lzearo
Verified buyer
07/15/26
Good clear explaination of the Travis style.
Kentucky Thumbpicking Handbook
Essential Techniques, Insight & Repertoire
Get this course and 1,000+ more with All Access
Try 14 days free. Cancel any time.
About this course
Merle Travis was certainly instrumental in sparking wide interest in the guitar picking style known as Kentucky Thumbpicking but there were many others then, as they are today, who helped give the style worldwide recognition.
Mose Rager, Ike Everly, Kennedy Jones, Chet Atkins, Eddie Pennington and Tommy Emmanuel are just a few masters of the style who helped put Kentucky Thumbpicking squarely on the map.
We’re thrilled to welcome a pure-blood Kentucky thumbpicker to the TrueFire family, Alonzo Pennington. Mose passed on a few intricacies of the style to Alonzo’s father, Eddie Pennington, who in turn passed on to his son what he learned from Mose, as well as a few of his own innovations.
Alonzo now passes on what he knows to you here in this Kentucky Thumbpicking Handbook. Fortunately for we students of guitar, Alonzo is not only a masterful player, he’s also a naturally gifted educator.
Alonzo organized the Kentucky Thumbpicking Handbook into two main sections. In the first section, he demonstrates 11 key Kentucky Thumbpicking concepts and techniques: Right Hand Techniques, Alternating Bass, Simple Thumb & First Finger Pattern, Travis Pattern, Travis Pattern B, Simple Walk-down/Ending in E, The $2 Ending, The 3 Finger Roll, The Mose Rager Roll, Walk Up To The 4, and The C Walk-down.
In the second section, you’ll start building your repertoire as Alonzo shows you how to apply all of the key concepts and techniques, from the first section, across the following four Performance Studies…
Blues In E: Very similar to "Blues Stay Away from Me". Just dressed up a little more. Here we use the walk-down, turnarounds, and "simple thumb and first finger patterns" that were shown in earlier sections. This breaks down the arrangement. To break down the individual walk-downs and picking pattern, please revisit Section 1.
9 Pound Hammer: One of the most popular thumbpicking and bluegrass songs of all time. Merle Travis recorded this on the "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" album with a capo on the 3rd fret as to be in the key of "G" Here is the same arrangement but in the key of “E". Here we use the walk-downs and endings we learned in Section 1. We also use the Travis pattern A and learn to put the melody in with it.
Avalon: This is my take on a Jazz standard that's very similar to Chet Atkins' version. In the key of C, it gives us a chance to use the picking patterns we've learned in section 1 as well as the C Walk-down.
Cannonball Rag: The Thumbpickers National Anthem (or so it's called in the picking circles). There have been a lot of versions of this recorded, but this is the Merle Travis Version. Travis Pattern B is what this whole song is built around, or at least the main verse of it. We'll incorporate the 3 finger roll, that Mose Rager Roll, and learn this Thumbpickers National Anthem!
Alonzo demonstrates the songs and then breaks them down, emphasizing the right and left-hand techniques required to play the pieces authentically. All of the key demonstrations, performances and examples are tabbed and notated for your practice, reference and study purposes. You’ll also get Guitar Pro files so that you can loop and/or slow any section down as you work through the lessons.
Grab your guitar and let’s get a grip on Kentucky Thumbpicking with Alonzo Pennington…
Mose Rager, Ike Everly, Kennedy Jones, Chet Atkins, Eddie Pennington and Tommy Emmanuel are just a few masters of the style who helped put Kentucky Thumbpicking squarely on the map.
We’re thrilled to welcome a pure-blood Kentucky thumbpicker to the TrueFire family, Alonzo Pennington. Mose passed on a few intricacies of the style to Alonzo’s father, Eddie Pennington, who in turn passed on to his son what he learned from Mose, as well as a few of his own innovations.
Alonzo now passes on what he knows to you here in this Kentucky Thumbpicking Handbook. Fortunately for we students of guitar, Alonzo is not only a masterful player, he’s also a naturally gifted educator.
Alonzo organized the Kentucky Thumbpicking Handbook into two main sections. In the first section, he demonstrates 11 key Kentucky Thumbpicking concepts and techniques: Right Hand Techniques, Alternating Bass, Simple Thumb & First Finger Pattern, Travis Pattern, Travis Pattern B, Simple Walk-down/Ending in E, The $2 Ending, The 3 Finger Roll, The Mose Rager Roll, Walk Up To The 4, and The C Walk-down.
In the second section, you’ll start building your repertoire as Alonzo shows you how to apply all of the key concepts and techniques, from the first section, across the following four Performance Studies…
Blues In E: Very similar to "Blues Stay Away from Me". Just dressed up a little more. Here we use the walk-down, turnarounds, and "simple thumb and first finger patterns" that were shown in earlier sections. This breaks down the arrangement. To break down the individual walk-downs and picking pattern, please revisit Section 1.
9 Pound Hammer: One of the most popular thumbpicking and bluegrass songs of all time. Merle Travis recorded this on the "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" album with a capo on the 3rd fret as to be in the key of "G" Here is the same arrangement but in the key of “E". Here we use the walk-downs and endings we learned in Section 1. We also use the Travis pattern A and learn to put the melody in with it.
Avalon: This is my take on a Jazz standard that's very similar to Chet Atkins' version. In the key of C, it gives us a chance to use the picking patterns we've learned in section 1 as well as the C Walk-down.
Cannonball Rag: The Thumbpickers National Anthem (or so it's called in the picking circles). There have been a lot of versions of this recorded, but this is the Merle Travis Version. Travis Pattern B is what this whole song is built around, or at least the main verse of it. We'll incorporate the 3 finger roll, that Mose Rager Roll, and learn this Thumbpickers National Anthem!
Alonzo demonstrates the songs and then breaks them down, emphasizing the right and left-hand techniques required to play the pieces authentically. All of the key demonstrations, performances and examples are tabbed and notated for your practice, reference and study purposes. You’ll also get Guitar Pro files so that you can loop and/or slow any section down as you work through the lessons.
Grab your guitar and let’s get a grip on Kentucky Thumbpicking with Alonzo Pennington…
What you'll learn
- Learn twelve essential thumbpicking techniques and concepts
- Learn the key historical figures who developed thumb picking: Ike Everly, Kennedy Jones, Moe's Rager, and Merle Travis
- Build repertoire with four traditional thumbpicking tunes
- Gain skills to learn hundreds of traditional thumbpicking tunes
- Develop ability to play melody and bass simultaneously
Release date: 08/24/2015 • 1h 18m runtime
Sample lessons
Travis Pattern A
Demonstration
The $2 Ending
Demonstration
The Mose Rager Roll
Demonstration
Walk Up To The "4"
Demonstration
What's included
28 lessons • 14 charts
Kentucky Thumbpicking Handbook
Welcome to the Kentucky Thumbpicking Handbook. In this course, we're going to work on all of the essential techniques, patterns, and rolls that you'll want to master to get into the style and start picking. We'll also learn four thumbpicking classics that will get your fingers up to speed and ready to join in some picking circles with your friends and fellow musicians. Let's get started!
SECTION 1: Essential Concepts
In this first section of the course, I'm going to introduce you to Kentucky thumbpicking. We'll look at some of the most essential patterns, licks, and techniques you need to get playing in this style. I'll also tell you about the history and some of the key players that helped to develop this style of playing, so let's get into it.
Technique History & Players
In this video, I'll give you a brief history on Merle Travis and the music that came from Western Kentucky.
Right Hand Techniques
Let's look at the right hand and how to use it while thumbpicking. Make sure to dampen (mute) the strings with the outside of the palm of your hand, anchoring the pinky on the pickguard.
Alternating Bass
Now let's look learning how to alternate the bass strings. Use this string pattern to play along: 6-4-5-4.
Simple Thumb & First Finger Pattern
This exercise is made to get your right hand started. In this demonstration, you'll be picking with your thumb and first finger and learning to start separating movements between the two.
Travis Pattern A
This is the basic picking pattern in such Travis tunes as "9 Pound Hammer" and "I am a Pilgrim."
+ 21 more lessons
Reviews
13 results
cyril
07/14/23
great merle travis course
I thoroughly enjoyed this course and I feel glad I can now play Canonball rag and have mastered Merle's one finger picking technique along with heavy rolls. I've had a lot of fun completing this course and I hope there'll be a sequel with additional repertoire.
oldintheway
Verified buyer
10/10/22
thumbpick ups
Great deal for some cool and unique exercises; get this handbook the complete package for a very rich style of picking.
Jackgray52
Verified buyer
03/14/22
Great video from a picker
gdidio
Verified buyer
04/21/21
A very useful and funny handbook
You can learn the basic thumbpicking techniques and master them learning to play some traditional and very nice pieces. The teacher is really great !!!
Stop searching. Start improving with All Access.
Try 14 days free. Cancel any time.
