Chords for The Legendary Picking Pattern Every Ukulele Player Should Learn (Travis Picking)
Tempo:
88.75 bpm
Chords used:
G
C
D
Em
Gm
Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
Start Jamming...
[G]
What's up beautiful people?
Welcome back to another ukulele lesson.
Tenor ukulele with
the high G, my favorite thing.
[F] And today we're going to talk about the Travis [G] picking technique.
It sounds like this.
[Em] [C]
[D] [G]
[Em] [C]
[D]
The Travis picking technique [G] was made popular by Merle Travis, a country
guitar player and a singer-songwriter.
So he was using it on a six strings guitar.
Now
we only have four strings, but we can still use this technique.
With the Travis picking
technique, the thumb plucks two strings.
One, two, three, [Gm] four.
One, two, three, four.
[C] So
no matter which chord you play, you always want to have the thumb on two strings.
In
this case, [G] the fourth and the third string.
And it's always on the beat.
The awesome thing
about the Travis picking technique is how the thumb and the fingers go together rhythmically.
With the thumb, we always pluck on the beat like this.
Three, four.
One, two, three, four.
One, two, three, four.
We're also going to add the index finger, which is going to play
on the beat, but also on the offbeat like this.
One, two, three and four and one, two,
three and four and one, two, three and four and one, two, three and four and one.
Now
the rhythmic relationship between the thumb and the index finger is just awesome and it
creates this rhythmic, beautiful thing when we play chords.
Now let's take a look at the
chord progression.
We are in a key of G major.
We're going to be playing a G major chord.
Very simple.
An E minor [Em] chord.
A C major chord.
[C]
And the last one, a D add 11 [G] chord.
[D] So first
step, just familiarize yourself with the chords.
[Em] [C]
[D] [G] Once we have the chords, we can then implement
the Travis picking technique.
We're going to start with the thumb.
Remember that no
matter which chord you are playing, you always want to pluck the fourth [Gm] and the third string.
So I really recommend that you practice the chords like this.
You want to put down the
full chord and you do the chord change, but you only pluck with the thumb.
One, two, three,
four.
One, two, three, four.
One, two, three, four.
[C#] Second chord, three, four.
One, two.
The C major.
[C] And one, two, three, four.
One, two, three.
[G] And a D add 11.
Two.
One more time.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
[Em] One, two, three, four, five, [E] six, seven, eight.
[C] One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
[G] One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
Now once you have the thumb movement, you can then add the index finger.
And this is when things get a little bit more challenging,
since we have to put these two fingers together.
Now, the first movement is always the same.
We're just going to have the thumb on the fourth string.
The second time we pluck, we're going to have the thumb on the third string and the index on the first.
I'm practicing the pattern on the G major chord.
So we have thumb, and then we have thumb and index.
Thumb on the third and index on the first, together.
Then we're going to have thumb again on the fourth, index on the second, thumb on the third, [D] and [Gm] index on the first.
Let me do it slowly.
Thumb, thumb and index.
Thumb, index, thumb, index.
[G]
Now I'm repeating this pattern twice.
And it doesn't matter which chord we are playing, we're going to keep the same pattern.
So the G major chord, E [Em] minor, [C] C major, D add [D] 11.
[G] Now the cool thing is that when you are able to play it faster, you can really appreciate how rhythmically cool the Travis picking is, because it sounds like this.
The [Em]
[C] [D]
[G] cool thing is that the Travis picking technique is so versatile that it can be implemented with a lot of other musical elements.
For example, a melody.
So we don't have to necessarily just keep going with the plucking pattern over and over again.
We could use it in combination with a melody, like this.
[Em] [C]
[D] [G]
So how do we do that?
Well, we're going to have one Travis picking pattern, so the chord progression is the same.
But then we have the fourth string played with the thumb, and then a melody.
We're using beautiful thirds.
So I'm playing the first string and the second string, fret number 2 and 3, [F] 3 and 5, and 5 and 7.
It's a beautiful thing.
We can do the same thing with the second chord, the E minor.
Travis picking, [Em]
and then the melody.
Start with the thumb, [G] and the same thirds.
[G] The C major chord, [C] Travis [G] picking and then bass, and the melody, this time with single notes.
3, 5, [C] 7, and [D] the D add 11,
[G] and the melody.
So we play with the thumb, [F#] and then the melody on the second string, fret number 2, [G]
[Am] 0.
[G]
[Em]
[C] [D]
[G] Now we can finish the exercise with a different phrase, which I think sounds pretty good and quite conclusive for this exercise.
We're coming from the D add 11, [D] the melody, and then we [G] have
[B] It's just the melody on the first string.
It's on the fret number 2, 3, [G] 5, 7, 5, 7, 9, [C] and 10.
[G]
But we are going to alternate the fourth string to each one of these notes.
So coming from the D add 11, you have the chords, the melody, [D] [G] and then you have the
The first note is actually played with the thumb.
[C]
[G]
[Em] [D] [G]
[D]
[C] Enjoy this awesome technique, and I'll
What's up beautiful people?
Welcome back to another ukulele lesson.
Tenor ukulele with
the high G, my favorite thing.
[F] And today we're going to talk about the Travis [G] picking technique.
It sounds like this.
[Em] [C]
[D] [G]
[Em] [C]
[D]
The Travis picking technique [G] was made popular by Merle Travis, a country
guitar player and a singer-songwriter.
So he was using it on a six strings guitar.
Now
we only have four strings, but we can still use this technique.
With the Travis picking
technique, the thumb plucks two strings.
One, two, three, [Gm] four.
One, two, three, four.
[C] So
no matter which chord you play, you always want to have the thumb on two strings.
In
this case, [G] the fourth and the third string.
And it's always on the beat.
The awesome thing
about the Travis picking technique is how the thumb and the fingers go together rhythmically.
With the thumb, we always pluck on the beat like this.
Three, four.
One, two, three, four.
One, two, three, four.
We're also going to add the index finger, which is going to play
on the beat, but also on the offbeat like this.
One, two, three and four and one, two,
three and four and one, two, three and four and one, two, three and four and one.
Now
the rhythmic relationship between the thumb and the index finger is just awesome and it
creates this rhythmic, beautiful thing when we play chords.
Now let's take a look at the
chord progression.
We are in a key of G major.
We're going to be playing a G major chord.
Very simple.
An E minor [Em] chord.
A C major chord.
[C]
And the last one, a D add 11 [G] chord.
[D] So first
step, just familiarize yourself with the chords.
[Em] [C]
[D] [G] Once we have the chords, we can then implement
the Travis picking technique.
We're going to start with the thumb.
Remember that no
matter which chord you are playing, you always want to pluck the fourth [Gm] and the third string.
So I really recommend that you practice the chords like this.
You want to put down the
full chord and you do the chord change, but you only pluck with the thumb.
One, two, three,
four.
One, two, three, four.
One, two, three, four.
[C#] Second chord, three, four.
One, two.
The C major.
[C] And one, two, three, four.
One, two, three.
[G] And a D add 11.
Two.
One more time.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
[Em] One, two, three, four, five, [E] six, seven, eight.
[C] One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
[G] One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
Now once you have the thumb movement, you can then add the index finger.
And this is when things get a little bit more challenging,
since we have to put these two fingers together.
Now, the first movement is always the same.
We're just going to have the thumb on the fourth string.
The second time we pluck, we're going to have the thumb on the third string and the index on the first.
I'm practicing the pattern on the G major chord.
So we have thumb, and then we have thumb and index.
Thumb on the third and index on the first, together.
Then we're going to have thumb again on the fourth, index on the second, thumb on the third, [D] and [Gm] index on the first.
Let me do it slowly.
Thumb, thumb and index.
Thumb, index, thumb, index.
[G]
Now I'm repeating this pattern twice.
And it doesn't matter which chord we are playing, we're going to keep the same pattern.
So the G major chord, E [Em] minor, [C] C major, D add [D] 11.
[G] Now the cool thing is that when you are able to play it faster, you can really appreciate how rhythmically cool the Travis picking is, because it sounds like this.
The [Em]
[C] [D]
[G] cool thing is that the Travis picking technique is so versatile that it can be implemented with a lot of other musical elements.
For example, a melody.
So we don't have to necessarily just keep going with the plucking pattern over and over again.
We could use it in combination with a melody, like this.
[Em] [C]
[D] [G]
So how do we do that?
Well, we're going to have one Travis picking pattern, so the chord progression is the same.
But then we have the fourth string played with the thumb, and then a melody.
We're using beautiful thirds.
So I'm playing the first string and the second string, fret number 2 and 3, [F] 3 and 5, and 5 and 7.
It's a beautiful thing.
We can do the same thing with the second chord, the E minor.
Travis picking, [Em]
and then the melody.
Start with the thumb, [G] and the same thirds.
[G] The C major chord, [C] Travis [G] picking and then bass, and the melody, this time with single notes.
3, 5, [C] 7, and [D] the D add 11,
[G] and the melody.
So we play with the thumb, [F#] and then the melody on the second string, fret number 2, [G]
[Am] 0.
[G]
[Em]
[C] [D]
[G] Now we can finish the exercise with a different phrase, which I think sounds pretty good and quite conclusive for this exercise.
We're coming from the D add 11, [D] the melody, and then we [G] have
[B] It's just the melody on the first string.
It's on the fret number 2, 3, [G] 5, 7, 5, 7, 9, [C] and 10.
[G]
But we are going to alternate the fourth string to each one of these notes.
So coming from the D add 11, you have the chords, the melody, [D] [G] and then you have the
The first note is actually played with the thumb.
[C]
[G]
[Em] [D] [G]
[D]
[C] Enjoy this awesome technique, and I'll
Key:
G
C
D
Em
Gm
G
C
D
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [G] _
_ _ _ What's up beautiful people?
Welcome back to another ukulele lesson.
Tenor ukulele with
the high G, my favorite thing.
[F] And today we're going to talk about the Travis [G] picking technique.
It sounds like this. _
_ _ _ [Em] _ _ _ _ [C] _
_ _ _ [D] _ _ _ _ [G] _
_ _ _ [Em] _ _ _ _ [C] _
_ _ _ [D] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ The Travis picking technique [G] was made popular by Merle Travis, a country
guitar player and a singer-songwriter.
So he was using it on a six strings guitar.
Now
we only have four strings, but we can still use this technique.
With the Travis picking
technique, the thumb plucks two strings.
One, two, three, [Gm] four.
One, two, three, four.
[C] So
no matter which chord you play, you always want to have the thumb on two strings.
In
this case, [G] the fourth and the third string.
And it's always on the beat.
The awesome thing
about the Travis picking technique is how the thumb and the fingers go together rhythmically.
With the thumb, we always pluck on the beat like this.
Three, four.
One, two, three, four.
One, two, three, four.
We're also going to add the index finger, which is going to play
on the beat, but also on the offbeat like this.
One, two, three and four and one, two,
three and four and one, two, three and four and one, two, _ three and four and one.
Now
the rhythmic relationship between the thumb and the index finger is just awesome and it
creates this rhythmic, beautiful thing when we play chords.
Now let's take a look at the
chord progression.
We are in a key of G major.
We're going to be playing a G major chord.
Very simple.
An E minor [Em] chord.
_ _ A C major chord.
[C] _ _
And the last one, a D add 11 [G] chord. _
[D] _ _ So first
step, just familiarize yourself with the chords.
_ _ _ [Em] _ _ _ [C] _ _
_ [D] _ _ _ _ [G] _ Once we have the chords, we can then implement
the Travis picking technique.
We're going to start with the thumb.
Remember that no
matter which chord you are playing, you always want to pluck the fourth [Gm] and the third string.
So I really recommend that you practice the chords like this.
You want to put down the
full chord and you do the chord change, but you only pluck with the thumb.
One, two, three,
four.
One, two, three, four.
One, two, three, four.
[C#] Second chord, three, four.
One, two.
The C major.
[C] And one, two, three, four.
One, two, three.
[G] And a D add 11.
_ Two.
One more time.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
[Em] One, two, three, four, five, [E] six, seven, eight.
[C] One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
[G] One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
Now once you have the thumb movement, you can then add the index finger.
And this is when things get a little bit more challenging,
since we have to put these two fingers together.
Now, the first movement is always the same.
We're just going to have the thumb on the fourth string.
The second time we pluck, we're going to have the thumb on the third string and the index on the first.
I'm practicing the pattern on the G major chord.
So we have thumb, and then we have thumb and index.
Thumb on the third and index on the first, together.
Then we're going to have thumb again on the fourth, _ _ index on the second, _ _ _ _ thumb on the third, [D] _ and [Gm] index on the first.
Let me do it slowly.
_ Thumb, thumb and index. _
Thumb, _ index, thumb, _ index.
_ [G] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Now I'm repeating this pattern twice.
And it doesn't matter which chord we are playing, we're going to keep the same pattern.
So the G major chord, _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ E [Em] minor, _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [C] C major, _ _ _ _ _ _ _ D add [D] 11. _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [G] Now the cool thing is that when you are able to play it faster, you can really appreciate how rhythmically cool the Travis picking is, because it sounds like this.
The _ _ _ [Em] _ _
_ _ [C] _ _ _ _ [D] _ _
_ _ [G] _ _ _ cool thing is that the Travis picking technique is so versatile that it can be implemented with a lot of other musical elements.
For example, a melody.
So we don't have to necessarily just keep going with the plucking pattern over and over again.
We could use it in combination with a melody, like this. _ _ _ _
_ [Em] _ _ _ _ [C] _ _ _
_ [D] _ _ _ _ [G] _ _ _
So how do we do that?
Well, we're going to have one Travis picking pattern, so the chord progression is the same. _ _ _ _
But then we have the fourth string played with the thumb, and then a melody.
We're using beautiful thirds.
So I'm playing the first string and the second string, fret number 2 and 3, _ _ [F] 3 and 5, and 5 and 7.
It's a beautiful thing.
We _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ can do the same thing with the second chord, the E minor.
_ Travis picking, _ [Em] _ _
_ _ and then the melody.
Start with the thumb, [G] and the same thirds.
_ _ [G] _ The C major chord, [C] _ _ _ _ _ Travis [G] picking and then bass, and the melody, this time with single notes.
3, 5, [C] 7, and [D] the D add 11, _
_ _ _ [G] _ and the melody.
So we play with the thumb, [F#] and then the melody on the second string, fret number 2, _ [G] _
[Am] 0.
_ [G] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [Em] _ _
_ _ [C] _ _ _ _ [D] _ _
_ _ [G] _ _ Now we can finish the exercise with a different phrase, which I think sounds pretty good and quite conclusive for this exercise.
We're coming from the D add 11, [D] _ the melody, and then we [G] have_ _ _ _ _ _
_ [B] It's just the melody on the first string. _
It's on the fret number 2, 3, [G] 5, 7, 5, 7, 9, [C] and 10.
_ [G]
But we are going to alternate the fourth string to each one of these notes.
So coming from the D add 11, you have the chords, _ _ the melody, _ [D] _ [G] and then you have the_
The first note is actually played with the thumb.
_ _ _ _ [C] _
_ _ [G] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [Em] _ _ _ [D] _ _ [G] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [D] _ _
_ [C] _ _ Enjoy this awesome technique, and I'll
_ _ _ What's up beautiful people?
Welcome back to another ukulele lesson.
Tenor ukulele with
the high G, my favorite thing.
[F] And today we're going to talk about the Travis [G] picking technique.
It sounds like this. _
_ _ _ [Em] _ _ _ _ [C] _
_ _ _ [D] _ _ _ _ [G] _
_ _ _ [Em] _ _ _ _ [C] _
_ _ _ [D] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ The Travis picking technique [G] was made popular by Merle Travis, a country
guitar player and a singer-songwriter.
So he was using it on a six strings guitar.
Now
we only have four strings, but we can still use this technique.
With the Travis picking
technique, the thumb plucks two strings.
One, two, three, [Gm] four.
One, two, three, four.
[C] So
no matter which chord you play, you always want to have the thumb on two strings.
In
this case, [G] the fourth and the third string.
And it's always on the beat.
The awesome thing
about the Travis picking technique is how the thumb and the fingers go together rhythmically.
With the thumb, we always pluck on the beat like this.
Three, four.
One, two, three, four.
One, two, three, four.
We're also going to add the index finger, which is going to play
on the beat, but also on the offbeat like this.
One, two, three and four and one, two,
three and four and one, two, three and four and one, two, _ three and four and one.
Now
the rhythmic relationship between the thumb and the index finger is just awesome and it
creates this rhythmic, beautiful thing when we play chords.
Now let's take a look at the
chord progression.
We are in a key of G major.
We're going to be playing a G major chord.
Very simple.
An E minor [Em] chord.
_ _ A C major chord.
[C] _ _
And the last one, a D add 11 [G] chord. _
[D] _ _ So first
step, just familiarize yourself with the chords.
_ _ _ [Em] _ _ _ [C] _ _
_ [D] _ _ _ _ [G] _ Once we have the chords, we can then implement
the Travis picking technique.
We're going to start with the thumb.
Remember that no
matter which chord you are playing, you always want to pluck the fourth [Gm] and the third string.
So I really recommend that you practice the chords like this.
You want to put down the
full chord and you do the chord change, but you only pluck with the thumb.
One, two, three,
four.
One, two, three, four.
One, two, three, four.
[C#] Second chord, three, four.
One, two.
The C major.
[C] And one, two, three, four.
One, two, three.
[G] And a D add 11.
_ Two.
One more time.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
[Em] One, two, three, four, five, [E] six, seven, eight.
[C] One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
[G] One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
Now once you have the thumb movement, you can then add the index finger.
And this is when things get a little bit more challenging,
since we have to put these two fingers together.
Now, the first movement is always the same.
We're just going to have the thumb on the fourth string.
The second time we pluck, we're going to have the thumb on the third string and the index on the first.
I'm practicing the pattern on the G major chord.
So we have thumb, and then we have thumb and index.
Thumb on the third and index on the first, together.
Then we're going to have thumb again on the fourth, _ _ index on the second, _ _ _ _ thumb on the third, [D] _ and [Gm] index on the first.
Let me do it slowly.
_ Thumb, thumb and index. _
Thumb, _ index, thumb, _ index.
_ [G] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Now I'm repeating this pattern twice.
And it doesn't matter which chord we are playing, we're going to keep the same pattern.
So the G major chord, _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ E [Em] minor, _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [C] C major, _ _ _ _ _ _ _ D add [D] 11. _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [G] Now the cool thing is that when you are able to play it faster, you can really appreciate how rhythmically cool the Travis picking is, because it sounds like this.
The _ _ _ [Em] _ _
_ _ [C] _ _ _ _ [D] _ _
_ _ [G] _ _ _ cool thing is that the Travis picking technique is so versatile that it can be implemented with a lot of other musical elements.
For example, a melody.
So we don't have to necessarily just keep going with the plucking pattern over and over again.
We could use it in combination with a melody, like this. _ _ _ _
_ [Em] _ _ _ _ [C] _ _ _
_ [D] _ _ _ _ [G] _ _ _
So how do we do that?
Well, we're going to have one Travis picking pattern, so the chord progression is the same. _ _ _ _
But then we have the fourth string played with the thumb, and then a melody.
We're using beautiful thirds.
So I'm playing the first string and the second string, fret number 2 and 3, _ _ [F] 3 and 5, and 5 and 7.
It's a beautiful thing.
We _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ can do the same thing with the second chord, the E minor.
_ Travis picking, _ [Em] _ _
_ _ and then the melody.
Start with the thumb, [G] and the same thirds.
_ _ [G] _ The C major chord, [C] _ _ _ _ _ Travis [G] picking and then bass, and the melody, this time with single notes.
3, 5, [C] 7, and [D] the D add 11, _
_ _ _ [G] _ and the melody.
So we play with the thumb, [F#] and then the melody on the second string, fret number 2, _ [G] _
[Am] 0.
_ [G] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [Em] _ _
_ _ [C] _ _ _ _ [D] _ _
_ _ [G] _ _ Now we can finish the exercise with a different phrase, which I think sounds pretty good and quite conclusive for this exercise.
We're coming from the D add 11, [D] _ the melody, and then we [G] have_ _ _ _ _ _
_ [B] It's just the melody on the first string. _
It's on the fret number 2, 3, [G] 5, 7, 5, 7, 9, [C] and 10.
_ [G]
But we are going to alternate the fourth string to each one of these notes.
So coming from the D add 11, you have the chords, _ _ the melody, _ [D] _ [G] and then you have the_
The first note is actually played with the thumb.
_ _ _ _ [C] _
_ _ [G] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [Em] _ _ _ [D] _ _ [G] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [D] _ _
_ [C] _ _ Enjoy this awesome technique, and I'll