Hey guys, welcome to this simple mini course called FINGERPICKING GUITAR IN 7 DAYS.
In this mini program we are going to learn different aspects of the fingerpicking guitar. Each day we are going to learn a new technique so that you can find it easy to get started with this awesome, creative technique.
Lesson 1
Key: E minor
Technique: Alternate fingering. Alternate middle and index throughout with the exception of the first count, which will also have the thumb simultaneously with the index finger. The thumb will also pluck the bass note on the count.
Hey guys, I just uploaded a new lesson from the Technique lab Program.
In this lesson we are borrowing an awesome concept from classical guitar called “Arpeggios”. The arpeggio is a chord broken down into single notes.
As we are progressing with the technique lab program we definitely have to introduce this beautiful concept in our playing.
Arpeggios are a great way to add complexity, musicality and color in your playing. Rock guitar players use arpeggios in their solos, Jazz guitar player also use them in their improvisations but in this lesson we will use arpeggios for a technical purpose.
Below there are few things that you should know about the arpeggios:
01. Arpeggios are chords broken down into single notes. The C major arpeggio will have the notes C E G, which are the same note of the C major chord (or triad).
02. You can use arpeggios for different purposes. Improvisation or technique. You can easily improvise over a chord progression with arpeggios as they share the same notes of the chords so they sound pretty cool and smooth.
03. The arpeggios will have different shapes depending on where you play the on the fretboard. The arpeggios we are learning in this lesson are pretty simple as they only contain the three notes of the chord. There are also more complex arpeggios of 7th, 9th, 11th and 13th.
04. We can consider the arpeggio to be a section of a scale. If we play arpeggios with 4 notes they can be pretty close to scale as the scale is only 7 notes.
05. One of the easiest arpeggios to learn are the major and minor triads (also called chords). Those two arpeggios only have three notes, the I III V therefore they are easy to memorize.
06. Almost all the arpeggios used in this lessons starts with the root note (the note upon which a chord is built). This should help you with memorizing and playing the arpeggios easily. The only exception will be on the last chord F which will have the F arpeggio played in different inversions (starting on the III and V of the chord).
07. Don’t worry about speed! Practice slowly so that you can get the most out of each arpeggio you learn.
About this Lesson
Key: C major
Technique: Learn how to play C Am G and F arpeggios.
Fingerstyle pattern: The entire exercise is played using alternate fingering i-m-i-m.
How to Practice: Each arpeggio has only three notes plus its octave. Learn one arpeggio at a time before moving on to the next arpeggio. Form over speed.
In this fingerstyle lesson, I want to show you one of the most simple fingerpicking patterns you can practice on the guitar. This is also, one of the most common and essential fingerpicking patterns every beginner should learn.
It’s important to start with basic patterns if you want to build a solid technique and dexterity.
You will also learn a beautiful chord progression in E minor to practice this patter. Practicing guitar with musical ideas will keep your motivation high, and you will achieve your goals easily.
These are the things we will be learning in this lesson:
A simple fingerpicking pattern played with thumb and ring together followed by middle and index.
A beautiful and simple chord progression in E minor.
An Italian music command called “Ritenuto”, which is sudden and temporarily decrease of the tempo.
One of the awesome things about fingerpicking technique is the fact that we can arrange a song including chords, arpeggios, melodies, walking bass, rhythm and percussion, as well as other less used technique such as harmonics, hammer on, pull-offs and horizontal playing.
Some fingerpicking guitarists are able to combine all the aspects of the fingerstyle technique which enables them to write a song using all these important elements within a song.
Fingerstyle guitar is indeed one of the most creative and complete forms and art you can have on classical and acoustic guitar.
What is a Fingerpicking Pattern?
Guitar players refer to fingerpicking patterns as a specific finger combination that can be used to play chords or melodies. The are hundreds of different patterns that a guitar player can use depending on the rhythmic and melodic connotation of a song.
Patterns such as alternate fingering are mainly used to play single note melodies or solos as they don’t need other elements such as accompaniment or rhythm.
When performing chords or rhythmic accompaniments patterns like the famous P i m a (thumb, index, middle and ring finger) are way more used than alternate fingering.
The famous Fingerstyle Guitar Association came up with one of the most accurate definitions of the fingerpicking technique:
Physically, “Fingerstyle” refers to using each of the right hand fingers independently to play the multiple parts of a musical arrangement that would normally be played by several band members. Deep bass notes, harmonic accompaniment (the chord progression), melody, and percussion can all be played simultaneously when playing Fingerstyle.
What’s the Most Simple Fingerpicking Pattern?
On guitar, there are five most simple fingerpicking patterns that every guitar player should learn. If you are a beginner, you should definitely start with those.
Check the patterns below. The examples are all in C major but you can transpose it to other chords.
Fingerpicking pattern 1: P i m a
Fingerpicking pattern 2: P a m i
Fingerpicking pattern 3: P i m a m i
Fingerpicking pattern 4: P-a m i a m i
Fingerpicking pattern 5: P-i-m-a
Fingers to Use for Fingerpicking Technique
Classical guitar music notation is well known to provide the most detailed fingering for both hands.
Memorize the difference between the right hand and left-hand symbol and numbers.
Left Hand
Notation
Right Hand
Notation
Thumb
T
Thumb
p
Index
1
Index
i
Middle
2
Middle
m
Ring
3
Ring
a
Little
4
Little
not used
In guitar scores, the four fingers of the right-hand (which pluck the strings) are designated by the first letter of their Italian names namely p = thumb (pollice), i = index finger (índice), m = major finger (medio), a = ring finger (anulare). For the left-hand we use numbers, index = 1, middle = 2, ring = 3 and, little finger = 4.
The Best Way to Pluck the Stings
Learning how to correctly fingertip the strings can be challenging for beginners.
For this reason, I laid down two fingerpicking rules that every beginner should follow.
Rule #1: Thumb in front of the fingers.
Rule #2: Index, middle and ring at a 45-degree angle.
Rule #3: Picking hand position for best timbre.
#Fingerpicking Rule 1: Thumb in Front of the fingers
Position the thumb in front of the fingers and pluck the strings downwards.
I prefer to pluck the strings with the side of the fingertip and use a combination of fingernails and flesh. I don’t like the sound of the fingernails alone, which is way too bright.
Pluck the strings downwards using the big knuckle.
Fingerpicking Rule #2: Index, Middle, and Ring finger at a 45-degree Angle
Position the index, middle and ring finger at a 45-degree angle for better fingers dexterity and smooth tone.
Plucking the strings with the fingertips give to the guitar player the ability to create its own tone and timbre.
Use the big knuckle to begin the plucking movement then the small knuckle for plucking the string.
Fingerpicking Rule #3: Where Along the Strings Should you Pluck?
There are a lot of different factors that influence the technique, tone, and timbre. Factors include:
The right-hand position and where you pluck the strings affect the tone. Pluck the strings near the bridge (ponticello) if you need a hard, bright sound. Energetic strumming usually prefers this position. For a smooth, dull tone, play the strings closer to the frets. This position is perfect for the fingerpicking technique.
Use of nails also affects the tone a lot. Usually, classical guitar players use a combination of nail and flesh which is a technique also used by modern acoustic guitar players. Overall nails give you better control and fluidity in your playing. One of the downsides of using nails is that guitarists have to keep their fingernails smoothly filed.
The Fingerpicking Pattern #4 Used in This Lesson
Let’s have a look at the fingerpicking pattern number #4 and how we can use it to play a beautiful chord progression in E minor.
The fingerpicking pattern is called P/a – m – i.
We are going to assign a finger to each string.
The thumb plays either the 4th, 5th or 6th string.
The index plays the 3rd string G
The middle plays the 2nd string B
The ring plays the 1st string E
These three steps should help you get started with this exercise.
1. Learn the Chords
The chord progression goes as follows: Em, Am, D, G, C, B7, Em.
In order to make the chord progression more interesting, I decided to play some of the chords in a different position of the neck.
Practice each chord individually.
Check the diagrams below to learn the chord shapes.
2. Practice the Fingerpicking Pattern
Once you learned the chord progression, it should be easy to start practicing the fingerpicking pattern.
One of the things I recommend to all of my students is to practice the pattern on each chord individually and repeat it several times before moving on to the next chord.
Follow the three fingerpicking rules we talked about in this article and keep the plucking hand as steady as possible.
The triplets should be played as evenly as possible with an emphasis on the first note of each triplet.
3. Put it Together
The last step should be playing the exercises fluently.
You will also focus on playing the chords with musicality.
Watch the beginning of the video several times and try to reproduce the same tone and musicality. As your technique becomes better, you should be able to add more and more color into the chord progression.
Pluck the strings in a different position to find the timbre you like.
Let’s Wrap This Up
Let me know if you enjoyed this lesson.
You can get the full tab on my Patreon page. Just click the link below to download.
Alright guys, welcome to another fingerstyle lesson from the “Fingerstyle Solo” Program. In this program we learn how to play simple melodies and guitar solo over a backing track.
Today I am going to show you a beautiful simple guitar solo in G major on fingerpicking guitar using G major pentatonic scale and G major scale.
It is a fairly short solo suitable for fingerstyle beginners who want to play along with a backing track and have fun learning simple solos.
You can have access to the tab and the backing track (with and without the metronome) so that you can practice and play the guitar solo exactly as I play it.
As always guys take things step by step and learn one melody at a time!
Learn more about the Pentatonic and G major scale in the article below.
A guitar solo is a melodic passage (also called instrumental or improvisation) played with a guitar (or any other instrument). We can find guitar solos in blues, swing, jazz, metal, rock and and gospel music. Almost any genre of music contains a guitar solo, instrumental or an improvisation.
Acoustic guitar solos can work for a single guitar playing chords and melodies or with accompaniment from other instruments or small ensembles such as guitar and bass, a band or even a simple backing track with a guitar playing chords.
Learn The Pentatonic Scale
In this simple guitar solo we are going to blend both the G major pentatonic scale and the G major scale in one box.
The Pentatonic scale is one of the most used scale in music. One of the reasons why everybody uses this scale has to do with its simplicity and musicality. Beginners can easily learn the pentatonic scale and within hours create a simple guitar solo that sounds great!
The concept is really simple! The Pentatonic scale is a bunch of notes form the major scale. The difference is that the Major scale is 7 notes, the Pentatonic scale only has 5, from its name Penta.
Overall the Pentatonic scale makes the life of everybody easy! It is easy to memorize and put into practice. With just few notes you are already creating a beautiful simple solo.
G major Pentatonic scale
The G major scale has the notes G A B D E G.
There are five different shapes but we will only focus on one box.
Below check the difference between the G Pentatonic Scale and the G Major scale.
There are many shapes to pentatonic scales; this example of the black keys was just one to make the observation easy because it is really practical. If you don’t have a keyboard in home, don’t be desperate, we will explain in details how to create this scale.
Backing Track and Chord Progression
In this program you can play along with a backing track.
The chord progression in the key of G major goes as follows: G – G/B and C add9.
One of the simple thing about this chord progression is that it is perfect to play along with using the Pentatonic scale and the major scale.
If we break down the note of each chord, you can see why!
The G major triad has G B D. The G/B has exactly the same notes as the G and the Cadd9 has C D E G.
If we compare the notes of the chords with the G pentatonic scale G A B D E G we notice that the majority of the notes coming from the pentatonic scale are the same as the chords. For this reason the pentatonic scale will work perfectly with this chord progression.
If you are fed up of playing chords and you need something to make your playing more interesting, this simple exercise will help you a lot!
We are going to add simple licks between chords so that you can get the most out of you playing, creativity and musicality.
This exercise is extremely beneficial for beginners and intermediate guitar players however playing licks between chords has a lot to do few really important points:
When getting this technique together, learning the cho
rd progression is probably one of the most important thing you’ll do.
In this exercise we are going to learn two simple chords, A minor and E minor which are going to be playing in Bar 1. Jam on it until you become confident enough. Remember that the chords will be played in a loop, so the chord change should become second nature.
Bar 1 in red: Chords.
Bar 2 in Yellow: Melody
The Scale
Second step, let’s look at the scale. You will need to learn the scale perfectly! In this video I am covering the A minor scale in two different positions.
In order to keep the exercise simple I decided to play the licks between chords only using the top three strings (G – B and E) so that we can narrow it down to just few notes (rather than playing on six strings).
About Playing Licks Between Chords
The fact is, unless you have been working on a similar exercise and you know how to play the scale and chords perfectly, the exercise will feel awkward at first.
We are going to start with very simple phrases so that you can learn the sound of the scale before trying something more difficult.
If one of your purpose for picking up the guitar in the first place was to learn a way to play chords and melodies you are going to need to spend time learning the scale and chords as they represent the language of the style we are learning today.
Of course guys, the licks I am showing you today are just a handful of simple sounding phrases. As you become better with the licks I am showing you today, you can then slowly change the notes and come up with different licks.
What is a Lick?
In popular music, a lick is a phrase consisting of a series of notes used in a solo or melodic idea that are based on a maximum of seven notes. One of the characteristic of the licks is that they are easy to memorize and change. There are certain licks that are blended together to develop a solo.
We had a ton of fun recording this Maroon 5 Mashup with my wife Maria. She really loves singing so sometimes we record few covers.
Today we putted together a bunch of songs from the super band Maroon five.
The awesome thing about recording mashup is the fact that you don’t have to record the whole song, instead you can just have fun recording the chorus of the song which is pretty simple and quick to record.
The band started playing together since High School back in 1994 where they self-released their first independent album We Like Digging?. Just one year after releasing the first album the band signed to Reprise Records and finally released their first album with the record company The Fourth World in 1997.
After few years composing and experimenting the Maroon 5 signed with a different records company Octone Records where they released Songs About Janein June 2002. This album is one of the best from the band. It’s groovy, bluesy, funk and catchy. One of my favorite!
Hey guys. welcome to another fingerstyle lesson! Today I want to answer one of the question you ask me most: How I write fingerstyle melodies”.
It would be impossible to explain that in one video so I though I would show you one of the system I use to write simple fingerstyle melodies using the Major scale.
In this video you will learn the A major scale and the chords of the A major key. Then I am going to harmonize the scale with chords.
I want to quickly debunk all the rubbish about writing and composing as one of the most difficult thing to do in music.
The reality is that you can write a beautiful melody with simple chords and few notes as long as you know how to combine those two elements with rhythm and musicality.
In this lesson I am going to show you how we can create a beautiful melody with the A major scale without even mixing the notes. I am literally playing the scale and I am adding chords in few places.
This is probably the easiest process because you follow the scale and the chords coming from the scale so you can’t really make mistakes.
Obviously, it isn’t easy to write beautiful things right-away.
Take it step by step and start with this lesson before trying your own things.
Step 1: Learn the scale and the chords coming from the key. In this example we are are going to write fingerstyle melodies in A major. Learn the A major scale (A B C# D E F# G# A) and the chords A major, B minor, C# minor, D major, E major, F# minor, G diminished.
Step 2: Learn the major scale horizontally (instead of vertically) so that it’s easy to visualize the scale in a melodic way.
Step 3: Add chords on some of the notes of the scale to make it sound musical.
Below the A major scale and the chords coming from the scale.
Chord Progression:Am – E – Am | Em – E – Am | Dm – Am – E – Am.
How to Practice: Learning a new scale is always challenging. In the video we are going to play the A harmonic minor scale in one position only, the box V. If you already know the A harmonic minor scale, start the lesson without hesitate. If this is the first time you are dealing with the A harmonic minor scale you should spend a little bit of time playing the scale and learn its sound.
The sharp 7th, which is the note that makes the Harmonic minor scale so special can be difficult to “digest ” at the beginning so really take it step by step and learn the sound of the scale before playing the melody.
The difference between the Natural minor scale and the Harmonic minor scale is that the Natural minor scale is the relative minor scale of the major scale.
If we take the C major scale | C D E F G A B C and we play the progression of notes stating on the note A we will have A B C D E F G A which is indeed the A natural minor scale. The Natural minor scale and the major scale share the same notes.
The Harmonic minor scale is just like an A natural minor scale but with the 7th degree sharped (raised). The A harmonic minor scale will have the notes A B C D E F G# A.
Below the difference between A natural minor scale and A harmonic minor scale.
The Melody
In this fingerstyle guitar lesson we are going to write a melody using the A harmonic minor scale.
The secret here is to use both the Natural minor scale and the harmonic minor scale.
Here’s how: We will play the natural minor scale on the A minor chord and the harmonic minor scale on the E and D minor chord. By doing that we are a giving a better structure to the melody which will otherwise sound more like a solo or improvisation.
Learn How to Play this Soulful Emotional Guitar Solo
in E minor on Acoustic Guitar
Hey guys, welcome to another fingerstyle guitar lesson! Today I am going to show you how to play a soulful emotional guitar solo in E minor on acoustic guitar over a backing track.
In this video I want to show you four different section of this emotional guitar solo note by note so that you can learn and then implement some of my ideas into your playing.
Each section has a different vibe even thought the melodic ideas are pretty similar.
About this Lesson
Program: Fingerstyle Solo
Key: E minor
Scale used: E minor scale
Technique: Learn how to play a solo in E minor over a backing track.
Chord Progression: Em – C – G – Em – C – G – D/F#
Sections: Four different sections. Each section eight bars long.
How to Practice: When I compose the solos for the “Fingerstyle Solo” program I usually start by recording the backing track and then playing around with it for few minutes. I ALWAYS USE THE BACKING TRACK WITH THE CLICK. I highly recommend you do the same. The backing track without the click is for your own impro which you should try once you feel ready.
You can get hold of the and the backing track. Check my Patreon page or click on Patreon lessons in the main menu and select the “Fingerstyle Solo” Program.
Hey guys welcome to another fingerstyle video. Today I really feel like playing few emotional fingerstyle solo on acoustic guitar so I recorded few backing tracks and played around with it!
When I record this type of videos I usually like the record the chord progression and play around for about 10 minutes before I record.
Before I used to rehears the solos for longer (30-45 minutes) but then I realized that if I practiced for too long the solo doesn’t sound spontaneous.
For this video I can say that 60% of it is improvise and 40% is rehearsed.
I like to have one or two ideas I can go back to in case I feel like I don’t know what to play but I love the fact that I can press the rec button without knowing what I am going to play.
I hope you enjoy the video guys.
I am going to add the tabs and backing track over the week so go back to the Patreon page to see if there is an update. There are six solos that I have to transcribe so it might take the whole week.
