Five Fingerpicking TIPS to Save Months of PRACTICE

Hey guys, in this fingerstyle guitar lesson I am going to show you five fingerpicking tips to save months of practice.

If you don’t have a lot of time to practice, but you still want to improve your fingerpicking technique then try to follow some of the fingerpicking tips I explain in this video.

These are the five fingerpicking patterns we will discuss in this lesson:

• Tip 1: Practice simple fingerpicking patterns but with challenging chords.
• Tip 2: Practice scales with purpose.
• Tip 3: Implement Travis picking technique in your playing.
• Tip 4: Learn Classical music pieces.
• Tip 5: Challenge your rhythmic chops.

The tabs for everything I play in this video available on my Patreon page.

Enjoy!

1. Fingerpicking Tip 1 – Practice a Simple Fingerpicking Pattern with Difficult Chords

If everything you play is always too simple, you will never become a good guitar player. On the other hand, practicing things that are way too difficult will be one of the reasons why you suck at playing the guitar.

So how can we find the sweet spot between simple and difficult?

The amazing thing about playing guitar is that the right-hand and left-hand perform entirely different tasks. The left-hand frets the notes while the right-hand play them.

We can, therefore, customize the level of difficulty for each hand.

In the first fingerpicking tip, we are going to simplify the right hand while keeping the left-hand reasonably challenging.

Practicing a SIMPLE fingerpicking pattern with a DIFFICULT chord progression or melody will boost your learning curve massively.

Easy vs. Difficult

In the video, I am showing you two different guitar parts with the same fingerpicking pattern.

The first example is straightforward. I am just playing a few chords in the first position. Any guitar player can play this quickly.

The second example is way more difficult because the melody is played up and down the neck. I am also playing a three strings bar chord which can be pretty stretchy for some beginners. If you want to play this exercise correctly, you will have to practice harder.

Notice how the same picking pattern sounds completely different when I play it with the melody and how it seems to be way more difficult.

Learn how to play the fingerpicking exercise I show you in the video and challenge your left hand if you want to improve your guitar playing faster.

Three Steps for Learning Difficult Exercises on Guitar Easily

We just learned that practicing a challenging exercise will improve your guitar playing faster.

Let me share with you the three steps for learning difficult exercises easily that I teach all the time.

• Step 1. Correct hands position on the guitar.
• Step 2. Learn the exercises from memory.
• Step 3. Learn the notes of the fretboard.

Step 1. Correct Hands Position

The Right-Hand Position and how to Pluck the Strings Correctly

Position the right hand on top of the sound-whole.

Thumb plucking movement. The right-hand thumb should always be in front of the fingers. This position allows you to pluck the strings smoothly. Start the plucking by moving the fingers away from the string to generate momentum and pluck the string downwards with the side of the finger.

Fingers plucking movement. Position the index, middle and ring finger at a 45-degree angle and pluck upwards. This position gives you the best timbre and control. As for the thumb, start the plucking by moving the finger away from the string before striking with the side of the fingertip.

You can also watch this lesson where I show you how to position the right hand correctly.

The Left hand and How to Position the Thumb for Stretch, Control and Speed

The left hand is responsible for fretting the notes of the chords and melodies.

There are two different positions: The Classical approach and the Modern approach.

With the Classical approach, you will lower the thumb behind the neck, in the middle position. Make sure there is space between the palm and bottom neck and press down the frets with the fingertips. The Classical approach is perfect for classical pieces or songs that require fingers to stretch. It is the position adopted by Classical guitar players.

With the Modern approach, you will bring the thumb on top of the neck. The palm touches the bottom neck, and there is more grip over the guitar neck. Use the Modern approach for chords and strumming.

I suggest that you learn how to play both Classical and Modern approach.

#2 Learn the Exercise from Memory

Learning exercises from memory helped me a lot when I first started playing guitar because allowed me to focus 100% on my fingers.

If I am playing a song or practicing an exercise, I want to focus on my right and left-hand position and make sure I am plucking the strings correctly. I also want the music to flow beautifully.

I can’t do that if I am reading the exercise from the guitar tab or sheet music.

I know that many of you struggle with memorizing songs, chords or melodies, so I am going to give you a few tips on how to remember chords and songs easily.

How to Memorize Chords Easily and Faster.

I was inspired by a lesson from a great guitar player and teacher called Jody Fisher. In his tutorial, he explains how the majority of guitar players learn chords and why this is not beneficial.

“A lot of guitar players would strum a chord and then quickly let go. It works, but it takes too long to memorize the chord. Instead, position the chord and strum (or pluck) the string. Don’t let go the chord, instead, press harder for about 30 seconds”.

Jody explains that while you are holding the chord down your muscle memory is memorizing the chord shape faster than if you keep pressing and releasing the chord.

This approach shows you how to memorize chords easily and faster.

• Step 1. Position the chord.
• Step 2. Hold the chord for 30 seconds.
• Step 3. Rest and try five more times again.

How to Memorize a Melody Easily

I find that melodies are way easier to memorize than chords.

The reason for that is because a melody can be sing. When you can sing something, you can remember it.

If you want to memorize a melody easily, listen to it day and night. Then, grab your guitar and practice. I am sure you will be able to play it from memory easily.

• Step 1. Listen to the melody day and night.
• Step 2. Try to sing the melody.
• Step 3. Learn the melody on the guitar.

#3 Learn the Notes of the Fretboard

Learning the notes on the fretboard is probably the very first step for becoming better at playing guitar.

If you want to learn how to play strenuous exercise and become a better guitar player, you should know the fretboard like the palm of your hand.

Neck memorization allows you to practice guitar purposefully and navigate between scale, chords, and melodies easily.

If you are still asking yourself “Should I memorize the fretboard,” stop. Grab your guitar and start learning the notes on the neck.

Just a few beneficial things that you will get by memorizing the notes on the fretboard.

• Playing chords fluently and transpose chords in a different position of the neck.
• Memorize scales on fretboard easily.
• Read music fluently and with confidence.
• Remember chords with no effort.
• Come up with new exciting chords.
• Combine chords and melody.
• Write beautiful chord progressions
• Understand songs and keys.

There is no reason why you shouldn’t learn the notes on the fretboard. The sooner you start, the better.

Use the diagram below for the neck memorization exercise. Use the Chromatic scale to fill in the missing notes.

The Chromatic scale goes as follows: A A# B C C# D D# E F F# G G.

Fingerpicking Tip 2 – Practice Scales with Purpose

What’s the point of practicing scales on guitar?

Scales are still the most crucial tool guitar players use for technique, music theory, and solos.

Six reasons why scales you should practice scales on guitar:

• Number 1: Music theory. Even before you get to play it, a scale can tell you a lot about “Where chords come from,” “How to improvise a solo over a chord progression, and “How to write beautiful chords.”
• Number 2: Co-ordination. Playing scales can be tedious but also beneficial for developing coordination. If you practice scales on a daily basis for a consistent period, it is almost guaranteed that you become better at playing guitar. Your coordination will improve dramatically.
• Number 3: Tone. Playing scale will help you develop a unique, beautiful tone. The reason for that is because playing scales will teach you how to pluck the strings smoothly; therefore the quality of your timbre will improve.
• Number 4: Melody. With scales, you can create beautiful sounding melodies along with chords.
• Number 5: Ears. A big part of playing scales is the development of your ears. As you keep playing the scales your ears memorize the sound to the point that you can sing the progression of notes easily.
• Number 6: Transcribing. Learn chords and melodies from other guitar players easily. With scales, you can easily recognize a melody and play it on guitar. You can also transcribe a chord progression or a solo.

How to Make Scales Less Boring

There are three reasons why we practice scales:

• Reason 1. Technical purpose (Boring).
• Reason 2. Music theory (Interesting).
• Reason 3. For writing melodies (Motivating).

Out of the three, learning how to make beautiful melodies out of scales is the best way to make scales less boring.

In this lesson, I am going to show you how to write a beautiful Spanish melody from the A minor scale.

We will start by learning the A minor scale.

How to Use Scale to Create Beautiful Melodies

Once you learn the A minor scale in one position strum a chord before playing the melody.

You can pick as many notes as you want with a rhythm of your choice. Once your playing improves, write more complex melodies, add more chords and experiment with different phrases.

Here’s an example on the A minor chord.

Fingerpicking Tip 3 – Travis Picking Technique

The Travis picking is one of the most common fingerpicking guitar technique. It improves your ability to fingerpick while holding down the bass notes throughout the song.

It was popularized by the American singer/songwriter Merle Travis and adopted by other acoustic guitar legends like Chet Atkins and Tommy Emmanuel.

How to Play Travis Picking on Guitar in Three Steps

Step #1. Basic Travis Picking with Thumb only

Learning to bounce between the bass strings will also improve your timing and rhythm. There are a lot of musical genres that use this technique. This skill will serve you well.

Let me show you the most common Travis picking pattern on guitar with this example in C major key.

Step #2. Add a Melody to the Travis Picking Technique

Once you are done learning the basic thumb plucking movement, go ahead and add a simple melody.

Travis Picking Benefits

Remember that it’s muscle memory that you’re developing so be patient in the beginning. It will come to you if you keep practicing to improve your skills. Choose a few pieces of music to learn to use this technique and strengthen your thumb and picking hand by rehearsing these pieces.

Pay extra attention to your timing on the chord changes so that you don’t lose the rhythm in the bass while changing chords.

Working on the right-hand thumb position is of paramount importance.

By implementing the Travis picking technique in your routine, you should be able to strengthen the thumb and balance the plucking fingers.

Fingerpicking Tip 4 – Learn Classical Pieces

Classical music influence is everywhere.

Think about classical composers such as Bach and Mozart and the impact they had on the evolution of music.

Classical music is significant for anyone who’s interested in music. Whether you like pop, rock, metal, jazz, country or blues music, the musical influence from classical composers becomes evident the moment you start analyzing the musical aspect and chord progressions within a song.

Is Classical Music More Difficult than Modern Music?

Classical music can be extremely complex to play. Even the most simple fingerpicking classical melodies can be challenging to play at first.

Think about simple compositions such as Air on the G string and Minuet by Bach or the Fernando Sor Study for classical guitar. These compositions are simple but also very complex compared to strumming a chord progression in C major.

Practicing classical pieces can drastically improve your technique.

When you play a classical piece, you ask your fingers to move in a way you haven’t ask it before. Think about the complexity of a fingerpicking pattern in the 24th Paganini’s Caprice or the intricate melodies and counterpoint in a Bach piece. Overcoming such challenging pieces will drastically improve your technique.

3 Popular Classical Pieces for Acoustic Guitar

In this video I am showing you three simple pieces:

• Malaguena. A beautiful Spanish piece by Ernesto Lecuona.
• Asturias. One of the most popular pieces on Classical guitar. Written for piano then transcribed by the Spanish guitar player Segovia.
• Spanish Romance. Another great classical composition in E minor. Shame we don’t know who wrote it.

Also try other things such as Canon in D, Minuet in G, Fur Elise and any other easy classical piece played with fingerpicking technique.

How to Approach Classical Piece on Guitar

We talked about the left-hand Classical position at the beginning of the article. As we are about to learn this classical piece. I recommend that you lower the thumb at the back of the neck. Also, leave space between the bottom neck and the palm of your hand.

For the right hand, play with the thumb in front of the fingers and pluck the strings with the side of the fingertip.

Fingerpicking Tip 5 – Challenge your Rhythmic Chops

Make sure you challenge your rhythmic skills as much as you challenge your technique.

In this guitar lesson, I am going to show you how to practice rhythm with a simple fingerstyle percussive technique called “Thumb slap” and “Slap&Strum.”

The chord progression I am playing in this example is straightforward: Am | C | G | F |. You can make this chord progression more interesting by adding the “Thumb slap” and “Slap&Strum” technique.

The Thumb Slap Percussive Technique

With the thumb slap technique, you strike the strings with the thumb.

The strings that give you the best percussive snare sound are the low E string, A string and, D string. Strike the strings with the side of the thumb as shown in the video.

The ThumSlap&Strum Percussive Technique

The ThumbSlap&Strum technique adds a strum to the ThumbSlap movement.

You can strum the strings with either index or middle finger.

Let’s Wrap This Up

It’s incredibly important to reach and challenge yourself with these fingerpicking techniques using my tips to improve your playing.

You’re going to absorb these skills much faster using the five tips I’ve outlined in my video.

I want to encourage you not to get discouraged if your playing isn’t perfect right away. If you’re struggling through practicing one of the fingerpicking tips, you can go over it a few times, leave it to go to another fingerpicking tip, then come back to it again later on. It doesn’t help to get burnt out or fatigued in working on a piece. You need to feel fresh and excited about your guitar practice.

You can also break a piece down into short sections. Practice playing each part until you’re feeling confident. Start from the beginning every time you add a new section until you can play the piece all the way through.

Challenge yourself to improve your guitar playing by always having a more difficult piece to work on. It doesn’t matter if you take a week or a month to learn it, continue to practice it until you can play it competently, then pull it out on a regular basis to keep your chops up.

Develop your sense of rhythm by regular guitar practice. Some guitarist like to use a click track or a metronome to keep time when playing. It’s a great idea to record yourself practicing every so often.

You can’t be objective when you’re in the middle of your rehearsal, so listen back to identify the places where you need the most improvement. Foot tapping is helpful to keep your rhythm, but if you are playing with other people, that can be a distraction, so it’s not something I recommend. Don’t always choose easy or slow pieces.

Learning how to use a scale to write music will improve your overall musicality and will inspire you to learn how to create melody and solos.

I know that all of you someday want to be able to vamp and solo on your guitar. To develop that ability, you have to start somewhere. That “somewhere” is with scales.

Don’t make them a problem, or a negative thing. Instead, view them as a stepping stone on your path to proficiency with your guitar. If you take the time to practice your scales, you will find that your fluency on the fretboard comes much faster and more efficiently. You will build that memory that will cause your fingers to automatically know where to go for that next note in the scale.

You can do this while watching TV, sitting around, it doesn’t have to be a regimented thing. However, the more you do it, the better you become at it. Find those notes that are pleasing to the ear as you noodle through the scales.

Play around with notes that go together, and you’ll also learn about creating melodies. When you’re able to do that within your scale during guitar practice, you’re on your way to improvisation, soloing and even composition, if that’s something you want to pursue.

Instead of just drilling on scales repeating the same notes over and over, change it up to keep your practice sessions interesting and develop your ear for melody. Increase your musicality, tone, and control by challenging your left hand as you practice guitar.
Learn your scales and practice improvising chords and melodies using the notes within the scales. This improves overall musicality and will inspire you to learn improvisational skills in creating melody and solos.

Explore Classical pieces to learn your music history and find beautiful pieces of music to learn. Expand your musical knowledge and stretch yourself as a guitar player by devoting yourself to a few classical pieces. You never know when you’ll have an occasion to perform them. Be sure to pay attention to proper hand position as I mentioned in the video. Your thumb of your chord hand should be behind the neck and keep your strumming/picking hand balanced for proper technique.

Many classical pieces require stretching and reaching across the fretboard, and you don’t want to hurt your hands. Do lots of warm-ups, scales and picking patterns to get your hands in shape for these challenging pieces. Some of the most beautiful pieces can also be complex and challenging. If you get stuck on a difficult passage, break it down into measures and learn it a measure at a time. Pay close attention to the notation on the music and learn to read ahead so that your playing will sound effortless without any pauses in the timing.

Classical music is awesome. There are so many pieces you can learn that will improve your fingerpicking technique quickly.

GOOD LUCK.

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Useful Links

• Guitar Lessons in London
• Strumming Guitar Lessons – Justin Guitar
• Spanish Romance Rumba Style
• Electric Guitar Lesson]
• Fingerpicking Tips