I can't post tabs or reproduce the song's lyrics here, since tabs transcribe a recording someone else created. I can still help you learn it. Mississippi John Hurt is known for a gentle fingerpicking style, with the thumb keeping a steady bass line while the fingers pick the melody, which is why his playing sounds so relaxed and unhurried.
For the notes themselves, try these routes:
- Published songbooks: Mississippi John Hurt collections in print often include transcribed arrangements with the copyright credited properly.
- Licensed tab sites: sites that pay for their publishing rights are the safer choice for this kind of song.
- Listening first: find a recording and slow it down in a free app to hear where the thumb and fingers land.
If you tell me your level and whether you play fingerstyle or with a pick, I can suggest what to practice first, such as keeping the thumb steady on the bass before adding the melody.
Travis picking
Yes, that's the name for the core technique, and it's a good term to search for. Travis picking is named after Merle Travis, the Kentucky guitarist who popularized the pattern in the 1940s: the thumb alternates between bass notes on the low strings while the fingers pick the melody above.
To be more precise than my earlier reply: Mississippi John Hurt's playing is usually called Piedmont style, the Carolina tradition that shares this thumb-bass approach but has its own syncopation and a more loose, floating melody. Travis picking is the better name for the general technique, and Piedmont is the name for his particular lineage. Both are worth searching.
To start on the technique itself:
- Thumb alone: Play a steady alternating bass with your thumb on the lowest strings, without looking, until it runs on its own.
- Add the fingers: Let your index finger take the treble strings, then the middle finger, while the thumb keeps going underneath.
- Slow practice: Use a metronome at a slow tempo, and raise it only when the pattern stays unbroken.
