Thumbstyle guitar is a term that describes the guitar playing style that grew up around 1920 in western Kentucky. It is identified with the music of its most well known creators, Mose Rager, Kennedy Jones and Merle Travis. It became the basis for later styles of country guitar, including those of Chet Atkins, Doc Watson and Jerry Reed.

In this lesson Pat Kirtley teaches the basics of this style, and shows you how to play five repertoire-building tunes which will illustrate various aspects of the style. The tunes range from the basic and essential, I Am a Pilgrim, to a contemporary thumbstyle arrangement of the 1970 country hit, Ready for the Times to Get Better. Pat also shows you:

-the basic right-hand concepts of thumbpicking

-how to use the thumbpick;

-right-hand palm muting using the left-hand thumb for holding chords

-differences in the styles of Mose Rager, Merle Travis and Chet Atkins

-how to play up the neck chords in the style of Mose Rager

-Chord form variations used by thumbstyle players

A detailed tab/music instructional booklet is included as a PDF file on the DVD.

90 minutes

DVD is region 0, playable worldwide.

I Am a Pilgrim

I'll See You in My Dreams

Deep River Blues

Ready for the Times to Get Better

The Guitar