What is ‘Travis picking’?
While firmly rooted in traditional folk music, country music has always been easily distinguishable from its counterpart due to the significantly different style in which it is played. Of course, there are some thematic overlaps in the subject matter of the songs, often retelling stories of blue-collar workers and class struggles primarily in American society, but the way in which it began to merge with blues and gospel styles as early as the 1920s was a significant marker in determining the difference between these two related genres.
In the early years of country, there were many notable artists who would enjoy success, with Vernon Dalhart being the first country artist to have a hit record in the US with ‘Wreck of the Old 97’ in 1924. Following him were acts such as The Carter Family, Roy Acuff and Uncle Dave Macon, who gained notoriety into the 1940s and ‘50s, which is when the genre would also begin to evolve and become associated with its use in westerns.
With large amounts of country music originating in the southern states of America, some of the styles formed in the genre came specifically from traditions handed down through generations specific to a region, with different states having noticeably different playing techniques. The fingerpicking style that many might associate with country music was considered to have originated in Kentucky, with blues musician Arnold Schultz having passed his technique onto other players such as Mose Rager and Ike Everly.
However, one notable player who would become a major proponent of the fingerpicking style thanks to the teachings of Schultz was Merle Travis. A naturally gifted guitarist from Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, Travis began his career in the late 1930s, regularly performing on radio stations in the southern and midwestern states and gaining attention for his seemingly unique and effortless guitar-playing style.
While he wasn’t the originator of the fingerpicking style that has gone on to become a staple feature of country music even into the modern era, it has often become known as ‘Travis picking’ in his honour. Due to Schultz having never been recorded as a musician, there is little evidence that shows his interpretation of the style that he innovated and passed onto Travis, but even still, there is plenty there to argue that it ought to be referred to by his name.
What exactly is ‘Travis picking’?
Despite having been invented by Schultz and then passed onto Travis, it was the latter who popularised the playing technique and gave his name to the style. Continuing to perform on radio stations in the 1940s and ‘50s, Travis would also gain notoriety for his roles in westerns and television appearances while achieving some chart success from the records he released.
His first album, Folk Songs of the Hills, released in 1947, was a revolutionary example of this playing style that added extra complexity and layers of melody within country music compositions and saw Travis mix his own original songs and rearranged versions of traditional tunes. Among his own compositions were ‘Sixteen Tons’ and ‘Dark as a Dungeon’, both of which became country music standards in the years after.
But what exactly was the playing style that Travis popularised? Fingerstyle guitar picking mostly revolves around picking alternating bass notes on the guitar’s two lowest register strings – E and A in standard tuning – with the thumb and then using the index and middle fingers to play the treble notes while also ‘plucking’ or strumming the notes.
When broken down in this manner, it sounds remarkably simple, but Travis would often go further than this and complicate the style even more. Usually using a banjo pick over his thumb, he would sometimes eschew the alternating bass pattern in favour of a strummed style, which would create a different rhythmic effect.
Travis’ style would later go on to be used by many future legends of country music Scotty Moore, Earl Hooker, and fellow Kentucky native John Prine being guitarists who have kept the tradition of Muhlenberg County alive. However, attempting to play in Travis’s style is no mean feat, and it is a signifier of why he ought to be regarded as one of the most revolutionary guitarists to have ever lived.
