Guitar: Finger picking Tutorial #1

I have been asked to do some tutorials on finger-picking, so as my voice is somewhat below par at the moment due to a sore throat, I thought I would attempt to do so, so here goes.

Explanation of terms used in this video:-

Thumb; Index; Middle; Ring are the fingers of the right hand. I M and R each play one designated string only as follows:-
I - plays the 3rd string
M - plays the 2nd string
R - plays the 1st string

The Thumb plays any of the remaining strings, usually alternating between two of them.

Thus you get a pattern T5, I, M, R, T4, I, M, R, T5, I, M, R, T4, I, M, R, -----

This pattern works for the 4/4 time signature.

An even simpler 3/4 pattern involves playing IMR together rather than separately as follows:-

T5, IMR, IMR, T4, IMR, T5, IMR, IMR, T4, IMR, IMR, ----

A 6/8 pattern is a little more complicated as follows:-

T5, I, M, R, M, I, T4, I, M, R, M, I, T5, I, M, R, M, I, T4, I, M, R, M, I, ----

Of course the left hand will be holding down a chord shape while the right hand is playing one of these patterns, and changing where the score indicates. This usually occurs on a Thumb stroke.

The thumb is restricted to strings 5 and 4 when the 6th string is not part of the full chord, e.g. in D, but can include 6 where appropriate, e.g. in C, E, G, A, and any barred chords.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• Finger-picking
• Tutorial
• threelegsoman
• Acoustic
• Guitar

[lopatamd]

cool video.

more :)

[threelegsoman]

@lopatamd Check out my playlist 'Tutorials'

[pedrinbadboy]

nice lesson man.. very useful, thanks

[threelegsoman]

@pedrinbadboy Happy to have been of help.

[MrSponeill]

Sir you are great. I have been playing off and on for several years and finger pickers like Chet Atkins and Tommy Emmanuel are but some of my guitar hero's. I have tried for years to learn to finger pick and you are the first person to lay it out in a way that makes sense. Thank you so very much.

[threelegsoman]

@MrSponeill You are very welcome. Of course, the finger picking I do is very basic and by no means the only way to do it.

[maggymaybrodie]

thanks

[maggymaybrodie]

thank you soooooooo much i love it your friend maggy

[KidKolobteeX]

Give me some KFC :)

[koolman666]

Nice job. Really appreciate it.

[MrSponeill]

No sir but it is a great start and the way you explained it was also great. Many others show you techniques and then just into a song you started out with something simple, kumbya. Something people know what it sounds like and they can add in the other fingers like you showed in your second tutorial. It just made it easier for me to actually begin fingerpicking thanks for sharing what you know.

[freakishstomptm]

thank you