Fingerpicking is when you put your pick away and begin playing your guitar with just your fingers. What makes it different is that you can often accomplish more complicated and intricate picking patterns fairly easily compared to when you are flat picking. It also makes it easier to get certain sounds out of your guitar.
Guitar Picking Patterns
Some guitarists like to use their little finger as a sort of anchor or point of reference when playing a picking pattern. But one word of advice… Make sure that you aren’t anchoring that finger so hard that you are causing any kind of strain in your hand muscles. You should just be barely touching the face of the guitar if you decide to use this technique in your playing.
Many popular songs use fingerpicking techniques to get their sound. Some of these can be accomplished by using a pick but after you learn pingerpicking techniques you will find those much more complicated than just using your fingers. The best place to start with anything on guitar is always simple and slow. Use the picking pattern shown in the lesson above to practice using the correct finger for each string while playing through a chord progression slowly.
If things don’t sound quite right at first don’t worry. It takes a bit of work to get a picking pattern rhythm down just like it does for a strumming pattern. Also, with fingerpicking there are plenty of roadblocks that might stand in your way at first. One that a lot of people playing the acoustic guitar might face is the strings sounding dead or not as crisp sounding as when you strike them with a pick. There are several ways to deal with this but one of the most effective ways is either to develop finger nails on your right hand (assuming you are playing right handed of course). This way the sound will be quite similar to if you had struck the string with a pick.
You can also wear picks that are designed to attach to your fingers but some guitarists find these uncomfortable. The other thing that will often remedy this situation on its own is the formation of calluses on the tips of your fingers. That’s right! You can get those on your right hand from playing guitar just like your left. When a string is struck with a callused finger you will notice that much crisper and cleaner sound that you may have been looking for.
So what are you waiting for? Fingerpicking is one of the more entertaining and fun styles to learn on the guitar and knowing a few picking patterns well will make you look like an instant pro. So start practicing and we will see you in the next lesson!
