The tablaturemusic are in pdf and the audio files in mp3. Let me show you an example of a guitar practice plan i had used. This one focuses on the legendary merle travis, and the extremely useful travis picking st. Merle travis guitar lesson taught by michel lelong. Merle s guitar player style was developed out of a native tradition of fingerpicking in western kentucky. The merle travis collection guitar recorded versions. Named for guitarist merle travis, this style of fingerpicking features the thumb taking on a special role in the sequence of events. Chordbuddy is dedicated to making teaching the guitar easy and fun for both the teacher and the students. Sweeping metalcountry arpeggios lesson the sound guitar magazine vol. Classic jazzrock guitar compositions of sadip shahi. Today we will discuss the basics of travis picking, from preparation to technique. Guitar rag lesson merle travis part 1 how to play guitar rag. Mike dawes merle travis travispicking acoustic lesson.
Bolts of travis picking named after the countryandwestern guitarist merle travis, its a. Introduction and right hand technique guitar lesson. A forum about guitar playing and all things related to guitar playing, with special emphasis on fingerstyle and country blues. I too am interested in travis picking and someone posted some lessons on another thread. Sixteen tons, a catchy ode to the tough life of a coal miner, would be resurrected by tennessee ernie ford in 1955 and become a number one hit on both the country and pop charts. What isnt easy is putting that simple definition to work. Travis picking for beginners stefan grossmans guitar. Blue smoke guitar tab by merle travis with free online tab player. Named after countryandwestern pioneer merle travis, its a style of fingerpicking characterized by the steady thump of an alternating bass that underscores rhythmic patterns and melodies on the treble strings. But knowing this doesnt teach you anything does it. Its singlecut body and prefender, stratocasterlike headstock are recognized elements. This one focuses on the legendary merle travis, and the extremely useful travispicking st. By learning how to use the travis picking technique on guitar, you can add interest when you play not only folk music, but everything from ragtime to the blues. The technique is used by countless guitarists from john lennon to.
Travis picking is named after the legendary guitarist merle travis. Blue smoke tab by merle travis guitar acoustic guitar. Fingerstyle was first popularized on steelstring guitar by the likes of robert johnson, blind blake, merle travis, chet atkins, and jerry reed. Be sure to download the tab pdf for this song below. All of the marcel dadi and other guitar tablatures shown below are in tabledit format. A little surprisingly, although chet atkins and merle travis had played together before the january 1974 session resulting in the atkinstravis traveling show, theyd never done so for an official release. One of the most popular fingerstyle folk guitar techniques is known as travis picking. Michael ochs archivesgetty images named after legendary country guitar virtuoso merle travis, travis picking is the most popular and commonly used fingerpicking technique.
This program, which allows you to input tablature for many stringed, and other acoustic instruments, and to print it out, as well as play it through your computers speakers and to export it as a midi file, can be obtained in demo form for free at tabledit. Merle travis cannonball rag guitar alliance guitar lessons. Travis picking techniques revealed guitar player world. When it comes to acoustic fingerstyle guitar, one of the questions i get asked most frequently is, what is travis picking. Named after guitar great merle travis, this technique was adopted by tons of. Named after countryandwestern pioneer merle travis, its a style of. Merle travis was born and raised in muhlenberg county, kentucky, a place which would inspire many of travis original songs. Click here to view the pdf a pdf will download to your computer. By mark kemp a kentucky educational television documentary, merle travis. Merle travis style video core lesson by doug boduch. In this lesson, id like to offer a primer on this very useful and fun playing technique. When i started to take my guitar playing seriously, i was an undergraduate doing full time studies for a degree in engineering.
An example is the am dm e progression used with the beginner in lesson 2 which can also be utilised in order to develop students ability with relation to playing bar chords and developing the facility to play guitar solos using the am pentatonic scale perhaps the favourite scale of guitar players and teachers around the world. How to use a merle travisstyle picking pattern acoustic. Merle travis is one of the legends of fingerstyle guitar a. Jim deeming talks a bit about the history of merle travis and his guitar playing. Merle travis 12 148 standard tuning 1 1 0 4 0 1 0 0 4 0 3 2 4 4 3 0 0 4 0 3 2 2 2 0 2 3 2 40 0 1 0 0 1 0 432 0 1 2 0 3 1 0 0 1 0 2. He has been named as an inspiration to many of todays most well known fingerpickers, including chet atkins and tommy emmanuel. Merle travis style by doug boduch video core lesson. Merle travis guitar style travis, merle, flint, tommy on. The basics and variations merle travis, notes, in the.
Your guide to an effective guitar practice plan for learning. Travis picking is one of the most important accompaniment styles in country guitar, and its a vital component in any guitarists technique arsenal. This page, hosted by randy buckner, promotes the memory and legacy of merle travis and his music. If you have ever read my blog and watched any of my lessons at guitar domination, you will know how much i love to fingerpick. Acoustic fingerstyle guitar travis picking etude guitar lesson. There are 6 exercises on pages 115 118 of session 8 on the merle. All the michel lelongs english guitar lessons on merle travis, chet atkins and jerry. Highquality online guitar lessons taught by professional guitar teachers and top recording artists. Remember, the more you practice and the more theory you know.
The problem as you progress on the path of guitar enlightenment, youre bound to encounter the term travis picking. Indeed, atkins was initially signed to rca to be that. More often than not, you can generate new ideas from familiar ones by. The guitar built by paul bigsby for legendary picker merle travis in the late 1940s is one of the icons of solidbody electric guitars. This is the guitar lesson on the theme of midnight special arranged in the key of e. Learn chord progression for the tune, chord shapes and basic picking pattern. All the michel lelongs english guitar lessons on merle travis, chet atkins and jerry reed styles was published by stefan grossmans guitar worshop in the 8090 notice.
With producer jerry reed himself no small country guitar legend adding rhythm guitar on a few tracks, the duo ran through some old favorites muskrat ramble, cannonball rag. Two merle travis originals on folk songs of the hills have become standards. In this series of eight lessons, andy gurley will introduce you to the picking styles of chet atkins and merle travis. Click here to download a printable pdf of this lessons notation. He also explains the basics of his right hand technique. Atkinstravis traveling show chet atkins, merle travis. Merle travis lesson stefan grossmans guitar workshop. Style of merle travis artist series guitar course from jim deeming. Its a lot like playing piano on guitar, especially since many of the syncopations mirror those used in ragtime and contemporary piano. He became interested in the guitar early in life and originally played one made by his brother. Guitar players such as arnold shultz, kennery jones, mose rager all had in common the same fingerpicking method in which the thumb pluck two bass notes while the finger play the top strings.
This is the same coal mining county mentioned in the john prine song paradise. Listening plays an important role in the guitar class. Please note that some of the links on our website are affiliate links and we get compensation should you decide to. Merle shined a light back on it and showed that they were real people. Cannonball rag merle travis page 2 of 6 generated using the power tab editor by brad larsen.
I took the idea from the great merle travis i transcribed the original travis arrangment in my my book. Acoustic fingerstyle guitar travis picking etude guitar. His style was characterized by quick, snappy, alternating bass lines played with the thumb. You should start in the beginner lesson section with these lessons. Steve rector tab tablature pdf guitar pro chords score music sheet. Even though its not really how merle travis played, as explained at the end of this. First up is the basic picking hand motion, then youll start developing the use of your thumb. Acoustic fingerstyle guitar travis picking etude tab pdf download.
Merle travis is one of the biggest names in the world of fingerstyle guitar. From the january 2019 issue of acoustic guitar by jamie stillway if you have spent any amount of time exploring the world of fingerstyle guitar. Named after country guitarist merle travis, the travis picking technique is achieved. In the key of e, the three chords used in a basic 12bar blues are e7, a7 and. Merle travis brilliant fingerpicking style inspired chet atkins and generations of country, folk, bluegrass and rock guitarists. The technique essentially involves alternating between different thumbpicked bass notes on the lower strings while the fingers pick out melody notes based on chord. The brilliant mike dawes is back with another incredible lesson. To assist the teacher is selecting high quality guitar music, page 59 of this teachers supplement contains a list of guitar recording artists and the style of music played by each. Use a merle travisstyle picking pattern by robin mansur.
Merle travis was virtually without peer as a guitarist and songwriter. Named after legendary country guitar virtuoso merle travis, travis picking. It was impossible for me to spend 34 hours each day on the guitar due to my studies commitment. Memphis blues guitar tab by merle travis with free online tab player. He created on of the most effective finger picking techniques in guitar. Cannonball rag merle travis cover and tutorial with. Travis picking is a very complete use of the guitar. Merle travis guitar may have been the first bigsby spanish electric guitar ever built, but the second one appears to have been the first to feature the headstock silhouette that is probably a large part of discussions concerning the earliest californiamade solidbody electric guitars. Popularized by country legend merle travis, travis picking usually involves the thumb alternating between two bass. Merle travis guitar lesson taught by michel lelong michel. In next the video, well put the melody on top of that. These teachers have identified a need for a certain item and chordbuddy responds. In this installment, youll learn how to play acoustic guitar with a merle travis fingerpicking pattern employed in songs like landslide, dust in the wind, helplessly hoping and the painter. Merle travis the merle travis guitar vinyl discogs.
Les tabs sont maintenant accessibles sur tipeee en format pdf et guitar pro. Click the link above to donwload the complete tab pdf for this etude. Adding finger syncopation is next, then well examine a progression using our basic pattern. Merle travis, doc watson, chet atkins are but a few of the giants of this style. Fingerpicking guitar techniques part 2 with stefan grossman. Does anyone know if the old merle travis lessons from the cassette days will ever make it to a bookdvd. Bach the parts of the guitar there are three main types of guitars,the steelstring acoustic, the nylon string or classical guitar, and the electric guitar. In this series jim deeming will walk you through the tricks merle employed to give his music that unique travis picking sound. If you are reading the pdf version of the book, you can zoom in to. Our free supplemental materials and guitar lessons plans for teachers are based on feedback from teachers. In this lesson, well look at what styles of fingerpicking are considered to be travis picking, and why.