Anyone here plays fingerstyle guitar?

[BrandonBass]

I mainly play bass guitar but plays electric guitar w a pick sometimes...but now Im interested in learning fingerstyle. Im wondering what are the advantages of fingerstyle over pick? I know that u can pick single strings fast w a pick yea

also, how do I assign my fingers on my right hand? Is it that my thumb should play the basslines while the 3fingers play the melody? What if the song im playin has no bassline? thanks

[tplyons]

Most of my guitar playing is fingerpicked, and it started more often than not because I couldn't find a pick on my desk. I do a lot of the way you describe, but am by no means an expert on anything remotely related to guitar.

I like playing chords like this as well, my thumb on the bass note then the rest of the notes in the G B or e strings to end up with a REALLY open voicing, which I find nice for soloing bass over.

[BrandonBass]

so the thumb is strictly for basslines n the fingers for melody?

What if theres no basslines?

[tplyons]

Thumb strictly for basslines? I wouldn't say strictly, I've been known to use it for chords, lower parts of melodies.

Then again I'm not much of a guitar player. Perhaps someone could answer this better.

[Blackbird]

Even if there's no "bass line', the chords will still have a root.

You might be hampering your development by trying to take too much in at once. I'm a fingerstyle guitarist, and recommend you start practicing simple fingerstyle patterns over a common chord progression and build it up from there, such as a I vi ii V7 progression. The easiest one would be the C - Am - Dm - G7, which can be done with easy left hand chord shapes.

Let's talk fingering patterns: Take a look at this diagram, borrowed from http://www.i-love-guitar.com/ :

,

That's pretty self-explanatory, so I'll just suggest some patterns for you to practice.

P -I-M-A-M-I
P-I-M-I-A-I-M-I

That should be enough to get you started. You can use your own creativity to come up with new patterns applying the same principle. There's also no rule against striking two strings at the same time.

Also, since you're playing guitar, there's a lot of bass technique that will transfer right over. My advice is to practice two finger pizzicato scales not only with your index and middle finger, but also with your middle and ring finger and index and ring. I've often considered adding the little finger too, but never really missed it.

[Gard]

My first instrument and major in college (for the first 3 semesters) was classical guitar, so I have a bit of fingerstyle history.



Blackbird covers a lot of good ground, there are some excellent sources of material out there for beginning classical, and it translates very well to all fingerstyle playing in my opinion. I really like the Frederick Noad books, good combination of technique etudes and actual pieces that fit with the level of work you're at.

I also love the Carulli (sp? it's been a long time...) exercises. They just use two chords (C, G7) and really work you through a LOT of combinations of P, I, M, & A. I actually did eventually work C in and got quite comfortable with it, I would do the Carulli etudes twice each, first PIMA, second PMAC, third time with a plectrum between my thumb and first finger, using MAC. (Pick and fingers is VERY useful for electric guitar, check out Eric Johnson for great examples!)

[Thor]

I recently acquired 'Essential Exercises for Fingerstyle Guitar'
a lesson taught by Peter Huttlinger, and produced by Homespun
tapes of Woodstock NY.

Peter lays out 17 different exercises he feels are essential to
right hand fingerstyle development. He also breaks down a
few nice pieces for the student to learn.

All of the exercises and arpeggios he suggests are applicable
to the right hand skills necessary to beome an accomplished
bassist, and all of the work is transferable to the bass.

This lesson is inteneded for musicians at an intemediate level,
and I bought it because I wanted to break out of some of
the bad right hand habits I feel like I have been falling into.

Out of the seventeen, I have mastered the first set, (barely).
There is a lot of meat on this bone, and it will take me months
of work to master all of it. Yet, I feel like now I have some
very good direction for where I want to go.

I highly recommend this DVD for people interested in
fingerstyle improvement.


http://homespuntapes.com/prodpg/prod...1214&prodType=

[zazz]

i play bass baritone and guitar ..and my style across the whole spectrum is fingers only and the pick is only used for specific effect.

now the main advantage for me is that fingers are so much more expressive than a pick....simple as that.

[tkozal]

I have been learning Bossa Nova Guitar lately, with the fingering shown above, basically.

[Brad Maestas]

I studied classical for a few years while in my teens. I'm just now getting back into it again. I recently traded my archtop for a classical. Mandolin has made a decent flatpicker out of me but I'm still getting the hang of using my nails.

That's a big step right there with fingerstyle – learning how to shape and maintain your nails. It makes a dramatic improvement in your tone! Being a gigging bassist, I am constantly having to file and re-grow my nails. It was pretty annoying at first but the sound I get with my nails is totally worth the hassle.

All good stuff above. If you're going to be doing folk stuff, you might want to check out a pattern called 'Travis picking'. It's a classic pattern that you can get under your fingers relatively quickly.
http://www.guitarland.com/Travis.html

The classical methods will have you exploring every permutation of PIMA, PAMI, etc. ad nauseum, which is a good thing. The Tarrega technical studies are good. They're great for learning how to use a rest stroke with the thumb and free strokes with the other fingers. The book Pumping Nylon has a great compilation of stuff, including the Tarrega technical studies. The Sor Etudes are also considered standard repertoire.