Alright, we are going to take some of the Travis picking techniques that you have learned and we are going to use them in a song called “Railroad Bill”.
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It is an old favorite amongst the “Folkees” from the 60’s. It goes
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So as you can see, this is just your basic Travis pattern. You are old
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Two and three and four. One and two and three and four. The first part, you are just playing a C chord but you are going to add your pinkie at the 3rd fret on the 1st string.
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The same thing again and again
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Now, lift up your pinkie on your left hand. Now, things begin to get interesting. You are going to play an E7 like this, just like a regular E major with your pinkie at the 3rd fret on the 2nd string. Now watch, the first time that you do it, your middle finger is on the 1st string, thumb on the 6th, index on the 2nd, thumb on the 3rd, middle on the 1st, thumb on the 6th, index on the 2nd, thumb on the 3rd.
The second time through, you are going to move down, your middle finger is going to start on the 2nd string, index on the 3rd, thumb on the 4th, middle back to the 1st string, thumb on the 6th, index on the 3rd, thumb on the 3rd. Watch this
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That is the first major
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Second major
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Let us look at the 2nd major for a second. You are going
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So, just be careful with that transition because all of the sudden, your middle finger has to move to a slightly different string. But, it sounds great. You get this kind of this credence effect.
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And then you do that. And then, you are going to go to your F chord. Once again, using your thumb in the root and here is why you are using your thumb in the root so you can get this extra note.
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The pinkie goes
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The pinkie lands at the third fret on the 2nd string. Watch this again, first major, just
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Pinkie down
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Back to a regular C chord to a G chord but your finger is going to be at the 3rd fret on the 2nd string.
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Now, in the 2nd last major, for the first time, we are going to use something called alternating bass where instead of your thumb, just go like
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On that, watch, you are going to be going
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Five to four to six and when you move to the 6th string, your third finger moves to the 3rd fret on the 6th string and then you strum the last chord which is like
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And perspective, here we go. It goes
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Once again, I will slow that down. Middle finger on the 2nd string, thumb on the 5th
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Index on the 3rd, thumb on the 4th and along the 2nd, thumb on the 6th, index on the 3rd, thumb on the 4th and C chord.
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