Quick licks: advanced #16

Dial in a clear clean tone for this Travis picking example. Harmonically this one is close to Travis and Chet Atkin’s musical vocabulary featuring 6ths and 13ths on the dominant chords. The trick is to mute the bass tones whilst leaving the top voices ringing for their full value.

Try this pick workout. It’s designed to emulate classical fingerstyle technique. The chordal sequence and patterning is based on a Villa Lobos etude. Watch the quick change of direction of the pick to keep the tempo as even as possible and make sure the chord shifts are clean and accurate.