Home › Forums › Guitar Techniques and General Discussions › Piedmont/Travis picking
- This topic has 11 replies, 10 voices, and was last updated 1 year, 7 months ago by Brian F.
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February 8, 2022 at 6:24 pm #297024
So much of the blues is tied up in fingerstyle (Piedmont and Travis picking)- would it be possible to get acoustic lessons in this style? Anyone but me interested? I’m talking Rev Gary Davis, Mississippi John Hurt, Blind Blake et al.
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February 9, 2022 at 3:44 am #297043
Hi William,
This question is often asked and came up again just a few weeks ago and in response to that, a small selection of Travis picking lessons were noted by the members here.
As far as I know, Brian dedicated one recent lesson to the art of Travis picking and that was a VLOG, (shown below).
Other than that, lessons EP057, EP076, EP117, EP202 and EP296 include the Travis style but don’t concentrate on learning and developing the style itself.
With over 400 ActiveMelody lessons Brian has issued over the years, I would have liked to have seen more than approximately 10 that include the Travis picking fingerstyle.Best of luck with your endeavours William.
Richard
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February 9, 2022 at 5:33 pm #297124
Thanks for sharing the video Richard. Some of these slip right by me.
MikeMike
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February 9, 2022 at 6:19 am #297046
Hello William and Richard
You could research: Marcel Dadi.He has Travis style down in a very authentic way.
Not to be confused with Chet Atkins.
It’s interesting to note that Merle Travis used mostly just thumb and index finger and also would fret two strings at a time with one finger tip.
this allowed him to develop many of his own chord voicings
Good look with your Study.
Peter. -
February 9, 2022 at 2:37 pm #297102
The truth is, Travis picking and its variations are most commonly used by singers (especially folk singers) who play and sing at the same time. That’s because once you get the feel of it, your fingers just go on automatic, which leaves your brain cells free to focus on the singing.
Sunjamr Steve
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February 9, 2022 at 3:15 pm #297114
There are some subtle technical differences between Merle Travis’ style and Chet Atkins’ style, but it’s… nitpicking! 😉
The difference in sound is more obvious. In general, Chet’s style is cleaner, a bit more subdued than Merle’s style. And yes, he did use three fingers whereas Merle only used one.
Both styles are basically alternating bass styles (but Chet Atkins has played many songs that don’t use an alternating bass!). Folksingers also often use an alternating bass, but they rarely mute the bass strings.The late Marcel Dadi was a close friend of Chet Atkins and he brought his style to Europe. He definitely played liked Chet, not like Merle Travis. He had a huge influence on the guitarists in this part of the world (me included! I was blown away the first time I heard him, almost 50 years ago). For contemporary (French) guitarists using Dadi’s style (and hence Chet Atkins’), check out Jean-Félix Lalanne, Michel Haumont, or François Sciortino, just to name the best (IMHO).
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February 13, 2022 at 6:00 pm #297409
You might want to check out Eddie Pennington. I was lucky enough to spend a week at Port Townsend Centrum acoustic blues workshop with him. I went to his first day workshop and that was it man, I went to every single one of his workshops that week.
He really brought out the musical genius of Travis in his classes, in particular the crazy chord inversions and substitutions Merle used, e.g. the opening E chord rake on “Nine Pound Hammer”.
Since I knew how to play it, sort of, he invited me to join him on a duet of Cannonball Rag at one of the sessions. I joined him up front and said to him “not too fast OK?” Cue laughter from the assembled pickers. I got through it.
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February 13, 2022 at 10:33 pm #297423
Just wanted to add, start with listening to Mississipi John Hurt, like many diehard fingerpickers here did I would bet. If you can get close to his alternating bass groove you’ll never lose it.
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February 13, 2022 at 11:17 pm #297424
For authentic acoustic blues, Stefan Grossman is the gatekeeper and main authority on these style.
Stefan studied with Rev Gary Davis for several years as a teenager and spent time with Mississippi John Hurt, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Son House and others as he would bring them to NYC to perform
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February 16, 2022 at 8:22 am #297680
Just to clear up any misunderstanding about my comments concerning: Merle Travis,Chet Atkins and Marcel Dadi. I was not implying that Marcel played in the style of Merle. but that he had studied Merle’s style in depth, so much so, that Marcel brought out a video tape 1993 [The guitar of Merle Travis taught by Marcel Dadi] forwarded by Chet Atkins.
Yes, these three all have a similar style but all three have a unique quality.
If we take away the uniqueness we could just call it alternating bass.
Peter. -
August 15, 2022 at 3:32 pm #317521
Hi there, digging up an old post, but I love this kinda stuff!
I am going to share the “tab” my guitar teacher shared with me. I can try to break it down for you if it doesn’t make sense, but I also uploaded a quick little jam on youtube as an example.
The notes on the high E that are circled are places you can play the 3rd fret on the high E for some… flavor.
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August 25, 2022 at 9:13 pm #317927
I love this sort of playing as I’m a fingerstyle player mostly folk and blues cheers guys !! Brian Ireland 🇮🇪
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