The Full Travis Pick

Let’s jump in and learn the basic pattern for the full Travis picking pattern. Start by getting your right hand in position, don't even worry about chords yet. I think of Travis pattern as a "boxed" shaped pick, in that you play two outer strings, then two inner strings. We will be using the same pattern over and over, what changes is on which strings we are playing it, and with which fingers.

We have 3 starting points for our pattern, this corresponds to our 3 bass notes, 6, 5 and 4.

You'll be playing this pattern with your thumb, 1st and 2nd finger. Note that beat one is played as a 'PINCH". Here is the "low" pattern for chords with the root on the 6th string, like G and E chords.

T 2 T 1 T 2 T finger numbers
62 4 3 6 2 4 string numbers
1+ 2 + 3 + 4 + count

You'll be playing this pattern with your thumb, 1st and 2nd finger. Here is the "middle" pattern for chords with the root on the 5th string, like C and A chords (B7 and barre Bm).

T 2 T 1 T 2 T finger numbers
52 4 3 5 2 4 string numbers
1+ 2 + 3 + 4 + count

Here is the "high" pattern for chords with the root on the 4th string, like D and open F chords (open Bm). Now things get sneaky as we rotate our bass between the 4th and 3rd strings. Because our main bass is 4, we need to rotate up to 3, where our 1st finger usually lives. So for this pattern you'll use your thumb to play the 3rd string as a bass. Be sure and play with the correct fingers! This means you will NOT use your first finger here. You'll be playing this "high" pattern using your thumb, 2nd and 3rd fingers.

T 3 T 2 T 3 T finger numbers
41 3 2 4 1 3 string numbers
1+ 2 + 3 + 4 + count

I know, you don't want to use your third finger, but take it on picker's faith that you'll thank me down the line. If you play in position you always have the correct string under the correct finger!

So, to sum up:

1. Low pattern starts on the 6th string.
2. Middle pattern starts on the 5th string.
3. High pattern starts on the 4th string. Watch out for the slightly different fingering!


COUNTING
The full Travis picking pattern is in 4/4 time and combines 1/4 notes with 1/8th notes:

Quarter note on beats ONE and FOUR counted 1+ 2 + 3 + 4+

It's no accident that your thumb lands on the down beats. Start counting now and you will always know where you are in the measure/bar.

Caren Armstrong
Instructor Caren Armstrong
Styles:
Acoustic
Difficulty:
The Full Travis Pick song notation

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