Merle Travis - Cannonball rag

[@PoisonClan73]

He didn't down tune the base strings, he noted them. On top of that, a two finger roll. Greatest ever.

[@035jdj]

Another one of our very best guitar players with Chet,Jerry Reed and Les Paul!!

[@drummercali]

He makes it look so effortless

[@christopherobrien6570]

I don't know how I have the nerve to pick up my guitar. This is so good it's outrageous.

[@howlindonster6131]

Digging the heck out of Merle since childhood..

[@bigdood]

You are right, APerched and I stand corrected. Mose Rager actually worked with Travis and Travis carried it from there... I spoke with Mose several years ago. They used to play at a radio station near here in Mayfield KY WAYYYYY back when.... it was a kick to hear from him, tho. And, to be honest, I didn't even know who he was until I spoke with him, but he educated me reaaal quick. :-) PEACE from Western KY.

[@Datanditto]

I cant wrap my head around how he played all that with only two right hand fingers.

[@noblesiner]

God I love Merle.

[@countryclassic]

Guy's a genius...play this with thumb and index finger...amazing!!!

[@callasexperience]

great style great smile great suit go on merle

[@bennyshaversmusic590]

He was the coolest

[@Vermillion2176]

the greatest... Big Ron

[@FrettieFingers]

you can see why Chet idolized him. Amazing!

[@MrOnlystrongsurvive]

the best guitarist in my heart with scotty moore

[@airborneassasin]

alternate bassline is the most commonly used "style term" for this playing style. I do agree that earlier blues and acoustic players used a style similar to his, but Merle was probably the most proficient player of the style to hit the mainstream . I moss hearing guitar playing like that. Another great player of this style was Chet Atkins, although he used it only occasionally.

[@morfinafreak]

With only two f*cking fingers.. upsets me to see how far i am to achieve that hability

[@chickenfinger90]

simply a legend...

[@larryfeltonj]

FAST Travis picking. Great subtle showmanship, too!

[@Pickinbuddy]

Merle's the KING!

[@coupe662]

Gotta put two of them P90´s in my Axe! this is great! :) Thanks for posting

[@stringbender69]

That whang bar is cool........you could blow bubbles through that thing

[@salvitagirl]

WOOOW SR. QUE TECNICA TOCA MARAVILLOSAMENTE SUUUUPER BIEN. FELISIDADES.

[@Batman001]

Amazing playing here

[@rockinredneck57]

@SmeagolTheBeagle Tommy was actually inspired by Chet Atkins who was inspired by Merle Travis. Listening to the radio, Chet always thought that Merle was using his thumb and two fingers, so he taught himself that way. He later found out, Travis uses just his thumb and index finger. Chet was amazed!

[@tombstonejackson]

@Creepycottages Yep, Joe Maphis sure did!

[@tman916x]

friggin' sweet...

[@VietnamAirForce]

What a guitar!

[@SenorSol]

Incredible technique!!

[@funstuff2006]

He uses the same guitar on the Ronnie Prophet show clip, and the light hitting the tailpiece glints off like shiny metal. If that's duct-tape, I'll eat my hat!

[@ThePumalives]

In Merle we trust

[@SilvioManfredDante85]

I wish I had Merle's guitar !!!!

[@omkaratube]

incredibile la facilità con la quale esegue il pezzo!

[@jajjajj3]

A guitar, a cord and an amp.......no bullshit in between.

[@Siegun16]

@SylvainBrunerie Because if he uses his three others fingers the universe imploses.

[@JacksonBradwell]

im sorry for your loss

[@AnxiousCowboy]

Hi, my name is Merle FUCKING Travis and I make everything look super cool and easy while being happy as shit ALL THE TIME! fucking two finger legend.

[@everennui1]

Yeah. I was always told that in order to Travis pick you need 3, but here I am. In dismay of what I see. The inventor of Travis picking travis picking with two fingers. On fuckin' cannon ball rag.

[@RGMguitar]

I had an old LP called "The Merle Travis Guitar". I was amazed how clean he plays considering it was on an electric. Electric guitars just seem to amplify any little mistake, so I was impressed. Chet Atkins could do it of course but Travis also brushed up with his index finger and down with his thumbpick. In the hands of a lesser player, this could have gotten very sloppy. Not Travis. Wow!

[@bigdood]

Don't forget, Merle Travis INVENTED fingerstyle guitar and taught it to Chet Atkins, who begat Nashville, who inspired those like Tommy Emmanuel -- and inspired a new generation of jazz/fingerstyle guitarists like Adam Rafferty -- who are carrying fingerstyle to a WHOLE NEW LEVEL. WOW, what Merle could do with 2 fingers... most of us couldn't do with four and a band behind us. :-) Try something new, you can change the world! :-)

[@ZynosOrcah]

Looks like he only uses two fingers? :O on his right hand, that is... Mr Travis was a sick man! Still beats the crap out of later adaptors of his technique, even Setzer.

[@BixLives32]

You can keep uploading Merle Travis all day long, brother, & I'll watch them. I listen to "Folk Song's of The Hills" twice a week. I can play every song on that album. That's one of those albums where EVERY cut is great. I got it on a 78s, 10" microgroove, and finally I got it on digital. I can even make my guitar talk (to impress the girls!). You cannot have enough Travis records. You got any videos of Travis playing with Joe Maphis? -That'd just about fix it!

[@BixLives32]

If you put your name on your fret board, you will force yourself to play better. It worked for Jimmie Rodgers. He bought a 000-45 with his name & much more. No one had ever done that. Jimmie could play OK, but he was no Eddie Lang. Fred Martin, tried to talk him out of the expense, "It won't make the guitar sound any better.", Fred said. Jimmy knew music was show biz. He had "Thanks" painted on the back as well! The rest is history.

[@GameLevelEditor]

@Arcticpaulo haha I like that.

[@dss8145]

I can't play like that, what a pro.

[@funstuff2006]

I think it's just plain metal with embellishment around the outside. Maybe he asked for it to be plain like that, or maybe it's not a bigsby licensed tailpiece. Maybe they didnt do the distinct 'Bigsby' text in there back then. Those are my guesses.

[@bigdood]

LOL heliolagojr -- Hey guy, us Americans aren't wearing that kind of clothes anymore... that was in the 1960s, and I will bet that there were a few people where you are from who dressed just as silly back then! :-D Hell, I was wearing 10cm high platform shoes and bellbottom double-knit pants with crazy-ass shirts! :-) I want to burn my old pictures... :-)

[@guitarsurfercody]

whatever it is i must say it is pretty saweet lookin' i would be temped to mount one on a guitar if ever i found one

[@hadd0006]

over the tail of it where it usually says "Bigsby"

[@statictwo818]

nice guitar

[@bigdood]

Respectfully, Segovia did not use fingerstyle guitar as practiced by Chet Atkins, Tommy Emmanuel, etc. Spanish classical guitar is a whole DIFFERENT genre of music. It's semantics, really -- just because one uses right-hand fingers on the strings does not necessarily cast the music as "fingerstyle". Fingerstyle as practiced by Atkins, Emmanuel, Rafferty and others is characterized by a running bass lick using the thumb -- but again, lets just agree to disagree -and enjoy ALL acoustic music! :-)

[@reverb11]

That's not duct tape. You'll often see Bigsbys from that era without the more commonly-seen black highlighting paint on them... as a matter of fact, Gretsch re-issues its new DSW models with a Bigsby tailpiece identical to the one Merle is using.

[@funstuff2006]

Duct tape? On what part of the Bigsby?

[@YounGun88]

i feel like i'm playing super mario world haha

[@POsomething]

Ever seen Stevie Ray Vaughan's guitar, Main/Hamiltone?

[@44eelz]

@Khalilullah who r the rest?

[@rotolo]

the truth to this statement hurts me atleast once a day, or whenever i hear the invention of distortion on a guitar..

[@9171961jo]

"He's doing Chet. Atkins style!"

[@mitchmatthews6713]

Are there any questions?

[@MarkoMarkus]

hehe, it's Cannonball Rag no doubt :)

[@omkaratube]

Ho notato infatti che usa solo due dita! Certo è una tecnica poco ortodossa,specie per i puristi del fingerpicking,ma il risultato è ugualmente straordinario!

[@Creepycottages]

Great stuff - you don't put your name all over the neck of your axe if you can't live up to it!

[@LeslieRussell]

Isn't that the Shiek of Araby? Not the Cannonball Rag?

[@2t123]

@ZynosOrcah One finger and thumb. and i promise i know

[@hadd0006]

anybody know why it looks like there is duct tape covering his Bigsby?

[@SmeagolTheBeagle]

He's pretty awesome. Tommy Emmanuel is probably inspired by this guy!

[@gtrefghuk]

He could use his whammy bar as a bottle opener.

[@chokengagum]

Dern it I meant "I"

[@hadd0006]

it is duct tape, look at it. Somebody ask Bresh.

[@jothekid]

no sweat eh Merle?

[@tubegucker1]

I wanna see his right hand at 0:44

[@brianfinnegan7554]

Sounds great but once u get that thumb pick goin its not actually that hard to play. Good player tho.

[@JLWing77]

How hard can it be? He only uses 2 fingers. Aiming gun at own head.

[@chokengagum]

Have you ever seen anyone play this with a thumb and a P like that?

[@bigemoney31]

I think he needs a bigger guitar.

[@mikeyL67]

Chet was good, but Merle was better, using 2 fingers instead of Chet's 3 fingers!!!!

[@jerrylanglois7892]

Chet used 4 fingers, not three.

[@RandyGortney]

What a picker

[@std882]

That must be the most horrid looking tremolo arm I've ever seen. You'd think with a guitar like that with such beautiful detail inlays they could at least come up with a nicer looking design.

[@pleasepermitmetospeakohgre1504]

STD882 You dickhead, he designed the whole solidbody guitar himself and helped develop that tremolo system famously now known as the Bigsby vibrato bar.

[@jerrymatson2350]

It's function over fashion! It allows him to use the tremolo while picking further up the neck. Makes for a much different sound.