Quote:
Originally Posted by PetesaHut
I have the basic Travis thumb picking down, I can play "Freight Train" and that's all as I learned it from sheet music verbatim, but my finger independence needs much more work.
Will this course be the one for me?
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Right hand
p = thumb
i = index
m = middle
a = ring finger
play the open strings one at a time, just stroke the 6th string with the thumb then alternate (represented as string/finger)
5i, 4m, 3i, 2m, 1i, 2m, 3i, 4m, 5i and then 5m, 4a, 3m, 2a, 1m, 2a, 3m, 4a, 5m
If it sounds too boring after a while do it while holding a C chord, E chord, etc, but keep those right hand fingers alternating. You want smooth playing and constant volume across the strings. Try to keep the tips of your fingers perpendicular to the strings. In my song "Jersey Skies" (in my signature) you can hear where my fingers go off the perpendicular and that raspy sound shows up. I know I'm repeating myself, but learning on your own has its shortfalls and this is something an instructor would have picked up on had I taken fingerstyle lessons when I started. Now I have to try to break an over decade old bad habit.
It may seem like an overly simple exercise but if you think "smoothly" and relax your hand while playing this it is a good way to build up confidence and some speed in your right hand playing. I found out that although my right hand is decent for a play at home old guy, there's room for me to vastly improve and these kind of exercises do more than you realize at first.