Dust In The Wind - Kansas
I learned this song about 20 years ago from a guitar magazine. Kerry Livgren was practicing "Travis" finger picking, and the song developed from there. This is a good song to learn Travis picking, and a good way to warm-up. It is hard for me to play it cleanly at full-speed - you would have to practice it a lot for your fingers to get used to the motion. The left hand pattern is easy, but the picking takes practice.
http://www.zimbio.com/Guitar+Lessons...+Guitar+Lesson
The single “Dust in the Wind” was released by the rock band Kansas on their album “Point of no Return”, in 1977. Later, Kansas also released a live version of the song on their album entitled “Two for the Show”.
The song will not be too hard for the beginner who has spent some time learning Travis picking. For those that are not familiar with Travis picking, some practice will be required (don’t give up).
I have managed to find a backing track for the song, which is included at the end of this post, along with a PDF chord chart. Any time spent mastering this song, in my opinion, is time well spent. A great song to add to your repertoire - have fun!
http://www.bradpriddy.com/paul_simon/travis.htm
Travis picking, is a pattern of alternating bass fingerpicking. Paul Simon makes extensive use of the Travis picking pattern in many of his songs.
An easy way to remember and think about this pattern is that it is:
(1) "Pinch" the outer two strings of the chord with the thumb and middle finger.
(2) Sequentially pluck the INNER two strings of the chord with the thumb and forefinger.
(3) Sequentially pluck the OUTER two strings of the chord with the thumb and middle finger.
(4) Again sequentially pluck the INNER two strings of the chord with the thumb and forefinger.