# Music and Songwriting/The Songwriter's Grooves Project - A Guide to Singing and Playing Guitar/The Travis Picking Song Series

If you've never done anything with Travis Picking before, I suggest getting your guitar and playing along with this introductory lesson by the great Don Ross
Don Ross intro to Travis Picking
Another legendary free lesson is the Gibson Learn-and-Master Series when Thom Bresh was guest. Thom Bresh is the biological son of Merle Travis and a real heir to the lineage of the Muhlenberg County Travis Picking Style.
Travis Picking with Thom Bresh
/4 Stroke Pattern Miniseries
Once you've gotten your feet a bit wet, try finding a song or technique you want to study from the lists below.
If you do decide to edit a lesson page, please consider using a lesson template.
| Travis Picking Song Title | Composer | Technique | CR | Key Fingering |
| /Sounds of silence | Simon and Garfunkel | Mini Travis Patterns, Expansions | 1 | Am |
| /begin again | taylor Swift | Easy Travis variations | 2 | G |
| /Blowin' in the Wind | Bob Dylan | 4 part bass, walks | 2 | C |
| /breath | faith hill | false travis picking/G box | 3 | G |
| /Crazy Love | Poco | finger displacements | 3 | C |
| /get lucky | Mark Knopfler | Pinches | 3 | C |
| /In Spite of Ourselves | John Prine | placed melody over 4-note bass | 3 | C |
| /Jesus: The Missing Years | John Prine | 4 note patterns | 3 | C |
| /landslide | Fleetwood Mac | improvisation over patterns | 3 | G |
| /Leather and Lace | Fleetwood Mac | Descending Bass Riff | 3 | D |
| /Let Her Go | Passenger | Pinches | 3 | Am |
| /Let's Talk Dirty in Hawaiian | John Prine | 4 part bass, walkups | 3 | C |
| /Sixteen Tons | Merle Travis | Boom Chick technqiue | 3 | Em |
| /Such Great Heights | Iron and Wine | Slow Groove | 3 | C |
| /Can't Find My Way Home | Steve Winwood | Chromatic Chords/Walks | 4 | D |
| /Casanova lament | Frank Turner | Open G/False patterns | 4 | C |
| Country Roads | John Denver | 4 note patterns | 4 | A |
| Danny's Song | Kenny Loggins | Walking in key of D | 4 | D |
| Driving South | The Early November | bass lines over drone pattern | 4 | G |
| Dust in the wind | Kansas | isorhtythm/open C | 4 | C |
| Homeward Bound | Simon and Garfunkel | slow/mini travis | 4 | G |
| /Marry Me | Train | Open C | 4 | C |
| Tuolumne | Eddie Vedder | - | 4 | C |
| Leader of the Band | Dan Fogelberg | - | 4 | G |
| blackbird | The Beatles | false travis picking/G box | 5 | G Open |
| can't take it back | Lucas Carpenter | open F/repeating thumb/ | 5 | F Open |
| If I Had a Boat | Lyle Lovett | Trip Roll | 5 | G |
| Just Breathe | Pearl Jam | - | 5 | C |
| kathy's song | simon and Garfunkel | Open G/double stops | 5 | G |
| Leaves that are green | Simon and Garfunkel | syncopated melodies/bass lines | 5 | D |
| Nights Become Days | Frank Turner | - | 5 | G |
| The Boxer | simon and Garfunkel | - | 5 | C |
| Wednesday 3 am | simon and Garfunkel | - | 5 | D |
| You can close your eyes | James Taylor | - | 5 | D |
| Alice's Restaurant | Arlo Guthrie | circle of 5ths/syncopations/patter | 6 | C |
| chicken fried | zac brown | - | 6 | G |
| January at the Halifax Airport Lounge | Bruce Cockburn | integrating complex melodies | 6 | ? |
| How to Rob a Bank | Willy Porter | syncopations/bridge? | 7 | G |
| Lost John | Merle Travis | - | 7 | G |
| That's too much sugar for a dime | Merle Travis | - | 7 | Bb |
| /Treetop Flyer | steven stills | - | 7 | Dm |
| Troubles will be gone | Tallest Man on earth | - | 7 | Open G tuning |
| Casino Night | Sonic 2 | double stops over boom-chick | 8 | C |
| Midnight Special | Merle Travis | - | 8 | E |
| Nine Pound Hammer | Merle Travis | - | 8 | G |
| 1952 Vincent Black Lightning | Richard Thompson | displacements/polyrhythms/speed/improvisation | 9 | G, Drone Tuning |
| Kaouding Cissoko | Toumani Diabate | Complex Pattern shuffling, Fast rolls and Pinches | 10 | E |