All right. Good job getting through that last lesson, I know it was kind of a doozy. You're just about ready to learn your first chord-melody song. And first, I just want to show you a skill that I think will make your journey a little easier.
It's a way of looking at Travis picking tablature that will make more sense of it. I think when people first look at tablature, it can look like a big jumble of notes. But with Travis picking, there's a very specific structure to it. And if you can see that structure, it'll cease to be a jumble.
And so here's how I look at the last exercise we did. Ok? You'll recognize this. You just played it. And what I do is I look at this in two different categories. I look at these notes in two different categories. One is the thumb part, and you can easily see that by seeing the notes on the bass strings, which are the lower, usually the lowest three lines of the tablature. You can see those notes alternating back and forth in a steady rhythm. And then the melody notes are often more kind of a chaotic jumble, and they're on the higher pitch strings. In this case, the first, second and third strings. Now, in this tablature, the notes are very orderly. All the notes are just quarter notes. When you're actually playing a song, the melody has a more varied rhythm.
I'll be helping you to separate these by kind of graying out the thumb part or the melody part whenever appropriate, as I'm teaching these songs to you. But eventually you'll want to make this a habit so that when you look at Travis picking tablature, you know, when you go off on your own and learn your own songs, you're looking at the tablature in the same way.
How's it going?
Are you loving the lesson? Confused? Have a suggestion? I'd love to hear from you.
