Merle Travis performs "Lost John"

Country fingerpicking great Merle Travis performs "Lost John." From the DVD "The Guitar of Merle Travis" taught by Marcel Dadi. More info at http://www.guitarvideos.com/products/guitar-workshop-instructional-dvds/the-g...

Category:

Music

Tags:

• merle
• travis
• lost
• john
• fingerpicking
• country
• guitar
• marcel
• dadi
• stefan
• grossman

[MilesPittman]

How surprised would we be if the country stars of today could hold our attention like Merle Travis just did? And cause our feet to tap with only an acoustic and thumb pick!

[daffydoug]

Man I LOVE this old classic stuff! This is TRUE American music!!!

[sixstringpickin]

Can anyone explain to me how to play the thing he does between 1:29 and 1:36? How is this technique called? What is the picking pattern? I can do Travis picking, but I cant play that pattern. I would be very grateful if someone could explain this.

[MikeMandaville]

@Jakes1185 Jakes, you probably will be interested in knowing that after viewing Merle's 1951 acoustic solo version of his tune "Nine Pound Hammer", I now am convinced that Merle did indeed pick with just two fingers. However, not only do I still maintain that it would be easier to play Merle's tunes with more than two fingers of the picking hand, I maintain that it would be easiest of all with five fingers. I also think that wrapping the thumb around the neck is not necessarily good form.

[Jakes1185]

@MikeMandaville Your logic is bizarre. I mean that as a compliment. The point isn't whether or not it's technologically possible, the point is that I'm asking WHY WOULD ANYONE DO THAT? You're trying to suggest that there is some conspiracy at hand here, that there is some possibility Travis might have picked a song with three fingers on tape and then recorded himself on video playing with two. Ok, I'm done now. Last word yours.

[MikeMandaville]

@Jakes1185 Jakes, either you are joking, or else you know very little about the history of the musical recording industry. I suspect that you are joking. Regardless of that, back in the fifties, when this video was made, Les Paul, the guitar player, had a popular television series which ran for a total of seven years. Les Paul was not only the inventor of sound-on-sound tape recording, he was also the musician who made the most use of it. Those shows feature sixteen levels of sound. Okay?

[Jakes1185]

@MikeMandaville Yeah, you're right. There are probably PLENTY of guitar videos taken during this period and overdubbed in such a way as to make people believe the player was better than he really was. And the moon landing is totally fake too. That's not paranoid. Or condescending.

[MikeMandaville]

@Jakes1185 Whether or not Merle Travis picked with two fingers is arguable, but that this video does not demonstrate that he did so is not. That you agree with me that it is easier to pick Travis-style with more than two fingers means that I have made my point. Since it is easier to pick Travis-style with more than two fingers, therefore, those who do so are not being paranoid. Those who do so are exercising their common sense. Common sense and blowin' smoke are two different things. Got it?

[Jakes1185]

@MikeMandaville That's a fine abstract argument, and most Travis-Picking songs are certainly easier picked with three fingers, but this line of thinking strikes me as being incredibly and pointlessly paranoid. This isn't the only youtube video that features Travis picking with two fingers. "Travis Picking" in the traditional sense, is thumb and fore-finger. Not to mention that this video seems obviously legit to me. I just think you're blowin' smoke.

[MikeMandaville]

@Jakes1185 The point is that, as in the case of Rita Hayworth, the audio portion of this video could easily have been dubbed in afterwards, and you yourself have no way of knowing if this was or was not done. A guitar player who knocks himself out trying to play like Merle Travis "with two fingers" would do well to realize that Merle himself did not necessarily play with two fingers, simply because his videos make him appear to be doing so. Again, Rita Hayworth did sing, but we didn't hear her

[Jakes1185]

@MikeMandaville But he IS picking this song with his thumb and first finger. I am still failing to see your point.

[MikeMandaville]

@Jakes1185 No, that's not what I said. For example, cheyennecrazyhorse has written "WOW !! And he's only pickin' with one finger and his thumb. Fantastic !!" There is nothing about that statement which is open to interpretation, regardless of your use of the word "suggest". The poster has drawn a conclusion which, in his own mind, is a solid one, and, I repeat, it is a false conclusion.

By the way, it certainly would be possible, but more difficult, to play this tune with only two fingers