Common Fingerpicking Patterns Part 3

Applying common fingerpicking patterns to simple chord progressions. Part 4 of 5.

In this third segment, we will look at a pattern called travis picking. This is used in a lot of different songs, most notably 'Dust in the Wind' by Kansas. That's a title that we have at iVideosongs incidentally. So, if you wanted to apply this concept, you could check that video out. Travis picking is a very Bizzy kind of arpeggiated sound. So, it has a real bass heavy type of feel to it. So that should sound familiar to you. So, let's look at the exact right-hand fingering and then we will apply it to a chord progression. In this case, I am still assigning right-hand fingers but rather than my index, middle and ring fingers being on the higher strings, in this case, the ring finger is ending up on the second string and that can change depending on the chord that you are on or the voicing that you want but they'll still be assigned to strings and the thumb will still be on the root note of the chord that you are on. So, in this case, with a C Major chord, I will have the thumb on the fifth string and the ring finger on the second string and those will strike simultaneously. Then I will go to the index finger on the fourth string, middle finger on the third string, then back to the thumb on the fifth string. Then hitting with the ring finger again on the second string and then hitting the index on the fourth and the middle on the third. So, slowly it will look like that. Then in some cases, you can shift these fingers back up; the ring, middle and index fingers to the first, second and third string for a little bit of a different sound. So, I will start back here on the second string and then as we get further in our progression when I get to the E Minor chord, I will shift those fingers up. So, the chords that we will be looking at will be a C Major, we will then put a B in the bass, so C Major over B. So, this is like a bass walk down figure, go into an A Minor 7 and again, G in the bass for an A Minor 7 over G, go into an F Major, E Minor, back to F Major and then to G Major. So altogether that will sound like this. So, you can hear that that's a nice Bizzy sound that really accentuates the bass notes. So, in our next segments, we will look at some more patterns that use multiple strings at the same time. I will start with the thumb on the bass note which in this case is on the fifth string and I will pluck that simultaneously with my ring finger on the second string. So, the first chord is just a C Major, then we will go to a C Major 7, this is made by just lifting up your first finger.