Travis-Style Guitar from Scratch

ood introduction to Travis picking

This book is a gem! Travis-Style Guitar From Scratch, written by Bruce Emery, is a method book for learning to play solo fingerstyle guitar using an alternating bass (in the Travis style). This is one of the best books I’ve found for complete beginner to intermediate players who want to learn this style. The material progresses logically with lots of exercises that build on each other and lead perfectly into performance pieces (old classics like Oh! Susanna, House of the Rising Sun, Jingle Bells, etc.). Each time Emery presents a new concept, he incorporates it into updated arrangements of each tune. Emery’s sense of humor is infused into the text of the book, keeping detailed explanations lighthearted and entertaining without losing sight of the important information.Check out my in-depth YouTube video review ("Guitar Books Review #19: Travis-Style Guitar from Scratch by Bruce Emery" by Joe McMurray) in which I objectively go through the book chapter by chapter and play through some examples. You can also hear the full review on "Guitar Books the Podcast" - Review #19. For context, I’m a professional player, teacher, author, and recording artist.I can’t overstate how effective this book is with my students. Emery will present a single idea like how to play an alternating bass line under an A minor chord. Then he’ll present a series of exercises in which you play a single melody note each measure while maintaining the alternating bass line. Each exercise will place that melody note on a different beat within the measure. This approach provides great training that slowly, steadily, and thoroughly develops your physical skills.The tunes at the beginning of the book couldn’t be more approachable (as solo arrangements), even for beginner students. The first arrangements don’t feature any syncopation (the melody notes all land on the down beats), making them much easier. They don’t sound as complex as the later arrangements, but they sound pretty good for beginner students! This makes it fun and builds confidence. It is incredibly valuable to see the same tune arranged multiple times with increasing levels of complexity and difficulty. Aside from getting physically better at playing guitar in this style, you will gain insight into how to add variations to your own arrangements in the future.No modern tunes in this book. However, if you work through this book then you’ll be in a much stronger position to approach popular tune arrangements from other sources.This book is entirely focused on solo Travis-style playing. You will not learn Travis-style picking patterns that you might use to accompany yourself while singing. Your guitar will do the singing! Also, you will not learn other solo fingerstyle approaches like using block chords, arpeggiation, and other modern percussive techniques.The book focuses on the keys of G major, C major, and A minor. Three pages at the end are dedicated to the keys of A major, E major, and D major (in drop D tuning). The book also keeps you playing down in first position (at the nut of the guitar) - no playing up the neck. This keeps things more approachable. No complaining here!Audio recordings are available for all exercises and tunes! Just go to the author’s website and download.All playing examples are provided in tablature (TAB) only!!! Chords are notated above the TAB. Rhythms are clearly notated. I enjoy reading standard notation and teach it to interested students, but I don’t personally think much (if anything) is lost by not providing standard notation for this subject matter.I recommend using an acoustic steel string guitar rather than a standard classical guitar since there are multiple tunes that utilize the fretting hand thumb over the top.

Finger pick instruction is excellent and progressiveGreat book

I've played Ukueles (Tenor & Baritone) for several years after retiring, then took up classical guitar (with a teacher) for about a year. What I really wanted though was to be able to play chord melodies, not just strum, and not just fingerpick classical music. This is a fairly long review (the longest I've ever written anyway), as I really like this book. So,... TLDR; It's one of the best ways to learn the Travis-style. Just buy it, and thank him later!I watched scores of online videos, read everything I could find on how to learn the Travis style of finger-picking, and even purchased a couple of online courses on fingestyle guitar that said they taught Travis picking and I still had difficulty trying to learn the style. Should one memorize patterns as some demonstrate (easier up front) or should one practice thumb independence so you can improvise and/or layer more complex melodies over the baseline later (more time consuming)? Patterns sounded like the way to go initially, until I started looking at more difficult tunes and found that wouldn't really cut it. I had already purchased this book, but when I first read through it, I wasn't sure what path it wanted to lead me down, so I kept looking. However, once I figured out that what I wanted was to follow the thumb independence approach, I came back and took another look through this book, and then it all just clicked.In the first sections of Travis-Style Guitar from Scratch, Bruce has you focusing on learning how to internalize the baseline (stupid simple, but very necessary, so don't skip this - and do use a metronome!), and then has you start picking simple notes on top of this, via pinches (on the beat) and plucks (between the beats). No melody yet, just notes on top of the baseline. Crawl before you walk, walk before you run.Next you find yourself plucking scales on top of the baseline (not a song, but finally, a very rudimentary melody!). He has you doing this on the beat, and then work up to doing it on as well as between the beatsIn the following sections, Bruce has you Travis Picking a simple song, then teaches you some more, after which you can Travis pick a more elaborate version of the song you already learned. He repeats this same process with additional songs. There are plenty of exercises to help you along the way. Although I did supplement this book with the additional "40 Thumb Independence Exercises" by Richard Smith, which I felt complemented this book well. These are similar exercises to what Bruce provides - nice to have, but not actually necessary - just some more variety (I had already purchased this, so I thought I might as well use it). If you want more exercises, just make up your own (see Bruce's online video about this book for helpful hints.)I have to say, this is one of the clearest, most straightforward presentations of Travis picking I have found. After months of stop-starting based on using other material, I am finally making decent progress. I highly recommend this book if you are tired of watching videos or courses that demonstrate 20 different ways to do the same thing, but never fully build on their process step by step so YOU can advance.Lastly, if you are interested in this book I highly recommend you watch Bruce's online video that provides an overview of his book and what to expect. It really is helpful. Highly recommended! Wish I had started with it earlier and just had faith in the system. IF I had, I would be months ahead!

Good, easy to understand book. I worked through this book & my playing really improved.