All About Third & Fifth Notes in the Blues

"Okay, so the root is not the only note in the chord. Most chords, at least major chords, are built with the root, the third and the fifth. Or the first, the third and the fifth notes. And so, actually, you can use the thumb of your right hand to pick all three of those notes if you like. So, for example, if I was going to play a G chord, okay, basic arpeggiation of the G chord has the thumb playing the G note on the low E string. But, you might want to mix it up a little bit and go for the third and for the fifth of that G chord. And so, in the case of the G, the third is going to be on the A string and then the fifth is going to be on the D string. So the thumb can play all three of these notes as kind of part of the bass line of that chord. Right? So, what this means is, is you can, you know, you change which string and which note your thumb is playing while you're fingerpicking. So, for example. Right? So, my thumb wasn't just doing the root, it was also doing the third, it was also doing the fifth. And, I'm still doing a basic chord arpeggio here, I haven't really gotten into the more syncopated style where you are actually playing a more rhythmic bass line with your thumb. But kind of the next step towards that type of fingerpicking is to think, "okay, well, my thumb is not only playing the root, it can play the third, it can play the fifth." So your thumb needs to be comfortable migrating across all three of these strings. And that's going to become really important if you want to kind of branch into this country blues style, is to become, basically, comfortable with having your hand planted on the face of the guitar and your thumb can be on kind of any of these three strings. Right?"