I'm a first year guitar student and my teacher just started me last week on Travis picking, something I'm VERY interested in. He wants me to use my thumb on the E, A, & D strings, index on the G, middle on the B, ring on the high E basically without exception. Most people I see Travis picking (including in the Mark Hanson Art of Contemporary Travis Picking book I just got) use those "home" positions on chords like the G, but on a D chord, for example, use the thumb to pick the D & G strings to continue that alternating thumb pattern. My teacher thinks it's better (says it will avoid problems later) to stay with the finger assigned to each string (thumb on D, index on G, etc). In the pattern we're starting with, a D chord pattern would be 4,1,3,2 with the index playing the 3 (G) string instead of the thumb.
Should I just stick with my teacher and ignore the book or how would you do it? I want to develop good habits on this right from the start.
All the leading examining boards recommend what your teacher has suggested, but Travis picking doesn't come up in Grade exams.
You should ask your teacher to demonstrate how he would have you Travis pick a chord of D, and then talk about alternative fingerings used by other players; could be an interesting conversation.
"Be good at what you can do" - Fingerbanger"
I have always felt that it is better to do what is beautiful than what is 'right'" - Eliot Fisk
Wedding music and guitar lessons in Essex. Listen at: http://www.rollmopmusic.co.uk
We'll do that! I thought it might be easier to have an alternating base using the thumb no matter where the chord, but I can see how having specific finger on a specific string has its advantages too. My teacher went to the Berklee School of Music too so I figured he didn't just fall off the turnip truck.
My teacher went to the Berklee School of Music too so I figured he didn't just fall off the turnip truck.
So he's classically trained then, which explains why he's adopting a classical hand position. He should be able to explain quite clearly how he sees it working.
"Be good at what you can do" - Fingerbanger"
I have always felt that it is better to do what is beautiful than what is 'right'" - Eliot Fisk
Wedding music and guitar lessons in Essex. Listen at: http://www.rollmopmusic.co.uk
With his classical training, he's a electric guitar player in a Southern Rock cover band in Atlanta called Sweetwater Junction! lol
