Welcome to Part 1 of my Beginner Fingerstyle Guitar Series. Fingerstyle Guitar is the most beautiful, amazing, and exciting style of guitar playing, in my opinion! Join me as I break down this technique and introduce you to this great style. I’ll be teaching you three important concepts that will help to lay a proper foundation and set you up for success.
Stick with me for this entire series and you will be playing any fingerstyle song in no time! Thank you for trusting me as your teacher.
In this lesson you will learn three very important beginner fingerstyle guitar concepts:
Beginner Fingerstyle Guitar Video Concepts
1. You will know how the strings are divided up.
2. You will know the number one secret of fingerstyle playing.
3. You will be able to play three basic fingerstyle patterns.
Video Chapters
1:15 How To Divide The Strings
1:45 Number One Secret To This Style
2:50 Three Beginner Patterns
Action Steps
Step 1. Strings on the guitar are divided up into two sections, the bass strings (strings 4, 5, and 6) and the treble strings (strings 1, 2, and 3). It’s a good idea to think like a piano player. The piano player’s left hand plays the bass notes on the piano, and their right hand plays the treble notes on the piano. As a guitar player, you thumb always plays the bass strings and your 1st, 2nd, and 3rd finger always plays the treble strings. Divide the strings up in this way.
Step 2. Next I want to share with you the BIGGEST SECRET to fingerstyle guitar playing. Each finger of you right hand plays a certain string. So your thumb ALWAYS plays the top 3 bass strings (strings 4, 5, and 6). Your 1st finger always plays the “G” string, your 2nd finger ALWAYS plays the “B” string and your 3rd finger ALWAYS plays the high “E” string. Practice placing your fingers on these strings and get a feel for how these strings feel under your fingers. (There are sometimes exceptions to this rule)
Step 3. Try out and master these three basic finger patterns. Work on them until you can play them smoothly and evenly. Feel free to play along with a metronome to help solidify your timing. You can use this free online metronome here!
Make sure you’re having fun and see you in the next video! Check out my Easy F Chord video here!
Happy playing!