH is offline
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Oh Babe it ain't no lie (another Elizabeth Cotten) is fun and much easier than Freight Train

Pancho & Lefty is nice - a couple tricky chord changes

I like doing Nine Pound Hammer in a Travis picking style

Spike Driver Blues as has already been mentioned

I've been having fun with "Big Cheeseburgers and Good French Fries" a Blaze Foley tune that I heard on Gurf Morlix album of Blaze Foley tunes - kind of made up my own arrangement. I think that's really the key. After you get the basics down you really should try doing your own arrangements of tunes. You will never forget them and they will be so much smoother because they are yours. I know you have to learn other folks arrangements as well to pick up vocabulary etc. - but you may surprise yourself.
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  #26  
Old 06-01-2014, 09:16 PM
Tanque Verde Tanque Verde is offline
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Many thanks again for all the replies, particularly those of you who recommended Hanson's book. I worked this weekend on the outside-in pattern and had enough competency by Sunday that I began to practice "Me and My Uncle" in Am. I think a basic song like "Help Me Make It through the Night" will also soon be within my grasp. I've got a lot of practice ahead of me but I have a much clearer sense of direction now.

Travis picking appeals to a latent obsessive-compulsive tendency I've had since youth. I never could put down a bag of sunflower seeds; I had to eat them one at a time, till my lips were swollen from the salt, and the bag was empty. Travis picking feels a bit like that. I pick and pick until the brain overloads and the mistakes multiply, and then I set the guitar down, but after a short while, I CRAVE the picking again. I almost get twitchy or cranky about it. At least with this habit, I learn a fun skill.
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  #27  
Old 06-02-2014, 09:30 PM
TheIntermediate TheIntermediate is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tanque Verde View Post
Many thanks again for all the replies, particularly those of you who recommended Hanson's book. I worked this weekend on the outside-in pattern and had enough competency by Sunday that I began to practice "Me and My Uncle" in Am. I think a basic song like "Help Me Make It through the Night" will also soon be within my grasp. I've got a lot of practice ahead of me but I have a much clearer sense of direction now.

Travis picking appeals to a latent obsessive-compulsive tendency I've had since youth. I never could put down a bag of sunflower seeds; I had to eat them one at a time, till my lips were swollen from the salt, and the bag was empty. Travis picking feels a bit like that. I pick and pick until the brain overloads and the mistakes multiply, and then I set the guitar down, but after a short while, I CRAVE the picking again. I almost get twitchy or cranky about it. At least with this habit, I learn a fun skill.
Good choice. Stick with the book. Take your time with it, don't rush, and work it in order. Only move on to the next pattern once you've got your current pattern/exercises down pat.

There is a logic to the chronological order in which the book is organized, so don't skip around. You'll be proud of the progress you've made when you finish the book. All that is of course just my opinion based on my experience.
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  #28  
Old 06-03-2014, 02:10 AM
mastercaster mastercaster is offline
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Another book to consider for those looking for a Travis Picking method. I choose it over the Hanson books as it has a chapter each on the picking styles of Merle Travis and Chet Atkins.

http://www.halleonard.com/product/vi...g&subsiteid=1&
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  #29  
Old 06-05-2014, 01:19 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by coopman View Post
Check out "Spike Driver Blues"
Toby Walker (a fellow member) also has a beginner's fingerpicking download class. I don't remember what the cost was, but I know it wasn't much (~$10 maybe). You learn 3 songs, including Spike Driver Blues. They are relatively easy with video to help. Well worth the money!
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  #30  
Old 06-06-2014, 03:29 AM
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Toby Walker Toby Walker is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by VJP5 View Post
Toby Walker (a fellow member) also has a beginner's fingerpicking download class. I don't remember what the cost was, but I know it wasn't much (~$10 maybe). You learn 3 songs, including Spike Driver Blues. They are relatively easy with video to help. Well worth the money!
Thanks for the compliment.

Actually you'll learn 7 songs and this course had helped those like yourself who wanted to learn this style. Here's the web address if you'd like to take a look.

http://www.littletobywalker.com/lear...ingerpick.html
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