Fingerpicking Guitar for Intermediate Guitarists
Lesson: Carter Picking and Travis Picking
Apr 27, 2009
Fingerpicking is not easy. No one will ever say that it is. But fingerpicking is an integral lesson to learn on the guitar if the guitarist has any plans on progressing past the beginner level.
Hopefully, the guitarist is already familiar with the basics of finger picking, hand position, finger/string assignment, and arpeggios. This article discusses techniques for the intermediate player: Carter Family Picking and Travis Picking.
Lesson One: Fingerpicking vs. Flatpicking
Folk and Blues guitarists use both fingerpicking and flatpicking styles (using a pick). Finger picking creates a multilayered sound which is excellent for producing melodies and harmonies on an acoustic guitar. Flatpicking is more common, and is useful for rhythm comping and accompanying a singer.
The beginner guitarist is hopefully familiar with flatpicking, as that is the most common style for modern guitar and is much easier. The guitarist holds the pick between his thumb and first two fingers, strums, and repeats.
Fingerpicking is much more difficult, but it is more versatile. A master picker can produce a melodic lead, harmonies for it, a baseline and even some imitation drum work. Fingerpicking is the sound that sets folk guitar apart from Rock, Country, and Metal (although there are many fingerpickers in these genres as well, especially Progressive Metal). Listen to folk guitarists such as Jorma Kaukonen, Kaki King, and Leo Kotke for examples.
In short, the beginner guitarist should start out flatpicking. Once the guitarist feels comfortable with chord changes and keeping rhythm, he should start fingerpicking.
Lesson Two: Carter Picking
There are two common fingerpicking techniques that the intermediate folk guitarist should learn. They are the Carter Family Style and the Travis Style. Both of these patterns are so common that the guitarist will recognize them immediately.
Carter Picking (also called thumb-brush picking) was popularized by the legendary Country group, The Carter Family. It is a highly rhythmic pattern that is based on frailing techniques for banjo. The bassline is accentuated in Carter Picking, and often the melody with be played in the low strings (D, A, and Low E).
The rhythm is the same as a classic bass-snare attack on the drums. The guitarist picks the bass note on the 1st and 3rd beats and strikes the high strings on the 2nd and 4th.
The bass note alternates between strings. The high strings are struck with the back of the fingernails traditionally, as if the guitarist is knocking on a door. Beginners may feel more comfortable picking up with the flesh of their fingers instead, as it is a similar movement to strumming with a pick.
Observe below, in a diagram of a C chord using Carter Picking.
E -------------0------------0---------------0------------0-------------------------------
B -------------1------------1---------------1------------1-------------------------------
G -------------0------------0---------------0------------0-------------------------------
D --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A ----0-2-3------------------------3-----------------------------------------------------
E --3--------------3------------------------------3---------------------------------------
Lesson Three: Travis Picking
Travis Picking was created by groundbreaking guitarist Merle Travis. It is a bit more complex than Carter Picking, and should be learned only after mastering Carter Picking.
Travis Picking begins by pinching (striking two strings at once) the bass string and the high E string. Then the guitarist picks out a pattern on the treble strings (E, B, and G). The pattern can be of the guitarist’s choice (usually once that reinforces the melody ), but it is a repeating pattern. The bass line alternates as with Carter Picking. Embellishments such as hammer ons and pick offs are often added.
An example of basic Travis Picking is below, used on a C chord with a swing rhythm. This is just one of many different variations on Travis Picking.
E -----0------------------------------------0------------------------------------------
B ---------------1------------------1---------------------1------------------1---------
G ----------0-----------------0---------------------0-----------------0-----------------
D ---------------------2-----------------------------------------2------------------------
A -----3------------------------------------3--------------------------------------------
E -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
……..1 and …a… 2.….and…a…….3 ….and….a…. 4.….and …a
Although fingerpicking is associated with Folk and Blues music, learning fingerpicking is a useful lesson no matter what style is being played. Being able to play multiple musical lines will add complexity to any Rock and Country music, and the speed learned from fingerpicking will turn guitar solos into sonic lightning.
 |
