The first part of the book concerns regular, plain old arpeggios, or broken chords, and the second part introduces the alternating bass, or Travis-Style, approach to playing arpeggios. You should recognize many of the examples used, as they come from popular music: rock, folk and country. There is even a smattering of classical music and bossa nova; something for everyone. Even if you don’t recognize a tune, I make it pretty clear, through tablature and fretboard diagrams, exactly what you’re supposed to do and how and when. Maybe even why.
Both the Arpeggio and Travis-Style sections start from scratch, so if you’re working along in the Arpeggio section and you find that you’re getting overwhelmed, feel free to skip ahead to the simpler first pages of the Travis-Style section. At the end of the book, you’ll see the 20 main arpeggios and the 20 main Travis patterns summarized for easy reference.
Table of Contents
Part One: FINGERSTYLE BASICS
Notation The Picking Hand Picking Philosophies The Overlapping Tier System The Fretting Hand Bass/Tier Combinations Practice with Arpeggio #1 The Continuity Principle The Indiana Jones Principle More Examples Worst-Case Continuity Scenario The Challenge Other Meters: ¾ Time Other Meters 6/8 Time Back to 4/4 Time: “Estudio” Meet the Twins Other Simple Arpeggios Arpeggios with Longer Sequences “Allegro” 3/3/2/Time 20 Arpeggios: A Retrospective Mixing Quarter and Eighth Notes Meet the Threesome More Samples from the Field Game Show: “Scarborough Fair” Bossa Nova: “Girl From Ipanema”
Part Two: TRAVIS-STYLE BASICS
Travis #1: Inside-Out Mechanics Practice: “City of New Orleans” Travis #2: “Landslide” Travis #3: Outside-In Variations: Travis #4 and #5 Picking Pattern Potpourri Triple Alternating Bass Walking Bassline Travis #6: The Pinch Pattern “Dust in the Wind” Pinch Variations Adding the Ring Finger Drop D and the Ring Finger More Variations 20 Travis Patterns: A Retrospective “Leader of the Band” “Garden Party” Double-Picking “Helplessly Hoping” Travis-Style Departures “The Dance” “Blackbird” The Next Level: Melodic Lines Final Exam Our 20 Arpeggios at a Glance Our 20 Travis Patterns at a Glance
