How to Start Playing Finger-Style Guitar

Series Summary

What is fingerstyle guitar? It is the method of plucking the guitar strings directly with the fingertips, fingernails, or picks that are attached to individual fingers. There are different styles of fingerstyle, or fingerpicking, including Travis picking, American primitive guitar, ragtime guitar, Celtic guitar, slack-key guitar, percussive fingerstyle, and jazz fingerstyle. This style of guitar playing is believed to have been inspired by a ragtime piano. Fingerstyle guitar playing is seen in a range of musical genres as it can range in application, tone and melody.

In this series of expert videos, you will learn how to play the guitar using fingerstyle or fingerpicking techniques. Watch as our expert demonstrates picking patterns for you to try. Get tips on the basic open chord shapes and then challenge yourself with the moving chord shapes. Learn combination picking and get information on what to do with your left hand while fingerpicking. You’ll be an expert in no time after performing the practice drills shown in these videos. Challenge yourself more with the inside-out picking pattern and other picking patterns. Get tips on altered tuning and working with your fingernails. Our expert helps you to find your way around the guitar in these videos!

Video Transcript

"Hi this is Jeff Isbell on behalf of ExpertVillage.com. Well what is finger style guitar anyway? The name finger style guitar refers mostly to the right hand, where the strings are plucked individually or in groups. It doesn’t refer to the fingers of the left hand, after all, all guitar styles use the fingers of the left hand. Anyway, it’s kind of ironic that finger style guitars named that way since the original use of the guitar classical was a finger style. And what about jazz, there are a lot of finger style approaches to jazz. So what is this style that dares to name itself after an approach that lots of styles use? Modern finger style guitar has broaden in its definition and actually now includes some classical or at least nylon string specialist. And many jazz players today would feel fine if you called them finger style players. For the most part, modern finger style refers to metal string flat top guitars being played with the fingers. Whichever style you are interested in, this series of lessons is for you. It’s a basic introduction to understanding, developing the coordination and knowledge needed for all these styles. So if this sounds like what you’re looking for, keep watching and we’ll see you on lesson two. "