Ukulele Travis Picking Tutorial - It's easier than you think!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 ก.ค. 2024
- Travis Picking is a fun fingerpicking pattern to play on ukulele and it can be applied to so many of your favorite songs! I'll walk you through the pattern, show you some variations, and I'll give you some easy chord progressions to help you master it!
The patterns and chord progressions as well as a high G audio recording can be downloaded from my Patreon page here: / 39462105
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TIME STAMPS
0:00 About this lesson
1:23 Song examples
2:26 Travis picking pattern
4:49 Variation 1
5:18 Variation 2
5:45 All 3 patterns
6:34 1st chord progression
7:28 2nd chord progression
#laramarkowitz #ukuleletutorial #travispicking #beginnerfingerpicking
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Thank you again Lara for yet another fantastic tutorial. What a great teacher you are.👍👏🎸
Thank you Mike! I'm so glad you're enjoying my tutorials 😊
Certainly keeps me occupied during lockdown
Appreciate Video clip! Sorry for butting in, I would love your opinion. Have you heard the talk about - Riddleagan Best Ukulele Remedy (just google it)? It is a smashing one of a kind guide for learning ukulele for beginners without the normal expense. Ive heard some extraordinary things about it and my BF got excellent results with it.
❤❤👏👏👏👍❤
Just saying once again THANKS for showing this picking pattern in every way. Visually, what it sounds like, etc....... Being a beginner, it's so difficult to get a grasp on it without all this detail. Thanks!
My pleasure! 😊
You are the best ukulele teacher on TH-cam , you deserve 2-3 million views .
Thank you for your lovely feedback! I'm so glad you enjoy my teaching style :)
Thank you for sharing with us. You are a great teacher - the only one to get the Travis picking through to me thanks to the way you show how it is done, breaking it down.
Thanks, I'm so glad you found this easy to follow. Have fun with the picking!
Thank you. The lesson is well taught so that it is easy to learn and understand.
Glad you found it helpful David, thank you for the feedback!
Very clear!
Thank you so much! Now I feel like I might be able to make some progress with fingerpicking! Great job teaching! 💜
You're so welcome! I hope you do make some progress, this is a great one to learn :)
Very well done; thank you.
I've been playing the first pattern for a long time but without the second string. It makes all the difference! Joined today and hope to learn lots!
I'm so glad to hear that you found this helpful and thanks so much for joining my Patreon family! Have fun with the lessons and song book! 😊
Thanks for this video. Well done
Thanks Mark glad you enjoyed this!
Thank you for your kindness and reply I will keep practicing
Wonderful, keep going! 😊
Thank you! So clear & helpful!
Thanks Diane, glad you enjoyed this lesson! 😊
Lara this is awesome. You are awesome!
Aww, thank you Patrick!
I came back to this after a few months. Seemed so much easier than the first day I tried it !! Thanks. Nice to see progress 🙂
Wonderful, that's great to hear Bonnie! 😊
Thanks a lot! You explain all of this very well.
Glad it was helpful Debbie, thanks!
Fantastic tutorial. I got something to practice🎶Thank you very much😍👍
You’re most welcome! Have fun practicing 😊
Thank you! I heard a guitarist talking about this style and wanted to learn it on the ukulele. I went through so many tutorials that were just a waste of time until I finally found yours. Thank you for the clarity, and especially the charts. From now on I know where to go.
Thank you for the positive feedback Anne-Marie. I'm so glad you found this helpful!
@@LaraMarkowitzMusic Hi Lara from cold England. This is very help fun but I cannot find the charts or PdFs! I'm takin screen shots but then I have too many pieces of paper! Please help to point me in the right direction!
that should read "helpful"
@@stephencollier1952 Hi Stephen, glad you enjoyed this! The link to the Patreon post with the PDFs is in the video description. Here you go 😊 www.patreon.com/posts/39462105
Weird eh? I also watched others that I just couldn’t wrap my brain around. And now I found Lara. And this is where I’m staying!
Thanks so much for this one Lara! I googled Travis picking for ukulele and looked at every vid I found....the others mostly confused me but yours seemed to get through to my brain. Thanks again!
Glad it was helpful Tim!
I'm back again to do this lesson because I'd forgotten how to play the pattern. A big thank you for your clear explanation, Lara.
Thanks Mike, glad you came back to this lesson. It's one of my favorite patterns!
Thanks, very good lesson.
Glad you found it helpful! 😊
What a gem. Thank you. ❤
You're very welcome! Have fun with this 😊
Thank you ! I'll be practicing 👍🏆.
Sure thing! Have fun with this 😊
Thanks Lara.
Thank you and you are a great teacher.
Thanks so much Ana, I'm glad you found this helpful! 😊
I really learned a lot here.. Thank you 🌷
You're so welcome! Glad it was helpful 😊
Thanks!
Thanks Mark, I'm glad you found this helpful!
Thanks Lara, brilliant teachet
Thank you Frederick, glad you found this helpful! 🤗
Another lovely lesson, I really like your teaching style
Thanks so much Mike! I'm glad you're enjoying the tutorials 😊
Super Lara 👍👍 you are the best 🙏🙏 very clear explication , i love your way to teach thank you so much again ❤️❤️❤️
Thanks so much Jean pierre! I'm glad you found this helpful 😊Have fun with the Travis picking!
Thank you!
My pleasure! Have fun with these patterns :)
Many thanks Lara, just starting Baratone and always wanted to play Travis picking, your great lesson clearly shows me the way, love you👍
You're most welcome Bob! Glad this lesson was helpful 😊
Lara thank you. Great teacher 😀
Thanks so much Michael, glad you found this helpful! 😊
Excellent
Thanks Ernest 😊
thanks verymuch
You're welcome! 😊
Another great lesson. At the risk of being picky, this style so more like way Chet Atkins played. Merle used only his thumb and index finger for picking. He produced some amazing sounds and was one of my guitar Heros. Reverend Gary Davis played just like Merle, thumb and index finger.
Thanks for sharing this Bill. Merle was an amazing guitarist!
U are a awesome teacher 🥰😘
Thank you! 🤗
You are very good I understand I am so inspired I am going to be good one day because it's something I like ,but I have to practice more. I wish it was more in person class I could attend I would catch on even better.
Thanks so much Annette! I'm glad you're feeling inspired. Have fun practicing 😊
Hi Lara, Thanks for you detailed info on this strumming patterns and the variations. As a beginner I can't tell you how nice it is to have the visuals of what strings we're actually suppose to be strumming etc.......Thanks! I'm going to ask you a question on the off chance you would know, and you might. Are you familiar with the song "just breath" by Pearl Jam? If so, which of the 3 strumming variations that you mention, would you choose as the best one for this song. I would really like to learn the best one if possible. Either way, thanks again, appreciate how much you put into your videos.
Hi Wendy, I'm so glad you found this helpful! Thanks for your feedback 🤗 For Just Breathe, I would use the first travis picking pattern. It's played at a very fast tempo in the song so you may want to start a bit slower and work up to the faster speed. Have fun with this!
Lara. Thank you. Very clear instructions. When playing these patterns on high-G tuning, do we play the C string first, then the high-G string, playing the low note first?
Hi Ed, I'm so glad you found this helpful. The pattern stays the same whether you're playing a high or low G. So the sequence of picking the strings doesn't change but it will sound different depending on whether you have a high or low G. Thanks for the question!
Just found your channel and subscribed.
Thanks! Enjoy the lessons :)
@@LaraMarkowitzMusic Thank you. I definitely will. Going to learn all of them one at time 😁 Baby steps 🤭
Thank you for the tutorial! The 1st progression is C F C G7 but you played C F G7 C (07:03), just letting you know!
Oh how did I miss that? Thanks for the catch Ira!
Très bonnes explications. Ressemble étrangement au 1er prélude en do de bach....merci
Thank you, I'm glad you found this helpful!
Thank you so much. To simplify in my mind I say: both, inside, outside, C but the muscle memory seems to kick in quick.
That's a great way to think about it Louise! Sounds like you've got this pattern down 👍😊
Thanks for your posts Lara! Is there a reason to have your thumb alternate between strings 3 and 4, vs using 1 finger for each string? It just seems much easier for me to use four fingers.
Hi Tim, it's more traditional to alternate between strings 3 and 4 using your thumb, however, you can certainly use 4 fingers if that's easier or more comfortable for you. Thanks for the question!
5:47 review of 3 variations
Hi Lara
Thank you for taking the time to instruct.
I'm a newbie and maybe it's my simple mind but why are the diagrams reading AECG when I'm playing GCEA (if that makes sense). Thanks again. Trevor
Hi Trevor, that's a great question. This is the standard form for ukulele tablature. To make it easier to understand, look at it as if you're looking down at your strings where G is at the bottom and A is at the top. I hope that helps :)
Lara, thank you for your prompt response, I think that's part of the problem it's something I will have to deal with. Love your lesson's thank you again. Trevor
Hi Lara, do you have a list of songs in your song book that uses the carter style? melody is on the bass strings? thks best
nicolas
Hi Nicolas, thanks for the question! I haven't done any tutorials using the Carter style, however, here's my playlist of lessons using Travis picking if you're interested: th-cam.com/play/PLDlG_RVp9JVPBp-rMj8J3OcFutz_iD4u6.html
Enjoying your teaching ukulele I’m trying to learn Travis picking the chart pattern 1 has 2 x on A then 1x on E then 2X on C then 2X on G what does that mean please and thank you so much.
Hi Lou, I'm glad you're enjoying my teaching, thank you. The x on the string indicates that the string is picked. Generally with tablature there's a number rather than an x, indicating which fret to play, however, since this is a general pattern that can be applied to any chord I used x's. Here's a link to my tutorial on reading tablature that you might find helpful: th-cam.com/video/ZHUEFLwEtMA/w-d-xo.html I hope you have fun learning this pattern, it's one of my favorites 😊
Fab 😊
Glad you enjoyed it, thanks Lynne!
Lara Markowitz would love some more Baritone 🤗
@@lynnemarriott8755 I don't have a baritone but I do love the way they sound :)
Lara Markowitz I’ve only had mine a few weeks but l love it very different from my tenor 😊
@@lynnemarriott8755 Sweet, I'm glad you're enjoying it 😊
I like your videos very much and I am so glad that I've found you.
I'm an absolutely beginner so I have one question about the g - string.
I like the sound from low to high because it sounds more natural to me.
Is it possible to change my high g string into a low one?
Great to hear that you're getting started playing uke! I'm so glad that you're enjoying my lessons. You can change your high G string to a low G. It's fairly easy to do it yourself - there are videos on YT that walk you through it. Just make sure you order a low G for the size of your instrument. You can order just the G string by itself or a full set of all 4 strings. For example here's the full set of strings that I use for my tenor: amzn.to/2AHd6hQ. There are low G options for sopranos and concerts as well. Thanks for the question!
@@LaraMarkowitzMusic Thank you, Lara. Now "you are my sunshine" singing....😅🤭
@@LaraMarkowitzMusic May I ask you another question?
Does this string connect to a concert ukulele (Harley Benton Hawaii Cedar Concert Ukulele)
because it isn't a tenor....?
FOUND IT, THANK YOU!
@@trollgummaszauberwelt3530 Glad you found it! 🤭
One of the issues/problems I encounter with instructions, especially on this video is in the strings diagram. I look at it as I would if looking straight at the front of the uke instead of looking down on the strings from a playing position. So to me I assume G is the 1st String and A is the 4th string. I'm 69 folks give me a break. So I'm thinking it might help if the numbers 1 to 4 where adjacent to the actual strings like 1A, 2E, 3C, and 4G. I get there eventually but maybe worth considering??
Hi Jerry, ukulele tablature is written as if you're looking down at the strings while playing which is why I show fingerpicking patterns this way. It can be challenging at first but reading the strings will become more comfortable with practice (especially if you learn tab arrangements😉).
can "Dream be played using the Travis picking method ?
Yes, you could use Travis picking to play Dream 👍
Hi Lara is a beautiful thing
Thank you Chayma, glad you enjoyed this 😊
Merci bien et je vous souhaite joyeuse fete de Noel et une bonne
heureuse nouvelle annee 2022 avec beaucoup de succes
Thanks so much! Merry Christmas and best wishes to you as well 😊
Thanks for the beautiful tune to practice. Also, isn't the pic of Pattern 1 incorrect?
Glad you enjoyed this! The pattern is correct 😊
@@LaraMarkowitzMusic Yeah my bad. I didn't notice the G was at the bottom. I am a noob, clearly ☺
@@bigbulk688 No worries 😉
@@LaraMarkowitzMusic ❤
Been practicing the Travis pattern, but what do you do if you have a change of cords in one bar? (Two beats for one and two beats for the other?
Hi David, thanks for the question! It depends on the song but often times I'll pick all 4 strings on beats 1 and 3, playing each of the 2 chords one time. Then I'll go back to the Travis Picking pattern in the next bar if there's only one chord for all 4 beats.
@@LaraMarkowitzMusic Thanks Lara, I saw you do that in another video and have been trying that. I just didn’t know if there was something else like in the new video you just did (by the way was brilliantly done) “Somewhere my Love” where you handled the split bar with the same feel. Thanks again for your instructions I feel I’ve been improving quite a bit from your videos. By the way I did buy another ukulele with the low G. Once I recover from that purchase I think I need to join your Patreon 🤨
@@davidjanusch1857 Congrats on the new uke! I hope you have fun exploring the new possibilities that the low G brings. You're more than welcome to join my Patreon community when the time is right 😊 I'm so happy to hear that you're finding my videos helpful. Thanks!
*جميل* 💫💫💫💫💫
I have a question about the second variation. The second string is louder. Is it also louder when it's played for the second time?
Thanks for the question! The 2nd string is played louder on the first pick but not the second pick. The second pick of the 2nd string is played more lightly as it isn't an emphasized note.
@@LaraMarkowitzMusic Thank you!
Can the picking be played with music in 6 8? Beginner here 😅
Hi Linda, Travis Picking can be used for 4/4 or 2/4 time but not 6/8 time. Here's a video that I did on picking patterns that can be used for 3/4 (or 6/8) time: th-cam.com/video/BWDiYHSKqyQ/w-d-xo.html I hope this is helpful 😊
Hi Lara, great tutorial but I emulate what I hear and unfortunately since you're playing with a low G, I can't seem to get the rhythm of this method and mine sounds totally different. Is it possible that you post again with a high G? Seems I'm the only only one, is this common? Thanks!
Hi Jerry, thanks for the request! It makes sense that you want to hear it with a high G since that's what you're playing with. I only play with a low G but I recorded what the patterns will sound like with a high G. I added a link in the video description so you can hear the patterns this way. Let me know if it helps :)
@@LaraMarkowitzMusic Very helpful, thank soooo much! Why do you only play with a low G? Ukuleles are generally tuned to high G, I believe... Just curious! Thank you!
I'm glad you found it helpful! The first time I tried a low G I fell in love with it and never went back. I like having the lower notes below C, particularly because I do a lot of composing so it gives me a broader range of notes to play with. Also I prefer the low G for strumming and fingerpicking patterns...to me it gives the instrument more depth and character. Thanks for asking :)
Now I am very confused about this because I learned a different pattern on another video that called it Travis picking.
Kinda hard to unlearn something!
I've seen many variations on Travis picking. It can be fun to explore different options and decide which one you prefer for a particular song 😉
Joined two nights ago and downloaded pdf for Let it Be and Perfect, now Patreon wont let me log in, very annoying. keeps telling me its sending me an email to verify my account but nothing arrives
Oh no, I'm sorry to hear that Terry. Here's a link to email the Patreon support team for help with this: support.patreon.com/hc/en-us/requests/new
Please explain to those unfamiliar why it's called Travis picking. The great Merle Travis.
Isn't Travis Picking named after Merle Travis who developed it?
Yes, it is. He was an amazing player!
I truly appreciate your approach to teaching ukulele and the variations you provide for each song. I would like to offer one simple suggestion that would match your positive energy with a much more pleasant visual presentation: Please consider changing the background color of your videos. The yellow washes you out and has an odd, uncomfortable, amateurish feeling to it. You are a pro! Consider making your videos match your talent.
Hi Kevin, thanks for your feedback! I changed the background a few years ago with a new studio setup. I hope you like it 😊
This is unlike any Travis picking pattern that I have seen. My teacher described it as G, A, C, E (outside in) or A, C, G , E (inside out). No two strings are played at the same time.
Hi Alan, thanks for sharing this. These are the Travis picking patterns that I learned when I started playing uke and I've seen many uke and guitar teachers demonstrate these variations. The pattern that you're describing is what I learned as an "Outside Inside" pattern as well. I think they all fall under the umbrella of Travis picking as there are many variations being taught these days. I hope you're having fun with it!
،♥️♥️♥️😘😘😘
A
I am confused. Another youtuber plays g string, e string, c string, a string repeat. One at a time and calls that the Travis picking. Who is correct?
Interesting, I've seen several variations but not the one that you're describing. The standard Travis Picking pattern in this video is the traditional method. Variations can be created by adding or omitting notes, however, my understanding is that to still call it a Travis Picking pattern the thumb notes should not be omitted.
@@LaraMarkowitzMusic I am just trying to get a clear understanding. Her method is Gstring thumb, E with index, C thumb, A middle repeat. She said remember every other (string).
I like her variation, but I like yours as well. I just don't know which one to call Travis picking or if they all are.
@@jaimiec2404 I'm not sure about the other method but this video is the standard Travis Picking pattern.
@@LaraMarkowitzMusic thank you!
Why does another guys video say that Travis picking is just your thumb and index finger?
Hi Eliza, Merle Travis used his thumb and index finger for picking, however, I find it more comfortable to use my middle finger on the 1st string. This is how I initially learned Travis Picking on ukulele. Try it both ways and go with the method you prefer 😊
@@LaraMarkowitzMusic thank you!
You've got the names of the notes (A,E,C,G) clearly marked along the tab lines, so why do you make it confusing by calling them by NUMBER instead of the given notes???????
I find string numbers easier for teaching and this makes the lessons more friendly for other tunings (such as baritone).
@@LaraMarkowitzMusic Then perhaps put the string numbers alongside the string names in the future 😊
I hear your emphasis and what I hear is not volume but a rhythm change.
I have to be honest.
Your rhythm changes to incorporate that emphasis.
Your thoughts...
The difference in volume on the 2nd string may trick your ears into hearing something different but the rhythm doesn't change by varying the volume. The comparison at 4:19 uses the same rhythm 😉