This 12-bar fingerstyle guitar workout is a great way to develop your acoustic picking skills in the country and blues tradition. It’s a fun and challenging Travis Picking riff with that classic country blues feel—perfect for players who love the sounds of artists like Merle Travis, Chet Atkins, or Mississippi John Hurt.
The riff features an alternating bass line played with your thumb (I’m using a thumb pick, which helps get that punchy, percussive tone), while your index and middle fingers pluck melody notes in between. It’s a loopable 12-bar progression that makes for a solid warm-up or focused practice routine.
You can download the full tablature below the video and follow along. If you’re an acoustic guitarist wanting to dig deeper into fingerstyle country, blues rhythm guitar, or solo bluegrass flatpicking, sign up today to unlock all of my premium guitar lessons and tablature here at Country Guitar Online.