How Guitar Players Rearrange Fingerstyle Songs on YouTube

One of the questions I get asked the most is about how guitar players rearrange fingerstyle songs.

Over the past 10 years, YouTube has been flooded with Fingerstyle covers.

From simple to difficult arrangements, beginners, with loops or backing tracks, solo or with a singer at some point, almost any fingerstyle acoustic guitar player has posted a cover.

There are also many guitar lessons and fingerstyle tutorials that teach you how to play songs, so guitar players started to learn how to play fingerstyle songs on YouTube.

The number one question I get the most is how to arrange a fingerstyle song just like guitar players do on YouTube?

Today I am going to show you how to do that in 4 simple steps.

Find the chord progression and reorganize it.
Learn the scale related to the key.
Combine the chords with the scale.
Add rhythm

Let’s get started.

Step 1

Define the Chord Progression

The first step to rearranging fingerstyle songs (or melodies) is to define a chord progression.

This is a crucial step because the chords must be reorganized and memorize differently.

The chord progression we are working on today is Am – F – C and G.

Once you know the progression, you should then memorize the root note of each chord and practice the chord progression by playing the root note only.

Step 2

The Scale

Once you familiarize yourself with the chord progression, it is time to add a melody over the fingerstyle chords you just learned.

This is a crucial step because the scale will then become a melody.

You really want to learn the scale perfectly and from memory, as things will get more challenging once we combine the scale with the chord.

For this chord progression in A minor, we will be using an A minor scale on the top three strings.

Here is the guitar tab of the scale

Step 3

Combine Chords and Scale

One of the most exciting moments of learning how to rearrange a melody or a song is when you will start combining the A minor scale and fingerstyle chords.

Remember to always visualize the chords and the scale as two separate things.

The first approach could be playing the scale along with the chord. I am giving you a straightforward musical example to show you how the scale sounds over the chord progression.

In the example above, you can see how the bass note is played every two counts and the A minor scale.

How to Escape the Scale and Build Musical Concepts

Once you are familiar with the step above, you can start playing the scale using different intervals.

This is indeed a very complex step guys so you should always start with few notes for each chord.

In this example, I am playing a more challenging pattern based on different intervals. The fingerstyle chords are still played with the root note only, but the melody sounds more articulated.

Let me give you another example to avoid the scale pattern and play a much more melodic phrase.

This approach is a little bit more difficult because the notes don’t follow a repetitive pattern. Instead, the melody is more of a “singing” line.

Check the example below.

More ups and down phrases for the last example.

Here I am playing a lovely melody that sounds perfect over these fingerstyle chords.

Remember to keep the Root note down as you play the melody and let it ring out.

This is definitely one of my favorite guitar phrases for step 3.

Step 4

Add Rhythm and Musicality

The last step is to start playing melodies that sound like a song, finally.

So far, you learned the chord progression and memorized the root note for each chord.
You learned the A minor scale that can be used over this chord progression.
The scale and chords can be combined to create song-like melodies.

With this step, we will be playing more difficult and musical ideas, so warm up your finger and let’s get started.