Here are 7 basic fingerpicking patterns that you can practice to improve your fingerstyle technique.
We’re going to take a look at 7 essential fingerpicking patterns that will help you develop the right-hand coordination skills to tackle even the trickiest fingerpicking pattern. If you’re looking to explore this technique or searching for some warm-up exercises then you’ve come to the right place.
As fingerstyle guitarists, it's much easier for us to perform fingerpicking patterns than it is for flatpickers. Nevertheless, it's still easy for us to have patterns that sound sloppy, due to improper technique.
For instance, I often notice that if I play a fingerpicking pattern without paying attention to my finger movements, I find sometimes that I fail to properly pluck the string and have the note ring true.
It's therefore a good idea to have some exercises that you can practice your fingerpicking and concentrate on your plucking hand. Here are some that will help you achieve this.
Understanding Basic Fingerpicking Patterns
The key to fingerpicking guitar is the right hand. When you play fingerstyle guitar, you use two hands: the right hand frets chords or individual notes and the left hand hits the strings. When you play a chord, you strum all the strings at once. But when you fingerpick, each finger will hit individual strings.
In playing guitar with the fingers, there is one big rule:
- The thumb plays the bottom three strings (the bass strings which are the 6th, 5th & 4th strings) and it has ownership for any notes played on those three strings (the ones nearest your head) and the other three fingers play one string each! If there is a note on the 6th, 5th or 4th string, the thumb must play it!
- The index finger always plays the G string or 3rd string.
- The middle finger always plays the B string or 2nd string.
- The ring finger always plays the high E string or 1st string.
Simple! However, it will take a little bit of practice for those fingers to obey. In particular, without developing the proper habits, some students end up playing with one finger, which is a huge trap that you must avoid at all costs.
Make sure you obey this rule when practicing these basic fingerpicking patterns.
Fingerstyle Guitar Notation
In classical guitar notation, these fingers are often abbreviated as p for thumb, i for index, m for middle, and a for ring. These letters come from their Spanish names, as fingerpicking has roots in Spanish classical guitar traditions:
- Pulgar = Thumb
- Índice = Index
- Medio = Middle
- Anular = Ring
So if you translated “thumb, index finger, middle finger, ring finger” into Spanish, you would get “Pulgar, Índice, Medio, Anular”. And because the origins of fingerpicking are from that part of the world, that is now a well used standard.
7 Basic Fingerpicking Patterns For Beginners
Here are 7 fingerpicking patterns I came up with to practice fingerstyle. Each pattern lasts for 2 measures, and you can repeat them as often as you like.
Remember to simplify the fretting hand as much as possible, as the point is to work on the plucking hand.
Let's get started with something super straightforward that only uses the open strings.
1. Simple Arpeggio Warmup
To get your plucking hand nicely limbered up, start with this pattern. It's deceptively simple, but make sure you coordinate the thumb with the second finger that switches bass notes after every arpeggio.
2. Rolling River Roll
Let's practice this time a pattern where you will immediately pluck the treble strings after the bass strings. Make sure to keep the hand steady as you do this.
3. Rolling River Roll (6/8 version)
The same as the minor version, except in 6/8 time. This time, make sure you follow the right hand finger rule exactly, to make the arpeggio smooth.
4.Open Boom Chuck
Here's a classic-style pattern you can practice to build crossing independence between your fingers. Too many exercises involve playing the notes in the order p,i,m,a or a,m,i,p, and this does you a bit of a disservice when you encounter more complex patterns. Here's one such pattern that doesn't follow the natural order of the fingers.
5. Walking And Talking
Once again, like the rolling river major version, you must be careful to use the correct finger, and carefully coordinate the thumb with the fretted notes. Don't play this exercise too fast, as it can get sloppy if you're not precisely plucking the string.
6. Walking Bass Bingo
A lot of fingerpicking patterns involve simply playing arpeggio patterns, without requiring you to play notes simultaneously. This simple walking bass pattern makes you work out all the fingers.
7. Swinging Cascade
If you want more practice doing the previous fingerpicking pattern but this time playing the treble notes off the beat, here's how you can achieve that.
As you can see, we started by playing patterns while holding a single chord with the left hand. Then, as we progressed, we began playing patterns while changing chords with the left hand. This is more challenging as it requires coordination between both hands.
How To Practice Fingerpicking Patterns
To practice fingerpicking patterns, start by playing the individual notes of a chord, starting with the lowest note and working your way up to the highest note. Then, try playing the notes in descending order, starting with the highest note and working your way down to the lowest.
Next you can practice playing one measure or four beats of the pattern. Once the measure is completed, move the hand up two frets and continue the same picking pattern. You must coordinate your movements for this to sound smooth.
Play it with happy thoughts in your mind. Now play it with a sad feel. Can you play it using different chords? Maybe get your Em in there, or your easy Em (taking the left hand off the guitar altogether). Play with different permutations of G, C and Em and anything else you can think of. There are no right things to do, apart from enjoying yourself.
With Play Fingerstyle Guitar Now!, you'll gain the tools and knowledge necessary to evolve your fingerstyle technique, breaking through any limitations that have held you back from reaching your full potential.
