Travis Picking Tutorials and String Squeak

Another recent email:

Dear David,

First, thanks so much for the great lessons you have provided at Guitar Noise.

Second, is Leo Kottke a Travis style picker? I watch his videos and it seems that he is. Can you suggest any lessons (other than the obvious ones under fingerstyle of finger picking on GN) that may help me to become a better fingerstyle/Travis style guitarist?

Third, I live in a pretty dry area and seem to have major problems with string squeak. I currently have D’aquisto Tony Rice strings on my Guild D-50 (as you can see I love bluegrass guitar too). Will changing to coated strings like Elixirs solve/reduce the squeak? Do you have any suggestions beyond changing strings or suggestions for other strings?

Thanks again for all the great lessons and any advice. I really feel you all at GN have helped me become a better/more diversified player.

Very best regards,

Hello and thank you for writing. And thank you as well for your kind words concerning Guitar Noise.

Concerning online lessons about Travis picking (and yes, Leo Kottke uses a lot of Travis style picking in his playing) or just online lessons in general, I have to tell you that I don’t spend a lot of time on the Internet and haven’t gone looking around at other websites all that much, so I cannot direct you in that area. I can, though, recommend many books, particularly any by Mark Hanson. He has two books, in fact, that specifically study Leo Kottke’s style: The Music of Leo Kottke and Leo Kottke Transcribed, both available though Accent on Music Publishers. His book, Paul Simon Transcribed, was a huge help to me ages and ages ago. I can’t recommend his books enough.

Andrew DuBrock’s “Travis Picking“ does an excellent job teaching not only the basics of Travis picking but the intermediate and advanced techniques, too.

As far as “string squeak” goes, the nature of the guitar as an instrument means that there will always be some string squeak. Personally, I love the sound and think of it as part of the sound of any guitar. You can hear it in recorded music and it’s part of the personality.

Coated strings, such as Elixirs, can certainly help. But if you’re a vigorous flatpicker, you can also find yourself shredding the coating when you play, making the face of your guitar a bit of a mess!

Beyond the strings themselves, developing a lighter touch when sliding, being able to gracefully move up and down the fretboard without as little string contact as possible is something that you can certainly work on. This is something that takes time to get good at, though, and it’s very easy to get frustrated with a seeming lack of progress. I say “seeming,” because what usually happens is that, after much practicing, you one day wake up and you can move more lightly, creating less squeaks. And you think that it’s magic because you’ve totally forgotten that you’ve been working on it for ages!

In regard to all these questions, I’d like to also suggest you post a few queries on the Guitar Noise Forums. You’ll get a lot more ideas and read about more people’s first hand experiences and that will hopefully be even more helpful than I’ve been.

Please feel free to write anytime. I look forward to chatting with you again soon.

Peace

If you’ve got any questions, we at Guitar Noise are always happy to answer them. Just send any of your questions to David at [email protected]. He (or another Guitar Noise contributor) may not answer immediately but he will definitely answer!