Travis picking is a fingerpicking method named after guitarist “Merle Travis”, who has influenced guitarists over the last decades, including Chet Atkins and Tommy Emmanuel. This fingerpicking style is characterized by a repeated bass pattern, while playing chords and melody at the same time.

In this lesson, we’ll cover how to play Travis picking patterns and take you through the steps to play in this style, starting from easy to more advanced levels including audio and tabs to help you along the way.

Grab your guitar, and let’s get started!

Chord charts for Travis picking examples

For the picking examples, we’ll use a simple progression with C Major, D 7, and G 7. Make sure you can move between these chords comfortably before adding the picking patterns.

Here is a quick review of the picking symbols used in the examples:

• p = thumb (comes from “pulgar” in Spanish)
• i = pointer finger (comes from “indice” in Spanish)
  

Pattern 1: Alternating bass notes

The first step is getting the bass pattern steady with your thumb. The bass notes generally alternate between the root and 5th of the chord. Lightly palm mute them with your picking hand for a shorter, more controlled sound.

Roadmap practice: Stay on this pattern until your thumb can keep the alternating bass moving evenly through the chord progression. Don’t add the upper notes yet if the bass is still stopping when you change chords.

Pattern 2: Alternating bass notes and chords

For the next step, we are adding chords between the bass notes. You can hold each chord down and only move your finger on the lowest note to change the bass. We are keeping the bass line on the root note for the G 7 chord.

If you notice, the chords are also played with the thumb. Although you could use fingers 2, 3, and 4, you get a unique brushing effect with your thumb.

Practice goal: Keep the thumb pattern steady while adding the chord between the bass notes. If the bass starts hesitating, simplify the exercise and build it back up slowly.

Pattern 3: Adding a melody note

For this pattern, we now include a single note melody at the top of the chords and bass notes. Make sure your palm is not muting the first string so that it can ring out over each chord.

We’ll use the pointer finger “i” to play the melody note on top.

Practice goal: Keep the alternating bass going while the upper melody note rings clearly above it. The thumb should feel like the steady foundation underneath the melody.

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Go deeper: Once you can play the alternating bass with a simple upper note or chord, the remaining patterns add syncopation, arpeggios, and more rhythmic variation. Work through them as you want to develop the style further.

Pattern 4: Syncopated melody notes

At this point, you will hear the characteristic sound of Travis picking which includes syncopated melody notes above the chords and bass. This is where things get a bit more advanced. but if you’ve followed along, you can get this pattern down with some practice.

If you are getting stuck on this pattern, take it as slow as needed until you can connect all the notes and get them to sound clear.

Pattern 5: Arpeggios

For this picking pattern, we are incorporating chord arpeggios. This means that we are individually breaking up the notes in a chord to create a rhythmic sequence.

Again, you could use your other fingers to play this pattern, but for this guide, we’re trying to stay stylistically close to this technique. If you notice in videos, it’s surprising to see that Merle Travis only picks with his thumb and pointer finger to play these seemingly complex picking patterns.

Pattern 6: Arpeggio variation

Here is another picking pattern using an arpeggio variation for each chord. Another thing I want to mention is how the rhythms repeat every two measures, which creates a repeating sequence in the music. For example, the rhythm in measures 1 and 3 are the same, measures 2 and 4 are the same, and so on.

Pattern 7: Rhythm variation

Here is one final rhythmic variation for a Travis picking style pattern.

Wrapping up

The foundation of Travis picking is a steady alternating bass. Once your thumb can keep that pulse moving, you can begin adding chords and melody notes above it without losing the rhythm underneath.

Start with Patterns 1 through 3 and take them as slowly as needed. If adding the upper notes causes the bass to stop or rush, simplify the pattern and rebuild the coordination one layer at a time.

Once that basic independence feels comfortable, use the later patterns to explore syncopation, arpeggios, and other variations. You can also review these fingerpicking tips if the right-hand coordination still feels difficult.

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