Need help with Travis picking pattern

[Cecil6243]

I'm counting this out just like Jerry says to, but some reason it just doesn't sound right. I'm hitting all the right notes. Obviously I'm doing something wrong. And yes I tuned the 6th string down to D. Any tips?

[egordon99]

Unless we hear you playing, we can't possibly tell you what you are doing wrong.

[Cecil6243]

Originally Posted by egordon99

Unless we hear you playing, we can't possibly tell you what you are doing wrong.

What!

O.K. fair enough.

[Andyrondack]

If you have a clear recording of the guitar pattern you might find it easier not trying to count it, slow it down and play along to get the rythmn, otherwise it's just an accompaniment pattern over a D chord it doesn't really matter what rythmn you use as long as it's still 4/4 time.

[Cecil6243]

Originally Posted by Andyrondack

If you have a clear recording of the guitar pattern you might find it easier not trying to count it, slow it down and play along to get the rythmn, otherwise it's just an accompaniment pattern over a D chord it doesn't really matter what rythmn you use as long as it's still 4/4 time.

I forgot about the ability to slow it down!

Thanks!

[jansch101]

So similarly I find myself using Travis patterns to accompany many songs and they end up in a too fast pattern so all too similar hmmm so I started looking for different examples and on You Tube found a very good lesson on the James Taylor “You can close your eyes” wow I thought I was doing fine with my Travis patterns but this very different accompaniment has got me back to feeling like a beginner !

[NormanKliman]

Think of each beat as having four divisions. Numbers in parentheses aren’t played:

1-(2-)3-4 / 1-2-3-(4-) / 1-2-3-4 / 1-2-3-(4-)

Or, if you prefer a more intellectual approach:

Dum-dooby / dooby-dum / dooby-dooby / dooby-dum



Edit: Sorry, just to be clear, I thought I’d add that you posted one staff and four measures of music. My little counting diagram is for each measure, because each one contains the same pattern.

Up next: shooby vs. dooby.

[Italuke]

Originally Posted by NormanKliman

Or, if you prefer a more intellectual approach:

Dum-dooby / dooby-dum / dooby-dooby / dooby-dum

This sounds crazy but it's the best way to approach these things. The last thing you want to do is try to count it or "read" the notation. Just figure out the pattern, see if it stays the same (this one does), then drill it into your head first and then your fingers.

[NormanKliman]

Originally Posted by Italuke

...The last thing you want to do is try to count it or "read" the notation.

Well that's funny, it's usually the first thing I do.

[Italuke]

Originally Posted by NormanKliman

Well that's funny, it's usually the first thing I do.

Well okay, I'll read it to determine the pattern, but I was suggesting to the OP that you wouldn't want to do it in real time, as if sightreading a piece of music on the fly. I tend to look at rhythms first in this kind of music, before strings/notes/pitches.

[rick-slo]

Slowed to 80 bpm here a midi I made of the tab you showed with a metronome sound added for the beats. Hope it helps.

http://dcoombsguitar.com/Misc/GentleAGF.wav

[Andyrondack]

I find it interesting the way the 4 consecutive 16th notes emphasize the 3rd beat of the bar.

[NormanKliman]

Originally Posted by Italuke

Well okay, I'll read it to determine the pattern, but I was suggesting to the OP that you wouldn't want to do it in real time, as if sightreading a piece of music on the fly. I tend to look at rhythms first in this kind of music, before strings/notes/pitches.

We agree then! Actually, it didn’t occur to me before posting that there’s an audio, and I’d probably go with that before the score, although if it’s supposed to be accuarate, I’d be looking at that, too, and the rhythm first, as you say.

Originally Posted by Andyrondack

I find it interesting the way the 4 consecutive 16th notes emphasize the 3rd beat of the bar.

Sorry to be disagreeing with you guys so much, but with the accent on beats two and four, I’d say those four sixteenths set up the fourth beat for emphasis, as in biddy-biddy-BIDDY-bum.

[rick-slo]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=

[JonPR]

Originally Posted by Cecil6243

I'm counting this out just like Jerry says to, but some reason it just doesn't sound right. I'm hitting all the right notes. Obviously I'm doing something wrong. And yes I tuned the 6th string down to D. Any tips?

You realise the thumb plays 6th and 4th strings? 8 thumbstrokes per bar?

Personally I wouldn't have notated it that way - the semiquavers make it look more complicated than it is. I'd have split the bars in two, made the time signature 2/2 (so the tempo is the same, half-note = 100), and made the 8th notes all quarters and the 16ths all 8ths. The bass notes (6th and 4th strings) should also all be downward stems, to make the thumb strokes clearer.
I mean, that is seriously poor notation for this style and technique. Whoever made it presumably just wrote the tab and let the software copy it to the notation stave. In fact, if this tab is for sale, I'd say it's outrageous.

It's just a standard alternating bass pattern with one finger stroke between some of the bass notes, and some pinch strokes. Basically rick-slo's video shows it.