How to play fingerstyle guitar – Part 1

Hey Guitar Freaks,

I’ve received loads of emails asking for lessons on different styles. There have been quite a few, but far and away the most requested style was……wait for it…

Fingerstyle guitar. And who am I to say no to such an honest request?

I was in the studio not so long ago knocking out such a course for my youtube subscribers and here’s the first lesson in that series. In it, I demonstrate some of the techniques I use when playing fingerstyle guitar to give you an idea of what’s possible.

Now I know I’ve pressed you pretty hard to learn to play with a pick and you may think this is going against that advice. But before you cross me off as a madman, hear me out.

Playing with your fingers produces a unique sound and enables you to add a ‘human-ness’ to your playing that isn’t possible when playing with a pick – it’s just a little more effort.

It might take a bit of getting used to using your fingers with your picking hand, just take it slowly and go easy on yourself. The variety of sounds and ‘feel’ you can create using your fingers, means it’s worth giving it a shot.

Check out the first lesson in the series and start making some noise.

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Comments

  1. Charles Hanson

    I really like your classes Mark but since your videos are on Youtube, and they have implemented DASH, I can no longer get the 1080p videos just the 720p. I prefer the 1080p videos for better quality and I can see better what you are doing. Thanks. Keep up the great work!

    1. Jon Coursey

      Hi Charles, thanks. There are some browser extensions that allow you to disable DASH playback. The one I have used for Chrome is called YouTube Options. There are others out there, but not all are up to date and working. I just tried this one and it worked fine. Hope this helps.

  2. mario

    hoi ik speel al een tijdje gitaar al 2 jaar begint redelijk maar wil wat bij leren wat knepen van het vak om beter liedjes te kunnen spelen

    Google translation: Hi, I’ve been playing guitar for a while already – about two years, but want to learn what some tricks of the trade to be able to play better songs.

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