Rev. Gary Davis used to say that to play the guitar you must imitate the piano. Your thumb plays the bass line, the Left hand on the piano, and your fingers, index for him, index and middle for us humans, plays the melody or the Right hand of the piano.

It's very important to get that alternating bass rhythm down so well that you can play it without thinking about it at all. You have to get a driving "bum-Chick-Bum-Chick" rhythm going. Remember, most of this is dance music. It needs a strong rhythm. Once you get that, you can add a melody line, with your index and middle fingers, either on the beat or in between the beats. Almost any song can be played this way. Start with someting simple. "Freight Train" is the one 90% of us started with. "Buck Dancer's Choice" was my second song. Mississippi John Hurt material was what I plunged into next. A very good source of instruction for this style, in Country Blues, is Stefan Grossman's guitar Workshop,

Guitar Workshop

Start with his GW901 and GW931 fingerpicking Country Blues videos. There is free TAB for "Freight Train" on his "Tab of the Month" page.