Chords for Finger-picking basics ( 3 finger "Travis" style)

[C] _ _ [G] _ _ _ Hello, we're going to talk about basic finger picking now [B] and
[Em] the style [Abm] we're going to talk about first is _
[Bb] what people [G] mostly call Travis picking named after a famous guitar player Merle Travis _ and it uses
_ [E] two elements a steady [C] thumb _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
and
[E] then your fingers
_ _ [Ab] usually the first and the middle finger are playing either with [C] the thumb _ _ _ _ _ _ _ or
in between the thumb beats _ _ and
_ _ _ _ Then using those two elements you can create
[G] All [Am] _
[Em] _ _ [F] _ [C] _ [Em] _ _ _ _
_ _ that [G] crazy stuff.
So here's here's how to get going.
So I'm going to start with a C chord [C] and
_ _ If you find a C chord too difficult [Ab] because it is kind of a stretch for some people you can use [Eb] an a [Am] minor chord
_ But _ _ _ [B]
we're going to start with [A] your thumb and your thumb is going to be [Bb] playing [C] the a string
_ [G] And the D string I'm going to move a little closer here so you can see what my thumbs doing
So my thumb is going to be going like [C] this _ _
_ This is on a C chord _ just _ back and forth and evenly that is the key keep it even _ _
_ _ _ Okay _ _
then
_ What we're gonna do is we're going to pinch
[G] The first of four thumb beats we're going to pinch the second string with our middle finger _
_ [A] And then we're going to play the rest with just the thumb.
So here's what it [C] sounds like _ _ _ _
_ _ _ One _ _ two three
[E] Four.
I'll get closer so you [C] can see
_ _ _ pinch two three _ four _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
Thumb is steady
_ Okay. _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [G] Now the next thing we're going to do
[D] We're going to [C] start with that
_ And _ _ now after the second [D] beat the thumb has hit the D [E] string
After that, [A] we're going to take our middle finger and we're going to [G] play the
_ Open G string so we get this
[C] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ pinch
_ thumb index thumb
_ Thumb.
_ Okay, so I'm going to start from the beginning just the thumb
Then _ _ _ _ _ _ I'm going to include the pinch on the first beat
_ Now _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [B] I'm going to [C] include
_ _ _ _ The _ _ index finger on
_ between beats two and three
_ _ One two and three
_ Okay, _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [G] shake that hand [A] out.
Give it a break _
Now we're going to put in the last note, which is going to be between beats three and four and that's [C] going to be
_ back to the B string
And that's going to sound like this
So _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ real [G] slowly we have
_ [C] pinch thumb and middle finger and thumb
then thumb _
index on the G string
_ thumb on the low A
_ _ middle finger on the B and
Finish up with thumb on the D string
So _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ again, I'll build it up [Ab] for you from just the thumb
[C] _ _ _ _
Now _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ pinch on the first beat one two three
_ Now _ _ _ _ thumb after the second beat.
What am [Em] I saying index [A] finger after the [C] second beat
_ One two and three four
_ one two and three _
_ _ Finally _ _ between beats three and four middle _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ finger. _
_ _ _ _ _ _ Okay.
So here's the whole pick again
_ _ _ That's _ _ on the middle four strings and that would work [Am] for A minor _ _ [C] C
_ _ _ [Am] _ [B] _ _ [C] _ _
_ [G] _ _ _ [Am] _ _ _ _
[G] _ _ _ [C] _ _ _ G _ [G] over B, which looks like the _ _
[Ab] A [Am] minor
_ _ _ [G] _ [Bm] _
_ _ _ _ [G] _ And
If you've switched to other chords like D you do the same pattern but on the first four strings
So your thumb is now [D] playing on the D string _
_ Now _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ the only time we do anything weird is when we have
Chords [E] with their root note on the low E string like an E minor chord
Your thumb would play the low E and then skip over to the D _ _ _ _ _
_ _ And your fingers would do just what they did on the
C [B] chord and they would play the [G] B string and the G string so [Em] you get this
For _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [G] G as well
Okay, _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ so [C] there you go C _ [G] G
_ _ _ [D] _ _ _ _
_ _ [C] _ [G] _ Okay, [C] _ _