Fingerpicking Lesson 1

Thumb, index and middle finger and open strings!

Fingerpicking Lesson 1

Difficulty: Beginner Video Time: 6:59 In this video you will learn a basic fingerpick pattern and a fun way to practice it!

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Fingers

The Right Hand

Our fingers will be labeled like this for our fingerpick hand:

p = thumb

i = index

m = middle

a = ring

This lesson shows you how to play an easy fingerpick pattern and even if you have played some finger style guitar you may find it useful for learning new ways of practicing fingerpicking and using exercises to learn your fretboard and train your ear.

0:20 - 1:14 (Time this information is in video)

The fretboard diagram shows the 3 open strings we will use in this lesson.

6th string = Low E (play with thumb and pluck down)

2nd string = B (play with index and pluck up)

1st string = High E (play with middle finger and pluck up)

Quarter Notes

Worth One Beat Each

1:15 - 1:35

Don't read music? No worries, the video and fretboard diagrams will have you reading music in no time.

p = thumb
i = index
m = middle
a = ring (we won't use it for this pattern)

Eighth Notes

Worth Half a Beat Each

In this example we will play eighth notes. Notice these will go twice as fast as our quarter notes went.

Eighth Note Triplets

1:42 - 156

In this example we are now playing eighth note triplets. In this case we are placing 3 notes evenly in one beat. Note the thumb will play low E every time we hear the click. We will use this for the main part of the lesson below.

Sixteenth Notes

1:57 - 2:05

Sixteenth notes will go twice as fast as the eighth note example. There would be two beams instead of one connecting the notes. Notice that quarter notes had no beams and eighths notes had one. Sixteenth would have two.

Let's Create Some Music

2:45 - until end

So now we will take the above finger picking exercise and make it a little more fun by adding different notes on the low E string. In this section we will look at using an E major scale to create different sounds.