Rockabilly / Travis picking

[MarkRhodes]

I've always liked this music but haven't played at it much in a long time.

But now I'm working on it, and by "it" I mean "Mystery Train", "That's Alright, Mama", and "Milkcow Blues Boogie" (Scotty Moore with Elvis, Sun Sessions) and the rudiments of Travis picking. (With a thumb pick and finger picks. I do some finger picking w/out such picks but I want to learn to use them, if only for special occasions.)

I love that sound. It's not all I want to do, but I would love to have 3-4 pieces in my rep in this vein (Gene Vincent's "Race with the Devil" might be one and Johnny Cash's "Get Rhythm" might be another, although the latter is not exactly Travis picking. O, and Merle's "Sixteen Tons.")

Anyone else play much rockabilly?

[Hep To The Jive]

I've always liked this music but haven't played at it much in a long time.

But now I'm working on it, and by "it" I mean "Mystery Train", "That's Alright, Mama", and "Milkcow Blues Boogie" (Scotty Moore with Elvis, Sun Sessions) and the rudiments of Travis picking. (With a thumb pick and finger picks. I do some finger picking w/out such picks but I want to learn to use them, if only for special occasions.)

I love that sound. It's not all I want to do, but I would love to have 3-4 pieces in my rep in this vein (Gene Vincent's "Race with the Devil" might be one and Johnny Cash's "Get Rhythm" might be another, although the latter is not exactly Travis picking. O, and Merle's "Sixteen Tons.")

Anyone else play much rockabilly?

You bet! I used to a lot, and I still use Cliff Gallup licks in my jazz improv. As far as Travis picking, I like what Brian Setzer is doing with it, he seems to naturally going between swing strumming and fingerpicking like Travis. He does it a lot, actually. Check this

[JGinNJ]

You bet! I used to a lot, and I still use Cliff Gallup licks in my jazz improv. As far as Travis picking, I like what Brian Setzer is doing with it, he seems to naturally going between swing strumming and fingerpicking like Travis. He does it a lot, actually. Check this

I hear more Johnny Smith in there than Merle Travis, but it's cool.
I got into Travis' style a few years ago when I came across an old Mel Bay method book on it, and I was looking to add fingerpicking & bass accompionment to my solo playing. It's interesting the way he adds '9' chords, etc. to otherwise simple major chord stuff.

Check out "Walkin the Strings" for great Merle Travis solo playing.

[lawson-stone]

this is the style I always played before turning to jazz. I actually had to "unlearn" it to be able to play any other fingerstyle music! I suggest you go the Chet Atkins route, though, and use a thumbpick but forget the finger-picks. On a banjo they make sense, but on the guitar your nails will be better.

[MarkRhodes]

this is the style I always played before turning to jazz. I actually had to "unlearn" it to be able to play any other fingerstyle music! I suggest you go the Chet Atkins route, though, and use a thumbpick but forget the finger-picks. On a banjo they make sense, but on the guitar your nails will be better.

I've tried that, Lawson. I use my fingertips rather than nails---don't have nails---and they get sore pretty quick. It's not bad if I'm fingerpicking a jazzy blues or a standard, but rockabilly is pretty fast and I lose definition of notes. (It would help if I wasn't using flatwounds but I'm sticking with 'em for now.)

Nothing about this is etched in stone for me. I certainly have tried just-the-thumbpick. Never liked fingerpicks, though I'm using some Fred Kelly Freedom picks and they're the best I've found. Nice sound.

[neatomic]

merle travis was huge influence on chet atkins and in turn cliff gallup and scotty moore

who was merle travis' influence??

ike everly..the dad of the everly brothers!

probably my fave of the bunch tho is james burton...who took the fingerpicking thing to a fender tele..where it still remains firmly entrenched..burtons a master

there were also more obscure great session guys like grady martin and phil baugh

heres phil playin em all

great style..have fun

cheers

[Kirk Garrett]

this is the style I always played before turning to jazz. I actually had to "unlearn" it to be able to play any other fingerstyle music! I suggest you go the Chet Atkins route, though, and use a thumbpick but forget the finger-picks. On a banjo they make sense, but on the guitar your nails will be better.

Agreed. This type of fingerstyle has long been my background, whereas “jazz” is a marginal interest, mainly for absorbing some working knowledge of harmony and theory for songwriting. Thumb pick is very useful for Chet/Travis playing; fingerpicks not so much (for me.)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[nopedals]

I have always wanted to play in this style; it seems to me that it is something every guitar player should be able to do. I am making good progress on it this year; the tunes I am working on are Sandman, Chinatown, Freight Train, and I'll See You in My Dreams.

I find thumbpicks very uncomfortable. The style can definitely be played with a flat pick and fingers; here's proof:

Some stuff I needed to figure out early:

1. Damp the bass strings and be strict with the alternating bass; it is the only way to get it to sound right.
2. Don't worry too much about double stops or chords with the fingers; check out videos of Merle Travis, he plays with the thumb pick and his index finger, with three fingers anchored on the pickguard. Play the melody as clean as you can. If you have the bass steady and the melody clean, you got it.
3. Record yourself. If you are like me, you will find out that the bass line needs lots of work.

Not posing as an expert on this; just sharing a beginner's viewpoint.

[MarkRhodes]

I find thumbpicks very uncomfortable. The style can definitely be played with a flat pick and fingers; here's proof:

Some stuff I needed to figure out early:

Chelsea Constable's really got it down. I was unfamiliar with her. Thanks for posting that.

I want to work on this more in 2018. It won't be my main style but I do want a half dozen "boom-chick" numbers in my repertoire. (That way, I should always have one I feel like playing when the mood strikes.)

Merle Travis was amazing at it, kept that thumb going all the time. "Cannonball Rag" is my far horizon for this style. One of these days... Chet was great but when the style becomes too polished, it loses part of iss charm (for me). I like Jerry Reed a lot too. Like Chet, he played a lot of nylon string guitar.

[neatomic]

two of the greatest pickers-

& revisited by the two years later!!

cheers

ps- dig maphis' mosely (mosrite) modded out gibby with legendary carvin ap-6 pickup!!..

[nopedals]

Scotty Anderson is not that well known, but he has taken this style about as far as it can go.

[MarkRhodes]

Merle could flatpick with a thumb pick, a skill which eludes me. Johnny Winter used a thumb pick and could play lightning fast blues-rock licks with it. That always left me shaking my head. "How in the heck...?"

[sgosnell]

Flatpicking with a thumbpick is no different than using a flat pick, at least to me. I can do that easily enough. I just can't thumbpick worth a darn.

[MarkRhodes]

Flatpicking with a thumbpick is no different than using a flat pick, at least to me. I can do that easily enough. I just can't thumbpick worth a darn.

It sure is different for me! Upstrokes are harder---the string is pulling the pick away from the thumb. Or so it feels.

[sgosnell]

You are holding the pick with your forefinger, like holding a flat pick, no? It does take a slightly different angle to get it to work.

[neatomic]

much depends on the actual thumbpick..hit a shop up that sells picks and get as many different thumbpicks as you can...(there's not that big a choice!!)...also where you "wear" it on your thumb makes a big difference...newbies tend to stick it on the the thumb tip end...it's comfortabe and feels natural there...but if you push it down closer to the thumb joint, it really changes play


picks have a break in time like anything else guitar related!! give'm time..don't get discouraged


cheers

[MarkRhodes]

You are holding the pick with your forefinger, like holding a flat pick, no? It does take a slightly different angle to get it to work.

Not lately, no. (I've been wearing finger picks on three fingers. Don't think that's a permanent change but it sure does enhance the volume and clarity of notes.) I can see where it would make a difference if I used the forefinger too, though I angle my flat pick in a way that I don't think a thumbpick would comfortably go.

For the record, I'm using a Fred Kelly Bumble Bee pick lately. Good pick. It's a pick with a loop, really. The pick is shaped like a Jazz III (but made of Delrin) and a loop attaches it to the thumb. It's the most comfortable thumb pick I've found.

Here's Fred Kelly himself demonstrating his Bumble Bee thumb pick (-he makes more conventional looking ones too) and his Freedom finger picks.

[sgosnell]

Well, ISTM that if you're not holding it like a flatpick, you're not playing it like a flatpick. Maybe we're talking about different things. Semantics can sometimes be important.

[neatomic]

been sportin mismatched nails on my hands for years..my left hand nails are cropped short as can be...no banging against the fretboard..poor rosewood!...but the right hand nails go long enough so that i can decide (on the fly) between fingertips or nails on the right hand fingerpicking

also don't mix your blues thumbpicking tradition ala johnny winter (who i saw & dug) and merle travis style..2 different styles requiring different thinking and hardware!! hah

my guy, james burton flatpicked, but used the remaining three fingers to fingerpick...probably about the fastest method i've heard...at least the way he does it!!! hah

cheers

[MarkRhodes]

Well, ISTM that if you're not holding it like a flatpick, you're not playing it like a flatpick. Maybe we're talking about different things. Semantics can sometimes be important.

Well, if I was going to use a thumbpick like a flat pick, I wouldn't use one at all. But I noticed that Merle Travis, who used a thumbpick the normal way, could also play fast single lines with a thumb pick when he wanted to. Joe Maphis too. But for both of them it looks like they have the same orientation of the pick to the strings. (Flat, not angled.) I can't even play fast that way with a flat pick! ;o) It may work well for others, but I can't hold a thumb pick the way I hold a flat pick, esp when I'm trying to play fast. Truly a case of "different strokes for different folks."

[sgosnell]

From the videos, it looks to me as if they both hold the thumbpick like a flatpick when they do that, and so did Chet and others, as far as I can see. But I may be wrong. I never saw any of them in the flesh. That's the way I do it, though, on the few times I use a thumbpick.

[Kirk Garrett]

Not lately, no. (I've been wearing finger picks on three fingers. Don't think that's a permanent change but it sure does enhance the volume and clarity of notes.) I can see where it would make a difference if I used the forefinger too, though I angle my flat pick in a way that I don't think a thumbpick would comfortably go.

For the record, I'm using a Fred Kelly Bumble Bee pick lately. Good pick. It's a pick with a loop, really. The pick is shaped like a Jazz III (but made of Delrin) and a loop attaches it to the thumb. It's the most comfortable thumb pick I've found.

Here's Fred Kelly himself demonstrating his Bumble Bee thumb pick (-he makes more conventional looking ones too) and his Freedom finger picks.

What a messy, scratchy, clanging clatter that is from those noise prosthetics. Oof


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[lawson-stone]

I've tried that, Lawson. I use my fingertips rather than nails---don't have nails---and they get sore pretty quick. It's not bad if I'm fingerpicking a jazzy blues or a standard, but rockabilly is pretty fast and I lose definition of notes. (It would help if I wasn't using flatwounds but I'm sticking with 'em for now.)

Nothing about this is etched in stone for me. I certainly have tried just-the-thumbpick. Never liked fingerpicks, though I'm using some Fred Kelly Freedom picks and they're the best I've found. Nice sound.

My nails are nothing great either, but I used finger picks (National steel picks, of course) for about 4 years before abandoning them. Kept clacking together and producing a lot of stray noise. I don't grow my nails out like a classical player, but just enough to not use the pad of the finger. Finger pads just don't produce a good attack, but a little bit of nail can. You keep the nails hard by trimming them every couple days, just shaving back a sliver somehow keeps the nails hard. I noticed this because one day i got aggravated that my left hand nails, that I clipped all the time, were hard as rocks, but the RH nails were soft and split. I decided maybe the trimming had something to do with it, and starting giving my RH nails a very slight trim and smoothing with an emory board every day or two, and the RH nails got stable.

There is also stuff you can apply to them, but I never got to the point of needing that.

[MarkRhodes]

my guy, james burton flatpicked, but used the remaining three fingers to fingerpick...probably about the fastest method i've heard...at least the way he does it!!! hah

He's wearing a fingerpick on his middle finger. I had heard he did that. Makes sense, if you're using a flat pick (-I mean, the middle finger is to a flat picker what the index would be to a thumb picker). "Tele-master" for sure. Great player, very creative. Love his playing on Merle Haggard's "Workin' Man Blues."

[neatomic]

yes haggard had roy nichols with him for years..highly rated picker in his own right (rip)..a legend....but when haggard went into the studio..he liked to have james burton in there!!!

who wouldn't?..from ricky nelson to elvis...presley & costello! haha

cheers

ps- burton pioneered super light strings..on his tele..using a banjo string for the high e and moving the rest of the strings up...in the 50's...ernie ball began his slinky strings company based on burtons set...08-38...or later 40