The secret to the "Merle Travis" sound (isn't his picking)

[@NickJardine]

Loving your content! Man, he’s so relaxed while he plays this. Big grin, singing flawlessly. What a talent.

[@kostringworks]

Dude, it’s out of hand how calm and collected he is while playing these chords haha. I read somewhere he had pretty bad stage fright too, so imagine how good he sounded at home when no one was watching!

[@NickJardine]

@ they were just built different back then!

[@SingleMalt77005]

Totally agree. AND, that Martin D-45 with a Bigsby neck sounds like heaven.

[@randysrhythm]

Just a great, patient, thoughtful walk through, Kyle. I'll be coming back to this one for a while, brother man 👍

[@kostringworks]

Thanks randy! I’ll probably have to come back to this one myself 😆.

[@randysrhythm]

@@kostringworks 🤣

[@darlacurrey-colter3844]

I loved ur vid!!! I’ll never master these shapes, but I can’t get me enuff Merle!!!

[@kostringworks]

They are gnarly!

[@kevincrouch3956]

I've just recently found your site and have been working my way through your past posts. Thanks for all the great info, love the way you provide historical relevance to such great music. I'm a bit far away, living 'downunder', otherwise I would drop by and say thanks in person. And I'm glad you decide to continue with the posts, please keep going.

[@kostringworks]

Hey kevin! Stoked you found the vids and good on ya digging through the back log! Don’t get lost there’s a lotta stuff!

[@billallen1594]

"You could use this in any blues"... not if you can't finger that C7 chord 😂 Last video about Mr Travis was an eye opener, but this is something else Thanks Kyle - keep up the great work

[@kostringworks]

Haha, okay true!! But yeah man, right!? It’s amazing how overlooked his chord hand is!

[@nilspeereboom3000]

Very cool lesson, A lot to learn

[@kostringworks]

I’m learning too 😆!

[@bigbearsandbenjamins]

Great video.. Thanks Kyle! ❤ Now if you could do a video on overcoming raccoon size hands.. that would be great 😂

[@kostringworks]

Haha, from my experience it’s a flexibility thing more than a size thing, but I dunno! Could always try capping up and take it back a fret at a time! I have had luck w plenty of folks!

[@SingleMalt77005]

I used to half-jokingly wonder whether I could have some kind of operation to cut back the webbing between my thumb and my first finger......

[@laurencefinston7036]

I use the voicing of the C7 chord but I never use my thumb to fret. Not because I think that there's anything wrong with it, but because I have small hands and for a long time, my only guitar was a classical one with a wide neck. I'll often alternate between the C (on the A string) and the G (on the low E string) with my fourth finger. I don't normally play the G on the high E string, although this is no problem with the fifth finger. If I want to play a G, I would normally play the barre chord in the third position. I do occasionally fret with my thumb on instruments with thin necks, like a mandolin or a three-course bouzouki, but not that often. It's no hindrance to fingerpicking to not use the thumb for fretting, unless you're trying to duplicate someone else's style.

[@kostringworks]

True!! And yeah for sure, thumbing over on a nylon brutal.

[@laurencefinston7036]

In case it isn't obvious, the C7 is related to the normal C maj. chord with open strings. Instead of the open G string, the Bb on the third fret is used. If you don't play a G on one or both of the E strings, then there's no G (the fifth) in this chord. It's normal procedure to leave out the fifth, unless it's altered (b5 or #5), if something has to be left out. If you play the D on the third fret of the B string instead of the C on the first fret, this is a commonly used voicing for C9 (i.e., C7 plus the ninth, namely D). The same applies to the "G"s as with the C7 chord. When I play this chord, I do often alternate between the D on the B string and the G on the high E string with my little finger. The C7 and C9 are moveable, because they are playable without open strings. They aren't even difficult to finger. The C maj. is moveable, too, but it is difficult to finger. I can get there, but there has to be time for me to get my fingers into the right positions. It's one of the more difficult chords to finger. I never play chords with uncomfortable stretches. In fact, I never play anything that's uncomfortable, ever. The index finger plays the fifth on the G string and the second finger plays the octave on the B string. Theoretically, it's possible to play this chord with a barre. On the guitar I just tried this out on, I wasn't able to use a barre. The third of the chord can be played with the index finger on either or both E strings. Once you get there, it's easy to alternate strings using the index finger and fifth finger. The point I really want to make is that it's very beneficial to know what the notes are in every chord, not just treat chords like "black boxes" where you don't know what's inside them. Then you can figure things out yourself and don't necessarily have to think in terms of chord shapes.

[@SingleMalt77005]

I have tried for over 40 years to get my thumb able to fret the A string along with the E string but my hands are too small. Very frustrating because Merle is the one who inspired me to want to play in the first place. Oh well......Love and really appreciate all your videos.

[@kostringworks]

Yeah man it’s tough for sure. I there’s rare few who even know it’s a thing, and then a rarer few who do it. I mainly do it for a few simple minor chords myself, but I’m def gonna try to keep these chords under my hands.

[@Jamesjustinjonesjr]

Amazing video, got me out of my guitar dry spell

[@kostringworks]

That makes me so stoked!

[@RobGray-q2r]

Thanks brilliant video plenty to work on !!

[@rogertinker1813]

Double thumb C7... What !I was not prepared

[@JazzySpF]

Great video! It’s fun watching the old finger pickers. Silly question, what kind of capo is that?

[@kostringworks]

Thanks dude! It’s an old Yamaha CP-300 I scored a while back. I love it.

[@mikew42906]

Another great lesson, it would be interesting to know how tall Merle was, I'm guessing 6ft plus with large hands. As some one who is vertically challenged with small hands, although I use the thumb over position, there is no way I can fret the A string. Some of the stretches are impossible but I've found you can fake it by just palm muting the 6th string and let it thud away, most ofthe time it is muted any way. Nice to see another leftie playing right handed!

[@scottkidwell3601]

Thank you, Kyle! Great lesson and insight. I've tried to get my fret-hand thumb to wrap over the neck for many years. It's never been comfortable, nor do I get a clear note out of it.I have big hands and sausage fingers, like my farmer grandfather had. Genetics can be a bear... 😂 I'll keep trying, of course. The new studio looks good! Be good to you 🙏🏻🤍

[@kostringworks]

For sure! Glad ya dug it. One thing to keep in your thoughts when you’re thumbing, if thumbed note seems a little dull, that can actually come off as a “muted note” and might even seem purposeful. Just food for thought!

[@Oopkaponk]

top video ! .

[@kostringworks]

Thanks dude!

[@jonathanroyce9692]

Probably heavily influenced by the swing sounds of that era. Sweet.

[@BobSperber]

Fantastic channel. Any advice? I’m taking lessons in the same fingerstyle vein. PROB: even when I think I know how to play it. Well slow, I have great trouble, speeding it up. maybe I just don’t know it well enough yet? (Busy practicing lessons but may join your Patreon when I get my sea legs.)

[@kostringworks]

Thanks dude! Regarding speed, man it could be a whole number of things. I bet your teacher will have better things to say since he’s actually working with ya, but getting things going on autopilot always helps so you can actually focus on upping your speed. A lot of my students have had success treating it almost like weight lifting. So for an example, 30 pounds at 20 reps could be changed to 60bpm for 20 times. I usually recommend doing licks at least 10 to 20 times in a row without stopping before speeding up. Anyway, it’s just work 😆.

[@BobSperber]

@ I was hoping for a secret shortcut my teacher’s withholding. He must’ve warned you about me. Of course you’re right. Thanks so much.

[@laurencefinston7036]

@@BobSperber If you want to play something fast, practice it slow. If you don't mind a suggestion, I recommend getting a metronome, setting it to a manageable tempo (slow!) and try to play it. When you can play it flawlessly, increase the tempo. If you are like everybody else in the world, you will be unpleasantly surprised at how slow the tempo has to be to play something flawlessly. I wouldn't do this all the time, but some of the time would be good. I personally don't worry too much about playing fast. If you want to play fast, flat-picking is a more suitable technique. I like both.

[@BobSperber]

@@laurencefinston7036 Didn’t do fingerstyle, read tab or take lessons since 1969 (I was 10) until last year. I just played and played without discipline. I feel like a trouble, illiterate just to read the tab, and of course, apply slow slow Metronome and work it up. But practicing a full month on Make Me a Pallet, Candy Man Blues, Buck Dancer’s Choice (Fahey’s version) and not being able to play it up to speed… Obviously I’m not practicing some of the right parts with enough repetitions because it’s those measures I need to repeat, or those parts of measures, that can bring it to a halt. My head gets this stuff, I need to get it into my fingers. BTW Check out Muireann Bradley - a young Irish woman with hands from Mississippi.

[@laurencefinston7036]

​@@BobSperber I watched your fingerstyle videos and a couple of the others. There's nothing wrong with your playing and I don't think you need my advice or anyone else's. A month is nothing, I suggest that you just keep doing what you're doing. You play rhythmically and that's the most important thing, in my opinion. If you don't mind another suggestion, I would suggest getting away from transcriptions and work out your own arrangements. Then you can play what comes natural to you, instead of what came natural to someone else. I checked out Muireann Bradley, because there was a thumbnail on the page. I've watched some of her videos before. She plays very fluidly. I'm 4 years younger than you are. Youth is wasted on the young. What part of Chicago are you from? I come from Evanston, but have lived in Germany for 30 years.

[@Paul-mn8ql]

Yeah, no thumb over for me. My hands are about 1/2 inch too short