Fingerpicking No. 1 — Travis picking

Note after Note · Level 3 (Late beginner) · study · Guitar, sheet music and tablature

The folk/country fingerpicking style: the thumb alternates two bass notes on every beat while index and middle play between the beats.

▶ Play this piece with the interactive score

How to practise it

• Listen first: the site plays it while the score scrolls.
• Wait mode: the score waits for you at every note, at your own pace.
• Tempo challenge: play in time, with a score and a map of the bars you got right.
• Start with the thumb alone (bass 1, bass 2) until it is automatic, then add the fingers. Beat one is a “pinch”: thumb + middle finger.

More pieces by Note after Note

• Raga in open D
• Thumb blues in open G
• Little rag in C
• Pastorale in open C
• Lament in D (drop D)
• Valley walk (fingerpicking in C)
• Appalachian hoedown in open D
• Dr. Ragtime rag in open G