Fingerpicking and Strumming

Fingerpicking style is a technique that is used in many famous and legendary songs over the years. The 16 examples in this post are a good source to learn the most common fingerpicking patterns you will ever come across. The fingerpicking patterns can be applied to almost every folk, pop, country or rock song. Try and figure out which pattern suits your favorite song. Maybe you’ll already recognize some of these patterns from songs you heard before. I personally think pattern #12 is a really nice one. It’s a Travis fingerpicking style arrangement named after Merle Travis. The Travis fingerpicking style is known for it’s steady bass pattern played with the thumb while the rest of the fingers fill out the rest of the pattern on the treble strings. Right hand finger positioning Now let’s take a look at the finger positioning assuming you are a right handed guitar player. For my right hand position I use my thumb to pluck the low-E, A and D-string. The index finger is on the G-string, the middle finger on the B-string and the ring finger on the high E-string. For each different chord, you play the corresponding bass note with your right hand thumb. Whenever you play an A or Am chord with your left hand, you pluck the A-string ( A root note) with your right hand thumb. For an E or Em chord pluck the E-string (E root note) with your right hand thumb. D or Dm chord = D-string (D root note). G chord = E-string (The G root note is played with your left hand on the low E-string). C chord = A-string (The C root note is played with your left hand on the A-string) and so on. In the video lessons above the tabs I show you what each pattern sounds like and explain the pattern slowly in close up. Practice each and every one of them thoroughly. It’s really good for you. Enjoy! PATTERN #1 A E e:-------0-------|-------0-------|-------0-------|--------0-----------| B:-----2---2-----|-----2---2-----|-----0---0-----|-----0----0---------| G:---2-------2---|---2-------2---|---1-------1---|---1--------1-------| D:---------------|---------------|---------------|--------------------| A:-0-------------|-0-------------|---------------|--------------------| E:---------------|---------------|-0-------------|-0------------------|

One of the primary ways that exceptional guitarists stand out from more mediocre ones, is via their ability to bring life and energy to otherwise routine songs using an interesting strumming pattern. A guitarist with a good grasp of strumming can bring a 2-chord G to C song to life, and make the listener think they're hearing something much more complex than they actually are. It's an often neglected aspect of guitar playing; we as guitarists tend to worry much more about getting our fingers in the right positions on the strings. But, a great rhythm guitarist is every bit as valuable to a band as the flashy lead player (and some would argue, more). In the first installment of this feature, we'll examine some of the basics of strumming the guitar, and learn some widely used strumming patterns. First things first... make sure your guitar is in tune, and you have a guitar pick. Using your fretting hand, form a G major chord on the neck. Making sure you are holding your pick properly, practice playing the following example, which is a basic one bar strumming pattern. Alternate between strumming down, and strumming up. When you get done playing the example once, loop it, without any sort of pause. Count out loud: 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1 and 2 and (etc.) Notice that on the "and" (often referred to as the "offbeat") you are always using an upwards strum. This is something to keep in mind as we progress. If you are having problems keeping a steady rhythm, try listening to, and playing along with, an mp3 of the strumming pattern.