Best way to learn Chet Atkins Style of playing ?

[Bsmooth]

I'm not a beginner, but not intermediate, matter of fact if it wasn't for JustinGuitar, I probably wouldn't be playing at all.
I mostly learn just songs and I'm happy with that, but something about Chet Atkins or Merle Travis style intrigues me, and I'd like to try and learn it.
Furthest I ever seem to get is the alternating bass strings. I can't seem to make that jump to picking at the higher notes at the same time. I can however rub my stomach and pat my head at the same time, If that means anything.
For anyone that plays this style, please point me in a direction to learn it a step at a time ?

[Doug Young]

There are lots of resources on "Travis picking". You might try Mark Hanson's book for starters. You might also check out some of Tommy Emmanuel's material, I think he has a course on TrueFire about this, and there are others on TrueFire as well that cover this style.

You also might find this short lesson I did for Acoustic Guitar useful (geez, has it really been 14 years ago?...):

[gbesson]

Happy Traum has a lesson on Homespun tapes which was how I started years ago.

[TBman]

2nd recommendation for Mark Hansen 's Travis Picking books.

[srick]

There are scads of Chet Atkins lessons on the web, and I have been trying to play Merle Travis\Chet Atkins music for years. Some of the best lessons are on Homespun; you should certainly start there. But honestly, I think I can distill what I've learned down to a few bullet points:

1. It's all about the rhythm. Keep your thumb going all the time to a steady beat. Then gradually add in the melody.
2. Learn your chord shapes up the neck. Chet often adds sparkle by using alternate voicings
3. Play along with Chet. He has a certain bounce to his playing that guitar tab can't show you.
4. Have fun while playing. He sure did!

And honestly, I doubt you or I will ever come close to his playing. It doesn't matter. Have fun!

PS - I believe Happy Traum's lesson is called, "Conquer the Challenge of the Steady Thumb"

[rick-slo]

Best way to learn Chet's style is to learn to play some of his arrangements and watch some of his videos . A collection of some of his arrangements in tab/score style is here:

https://DCoombsGuitar.com/Alchimiste.pdf

[JonPR]

Originally Posted by srick

It's all about the rhythm. Keep your thumb going all the time to a steady beat. Then gradually add in the melody.

This is not actually the best way to learn the technique.
It's true that rhythm is paramount, and the thumb keeps the beat. But with alternating bass, you need to start with complete patterns, just played really slow.

I tried teaching the "thumb first" method for some time - because it seemed to make sense! - but it never worked. The alternating bass always got screwed as soon as students tried adding a finger.

Then I remembered how I'd taught myself (nearly 40 years earlier...) - I'd learned complete patterns from records, by slowing them to half-speed on tape. I had it down in a few months.
This is also how Mark Hanson teaches the style.

I.e. the "Independent thumb" is a myth. That's just how it feels when you've mastered it. The thumb is attached to your hand, same as your fingers are! . You have to interlock thumb and finger(s) from the start. Obviously focus on keeping the thumb on the beat, but add a finger now and then between the beats.

[srick]

Maybe this article says it best - John Knowles, Steve Wariner, and Tommy Emannuelle talk about Chet’s playing style and how they learned from him.

https://acousticguitar.com/chet-atki...uitar-players/

[Bsmooth]

Its really a cool style, they just make it look so easy. I'll take a look at Mark Hanson's books. I also tried learning songs with either books and later videos. Videos won hands down, as just the chords on paper don't really do it for me, it seems its more of a combination.
I also watched a few Mark Knopfler videos(one of my favorite players), as he had played with Chet a few times. Man what a guitarist, just soo many.
Your right though, its all about having fun, but learning that style seems more about discipline than fun. Just have to keep at it. Thanks.

[Bluenose]

I recommend you have a look at what Stephen Grossmans' Guitar Workshop has to offer with regards to Chet Atkins' style fingerpicking. It's a pay site but a good value for what you get in return. Thoughtful, well laid out lessons taught by experts in their respective fields.

[tbirdman]

I learned Travis picking using Justin's app. It probably took 4 months or so. I took 6 songs appropriate for Travis picking, and played them at a very slow bpm something probably around 50. I just kept playing those 6 songs each day until I could do it, and then I would increase BPM maybe 5 bpm if I got proficient at the bpm. The songs were almost recognizable at the initial low bpm, but I just kept at it.

One day when I was fairly good, I took a video of me playing a song with Travis picking. I saw how much I was looking at my picking hand. I then tried not to look, and to my amazement I could play with Travis picking without looking.

I tend to use the triple alternate bass pattern with an initial pinch. I also use a picking pattern where I play the bass string, then the 3rd, hen 2nd and 1st together, then the 3rd pattern. That a great picking pattern for a lot of songs.

For 3/4 or 6/8 time, my go to is bass,3rd, 2nd,1st,2nd, 3rd string.

[Charlie Bernstein]

A good player I met once said it best: "Get a time machine. Go back to junior high school. While all your friends are playing ball or dating or doing homework or partying or cruising the mall, sit in your room and play your guitar."

If that's not an option, the other suggestions folks have given above are good fall-back strategies. And I'll add the three golden rules of guitar improvement: woodshed, woodshed, woodshed.

[Mr.Thumbpick]

I learnt how to thumbpick in my late 40s after years of flatpicking so it's never to late to learn how to learn Chet, Merle Travis and Jerry Reeds Styles and to become good at it.

Unlike a lot of people that concentrate on thumb independence as a concept when you learn initially, I found a few reliable tabs of basic songs like Baby's Coming Home for instance. Then I got a recording of the song itself and slowed it right down - even to say 20% speed. Then I learnt a few bars treating every finger including the thumb as just another finger. This is similar to how a pianist thinks of their thumb. This is because really this style of music on guitar is very much like playing a piano. You are doing everything here. The bass, the chordal accompaniment and the melody. It's actually simply ragtime guitar. A constant rhythm in the bass and a syncopated melody... Anyway I digress...

So learn an arrangement and just get a few bars down and slowly speed it up. Don't worry about emphasising the melody too much or weighting the bass line etc... Just get the notes in the right places at the right time. Later with a lot of muscle memory you bring the melody out distinctly, learn how to sustain the melody and hold notes better etc Drive the bass harder when required. This all became easier for me once I knew what the role of the thumbpick was and what the role of my fingers were. For a flatpicker some of this stuff seemed very unintuitive to me.

Anyway it gets easier and easier the more songs you learn because eventually it all overlaps.

None of this stuff is that hard but you do have to understand what your right hand has to do thoroughly. Understand with your brain first as far as possible and it'll save hours of useless practice.

Thumb independence is important however the concept can be an impediment if you get all hung up on it. Really the important thing is muscle memory... if you want to call that thumb independence fine... but psychologically for some people I think it can be a barrier - like thinking you need to learn circular breathing instantly to begin playing a brass instrument or something.

This vid proves old dogs can learn new tricks (I'm the old dog in this case).

[Mr.Thumbpick]

Originally Posted by JonPR

This is not actually the best way to learn the technique.
It's true that rhythm is paramount, and the thumb keeps the beat. But with alternating bass, you need to start with complete patterns, just played really slow.

I tried teaching the "thumb first" method for some time - because it seemed to make sense! - but it never worked. The alternating bass always got screwed as soon as students tried adding a finger.

I.e. the "Independent thumb" is a myth. That's just how it feels when you've mastered it. The thumb is attached to your hand, same as your fingers are! . You have to interlock thumb and finger(s) from the start. Obviously focus on keeping the thumb on the beat, but add a finger now and then between the beats.

I didn't see your post before I wrote mine but I 100% agree and when you read my post you'll see how similar our points of view are.

[Annie B]

Originally Posted by Bsmooth

I'm not a beginner, but not intermediate, matter of fact if it wasn't for JustinGuitar, I probably wouldn't be playing at all.
I mostly learn just songs and I'm happy with that, but something about Chet Atkins or Merle Travis style intrigues me, and I'd like to try and learn it.
Furthest I ever seem to get is the alternating bass strings. I can't seem to make that jump to picking at the higher notes at the same time. I can however rub my stomach and pat my head at the same time, If that means anything.
For anyone that plays this style, please point me in a direction to learn it a step at a time ?

I've got the perfect source for you. Buy Mark Hanson's The Art of Contemporary Travis Picking and study every page. I'm almost done with it and it really is a terrific book. Written for beginning players and intermediate players who want to learn this style of playing. Great songs, great techniques, just a winning book!