Fingerpicking basics

For a rhythm guitar player there are times that strummingwill ruin th softness or specific guitar section being played. Think for instance of the introduction and first few verses of "Stairway to Heaven". Can you imagine how different the song would sound if those first few minutes were strummed instead of fingerpicked?

Or how about "Tears in Heaven"? Same basic idea. There are some guitar accompanyments that only sund right if they are fingerpicked. When you fngerpick you use your thumb, plus index, middle and ring finger when fingerpicking. If you were to read a piece of music which specifically is written with fingerpicking notations these fingers migt be referred to as P-I-M-A (P=thumb, I=index, M=middle, A=ring).

In fingerpicking the thumb (P) covers all the bass strings. Strings number 6 through 4. Or looking down at the strings if you are holding the guitar, the first three strings. Otherwise known as the E-A-D strings. For the remaining three strings, each of the other fingers have a one string assignment. The index covers the 3rd string (G), the middle covers the 2nd string (B) and the ring finger covers the 1st string (E). Notice that there are two E strings on the guitar. They are an octave apart in sound.

When you continue to study guitar it will be important for you to pick up sheet music which gives you fingerpicking tablature if you truly want to play good fingerpicking songs but here are a few tips that are usually true. Almost always the pattern starts with a base note followed by a series of I-M-A notes and then the pattern is repeated. Often times the pattern equates to the timing of the song and you will notice that the base note is hit on the count of "1" repeatedly. So if you have a piece of muisc that is in 4/4time almost always the P finger is struck on count 1, I on count 2, MA on count 3 and I again on count 4.

More times than not you will be striking more than one string at a time when finger picking, as illustrated above. Fingerpicking uses a combination of patterns, finger strikes and chord structures (often up on the neck of the guitar) to give a piece of music a smooth body. However, this is the theory behind fingerpicking. Understanding it will be a good start.