How to Improve Thumb Independence for Fingerstyle Guitar

Fingerstyle guitar playing opens many avenues for composition and cover playing, allowing the guitar to mimic instruments like the piano. Classical pieces also rely on using all of the fingers on the picking hand simultaneously. Because the thumb is often responsible for bass lines which may or may not correspond to the rhythm of the melody, gaining independence of the thumb from the other four fingers on the picking hand is essential to efficient fingerstyle technique.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Acoustic or electric guitar
• Metronome

1. With the metronome keeping a moderately slow pace (80 to 90 beats per minute), start a bass line with your thumb. Keep a steady rhythm, picking the open 6th string, then open 4th and back to the 6th. Play this for four to five minutes to gain muscle memory. If necessary, extend over several practice sessions.

2. Pick the first three strings using your index, middle and ring fingers between bass notes. Keep the metronome running at a slow pace, and keep playing this exercise for at least 4-5 minutes each practice session. This exercise you should extend over several sessions to build coordination and muscle memory.

3. Know that you should be playing 8th or quarter notes in a fairly straightforward rhythm. In a sequence of four notes with two bass notes and two chord notes (the top three strings from Step 2), pick one of the chords in the same rhythm, and one a 16th note after the bass note. In other words, hold all of the notes for the same duration, only change one bass note to a 16th note, so the second chord comes in half the time after the bass note as in Step 2.

4. Practice this for at least five minutes each session, and continue until you no longer have to concentrate to keep the rhythm, then gradually increase the speed of the metronome.

Tips & Warnings

• Once you're comfortable with this exercise at a reasonable speed, try learning a song which requires fingerstyle technique. You should notice increased independence in your thumb.