It's odd how that two vs. three finger thing works. Merle Travis muted the bass strings with the heel of his hand while he picked. That pretty well takes the middle finger out of position to be useful, at least for me. The few times when my eyeballs have been within two or three feet of Doc's hands, he was using thumb and index finger. He doesn't bend his wrist much but seems to carry the rhythm from his forearm rather than the thumb alone like Merle and Chet.

Seeing Doc play up close was really heartwarming for me. I had often tried to play "Doc's Guitar" using three fingers but could never quite do it. One day I discovered that it was much easier to do if I din't try to use my middle finger. The thinking was different but it was much easier (read possible). When I finally saw Doc play the tune I didn't feel so stupid.

I think a lot of Joe Maphis' work is only possible using thumb and forefinger as well. On the other hand, I can never get Hurt's "Louis Collins" or "Candyman" to sound right using two fingers. I always have to throw in some middle finger notes to get the timing right. I never got to see Hurt play in person but now I understand my problem. Thanks, Michael K.

As mousethief reported, Gary Davis played using thumb and index only but he used a finger pick in addition to the thumb pick. He was not tied to the alternating syncopated feel usually associated with Kentucky thumb-picking. He often played many notes in a row using the same finger (or thumb). I have never been comfortable doing that and have never built enough speed playing fast runs with successive downstrokes of the thumb. I can approximate some of it using rapicly alternating thumb and index picking on the same string but it's not really how Gary did it.

      - Mark