How long should it take to improve your fingerpicking technique? Tricky question but not impossible to answer. I have been testing this three weeks system that combines scales, arpeggios, chords, melodies, and technical exercises. If done correctly this program can make you a better fingerpicking guitar player in a matter of weeks.
So, how do you improve your fingerpicking technique? To improve your fingerpicking technique combine scales, arpeggios, chords, melodies, and technical exercises that become progressively more difficult every week. Each week, the scales should be played faster, the arpeggios become more complex, the chords become more stretchy, the melodies more intricate, and the technical exercises more challenging. Practice as an athlete does, progressively and consistently.
How to Improve your Fingerstyle Technique
Becoming better at playing guitar isn’t just about repeating the same chord or scale over and over again. Instead, you should practice just as an athlete does, progressively and consistently. You should start slow and then make things more challenging as you become better.
But why three weeks? Well, it takes time for your fingers to get used to the movement and stretch. I have been testing this three weeks program with some of my students and I found that it’s just the best length of time to really see an improvement in your fingerpicking technique. I tried with four weeks but it was too short and we missed the final boost for massive improvement. On the other hand, programs longer than six weeks become boring and monotonous.
Three weeks is just about the right time to make a significant improvement in your fingerpicking guitar technique.
How does it work? I am going to give you a practice schedule to follow. Each week you will be practicing a bunch of exercises and key movements that will improve your fingerpicking technique with consistency. The exercises are practical and musical so you have the feeling you are actually playing music.
Fingerpicking Program
Here’s Your Fingerpicking Program
| Week 1 | E Major Scale | Four Chords in E major | Fingerpicking Exercise | Melody in E major | Warm Up Exercise |
| Week 2 | A minor scale | Four Chords in A minor | Fingerpicking Exercise | Melody in A minor | Stretch Exercise |
| Week 3 | G major scale | Four Chords in G major | Fingerpicking Exercise | Melody in G major | Symmetrical Exericse |
Other things you will learn in this lesson:
- How to organize your practice routine.
- How to increment speed.
How to Organize your Practice Routine
Before we get started let me quickly show you how you should organize your practice routing to maximize the time you have available for your session. It obvious that you should already know how to position your right-hand to pluck the strings correctly.
You will need between 60 to 90 minutes per session to complete each weekly program. Obviously, if you practice six days a week, you will be able to get more benefits from the things you are about to practice.
Each week we are cover five different topics: A major or minor scale, chords, a fingerpicking exercise, a simple melody, and a warm-up or technical exercise.
If you can practice 60 minutes each session, you should spend roughly 12 minutes for each exercise. Obviously, 90 minutes as you will dedicate 18 minutes for each exercise.
Divide your practice routing into five sections. If you practice for 60 minutes, spend 12 minutes on each exercise. 90 minutes is recommended as it will give you 18 minutes to spend on each exercise.
How to Increment Speed
Each exercise has a starting speed indicated on top of the music stave. This is the Goal Speed and it shouldn’t be treated as the Starting Speed. If you are just getting started, practice the exercises for a while without metronome. Then, when you feel ready, play along with the click to track your speed.
For each week try to increase each exercise of at least 10 Bmp (beats per minutes).
Week 1 – E major Scale
In this first week, we are going to learn the E major scale in one position of the neck. Don’t see the scale as a technical exercise, but teat it as a melodic exercise. In fact, the notes we are learning will soon become a simple melody.
E major scale: E F# G# A B C# D# E
Here is the E major scale diagram. The scale is played with eighth notes (two notes per beat).
The speed is 90Bpm.
Week 1 – Four Chords in E Major
In this section we are going to learn four chords in E major key. Chords are one of the best thing you can practice to improve your fingerpicking technique.
The chord progression we are learning is E | C#m | A | B. Notice how with the fingerpicking technique we can simplify difficult chords such as the C# minor and B major chord.
The speed is 90Bpm.
Week 1 – Fingerpicking Exercise
In this fingerpicking exercise we are going to practice one of the most popular fingerpicking pattern exercise. This fingerstyle pattern is great for developing speed and control. It involves alternating the thumb with the index and middle finger.
To keep the exercise simple, I am only going to show you how to play it on two chords, but you can apply this pattern on any chord or chord progression.
The fingerpicking pattern is the P i P m, which stands for thumb, index, thumb, middle finger.
The Speed Goal is 100 Bpm.
Week 1 – Melody in E Major
We are going to use the E major scale you just learned to write a simple fingerstyle melody. The goal is not to write the most difficult melody you can possible play. Instead, we will focus on playing a few notes that sound good and melodic.
When you practice and play this melody, focus on improving the plucking, dynamics, and tone.
Week 1 – Fingerstyle Warm-up Exercise
The warm-ups are some of my favorite fingerpicking exercises. This particular exercise will help you warm-up both right-hand and left-hand. It’s based on the famous 1 2 3 4 guitar exercises that every guitar player know but the one I am about to show you comes with an interesting twist.
This warm-up exercise is played on two strings, the B and top E string, but it can be transposed in other set of strings to. You will pluck the B string with the index finger and the E string with the middle finger.
The Speed Goal is 60 Bpm but notice that the exercise is played with sixteenth notes (four notes per beat).
Week 2 – A minor Scale
We will now learn the A minor scale in position I. This scale is very simple to learn as it combines fretted notes and open strings.
A minor scale: A B C D E F G
Speed goal is 115 Bpm
Week 2 – Four Chords in A minor
Improve your fingerpicking technique with this simple chord progression in A minor. Pluck the strings together with Thumb, index and middle finger. Keep the plucking as evenly as possible and work on the dynamics and tone.
The speed for this exercise is 80 Bpm
Week 2 – Fingerpicking Exercise
One of the things that will improve your fingerpicking technique is practicing arpeggio patterns of eight notes. This pattern is one of the most common classical fingerpicking patterns ever played.
The pattern is called P i m i a i m a.
Speed 85 Bpm
Week 2 – Melody in A minor
Time to improve your fingerstyle tone and dynamics with this simple melody in A minor. The notes are played in triplets, three notes per beat. The number three on top of the notes means in fact “triplet”.
Speed 70 Bpm
Week 2 – Stretch Exercise
This stretch exercise is perfect for both right-hand and left-hand improvement. Pluck the strings with alternate fingering.
Speed 75 Bpm
Week 3 – G Major Scale
Learn this very simple G major scale in 1st position using the alternate fingering i-m-i-m.
G Major Scale: G A B C D E F# G
Week 3 – Four Chords in G Major
In this chord progression, we are going to combine two fingerpicking patterns. The first one is P i m a and the second pattern is P a m i.
Speed 125 Bpm
Week 3 – Fingerpicking Pattern
The fingerpicking pattern we will learn in this lesson will improve your alternate fingering technique as well as control and speed.
Speed 75 Bpm
Week 3 – Melody in G Major
Learn this simple melody and develop your musicality and tone. When you practice and play the melody, don’t really worry about speed. Instead, focus on tone and dynamics.
Week 3 – Symmetrical Exercise
The last exercise of this program is this symmetrical exercise played on one string. The goal for this exercise is to develop alternate fingering, finger stretch, and finger dexterity.
Related Questions
Can I practice each week for longer? Absolutely! If it takes longer for you to master one week than don’t worry about it. At the end of each week you should feel like you learned something. There is no point to finish the program as quickly as possible.
I am a beginner. Can I start playing guitar with the fingerstyle technique? You can start playing guitar with the fingerstyle technique. However, you should focus on exercises that develop your plucking technique like fingerpicking scales and arpeggios as well as playing chords, songs, and fingerstyle melodies. It is absolutely possible for beginners to learn fingerpicking technique.
