called Fingerstyle 101.

In the first lesson we discussed some theoretical aspects of playing fingerstyle

and this time we'll look at some basic exercises and picking patterns.

So let's grab your guitar and let's get into this.

So as I have mentioned in my previous video, you use your

thumb to pick the bass notes

and your index, middle and ring finger, to pick the melody notes.

If you learnt to play to play chords on guitar then this is going to be probably

the hardest thing for you to get used to because instead of

moving your hand as one

(and I mean using a pick) instead that you

you have to pick different strings

with different fingers and often

multiple strings at once - but that's exactly what makes fingerstyle beautiful.

Alright so here's the first exercise:

I want you to pick the 6th string with your thumb,

then the 3rd string with your index finger,

then the 2nd string with your middle finger,

and then the 1st string with your ring finger,

then move on to the 5th string (*fixed*) with your thumb,

3rd string with your index,

2nd string with your middle,

and 1st string with your ring finger.

Then the 3rd string (*fixed*) with your thumb,

and the melody notes.

So you just pick open strings in this order.

Start at a slow-speed and slowly work your way up.

If you miss a string, start the exercise again

because this way your fingers will

get used to the correct pattern.

And whenever you're ready,

you can speed up.

So the second exercise is basically going to be

an extended version of the previous one.

You start the same way - you pick the 6th string with your thumb,

then the 3rd string

with your index finger,

2nd string with your middle finger,

and the 1st string with your ring finger - but here's the difference:

then pick the 2nd string with your middle finger,

and the 3rd string with your index finger again - and then change the bass note.

That's it. Again, start at a slow speed

and speed up if you don't miss the strings

The next one is going to be a reversed version of the

2nd exercise, so you pick the

6th string with your thumb and then the 1st string with your ring finger.

2nd string,

3rd string,

2nd string, 1st string.

Then do the same with every bass string.

Just like before, start at a slow speed

and then speed-up if you pick the

correct strings - in the correct order.

Now we're going to modify the

previous exercises a bit, so you have to pick the

bass note and the first melody note at the same time.

So you pick the 6th string with your thumb

and the 1st string with your ring finger at the same time.

This is a pretty important pattern

because as you could see you have to pick

multiple strings at once and this is

used in fingerstyle a lot,

so you want to practice this a lot.

Last but not least, we've got 2 more patterns -

you pick the 6th string and the

2nd string at the same time and then

3rd string,

then the 1st string

and then repeat this with every bass note.

And the other on is kind of reversed

version of this - so you pick the

the bass string and the 2nd string at the same time just like before

and after that you pick the first string

and the 3rd string.

All right, so you now you could take

some actual chords instead of just picking open strings.

You could take exercise 2, 4 and 5 for example.

With a D major chord,

C major chord

and G major chord.

And use the patterns you just practiced.

So that was the second lesson of Fingerstyle 101,

I hope it was helpful. In the next episode we'll discusse the ways of rhythm picking.

If you have any questions, suggestions or requests for the upcoming lessons,

feel free to leave a comment below, send me a private message or

contact me on Facebook. See you next time, and thanks for watching!