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  #1  
Old 12-23-2019, 01:35 PM
WoodBlues WoodBlues is offline
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Default How to start learning fingerstyle?

I want to start learning simple fingerstyle acoustic.
Just like this : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNSdJU7EFRQ

I live in a remote area, and can't find a teacher.

Do you know an online ressource besides YouTube?
For example, teachers over Skype, etc...
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  #2  
Old 12-23-2019, 02:21 PM
Bain Bain is offline
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Hi try study with Adam rafferty. It all depends where you are at fingerstyle wise but a good teacher ...good luck
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Old 12-23-2019, 02:55 PM
_zedagive _zedagive is offline
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Get the 10 dvd set with workbook of "Learn and Master Fingerstyle Guitar" It is excellent and should keep you busy for about 1 year. You can find it easily on eBay.
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Old 12-23-2019, 05:31 PM
Arthur Blake Arthur Blake is offline
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Default Not sure that is finger style...

Sound to me like that song is played by picking on string then strumming the rest, possibly with the back of the fingers.

Should be fairly easy to master, just by listening carefully.

That was going to be my advice. When I learned, music was on cassette tapes, and we would just play and rewind and listen carefully trying to duplicate the sound.
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Old 12-24-2019, 01:03 PM
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Mark Hanson’s latest Art of Contemporary Travis Picking is the most bang for the buck at $20 you can spend if you want to get started in fingerstyle. Here’s a link - http://accentonmusic.com/book_detail.aspx?ID=5
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Old 12-24-2019, 07:57 PM
Lone Star Lone Star is offline
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Default Stefan Gossman

I learn best from watching as opposed to reading. Just started Stefan Grossman's DVD volume 1 and 2. Highly recommend it.
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  #7  
Old 12-25-2019, 10:50 PM
patrickgm60 patrickgm60 is offline
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The OP link song is actually flat-picked. More than a simple strum, but lots can be done with some picking technique.

I learned FS from listening repeatedly to Dust in the Wind and grinding it out. (That song is what prompted me to start playing AG in the first place.) Probably not an efficient method, but that's still my preferred method for learning any song or style.
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Old 12-26-2019, 03:50 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SprintBob View Post
Mark Hanson’s latest Art of Contemporary Travis Picking is the most bang for the buck at $20 you can spend if you want to get started in fingerstyle. Here’s a link - http://accentonmusic.com/book_detail.aspx?ID=5
+1 on Mark Hanson’s book. This book will teach you the fundamentals of Travis style technique, a foundation for a lot of finger style songs. The skills I learned from just this one book have served me for years and without it I would not have learned how to play “Blackbird” and “Dust In The Wind.”
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Old 01-04-2020, 05:43 PM
westernslope westernslope is offline
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there are some really legit courses on udem y.com. you can get an entire course with hours and hours of videos for 999 right now. Just look up fingerstyle on udemy. Com. I've used some of the vocal courses on there in a few of the guitar courses and most of them are top-notch if you find ones that have high ratings like + 4 stars.
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Old 01-04-2020, 08:22 PM
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Agreed. I bought an acoustic blues course there a couple years ago that was pretty good.
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Old 01-04-2020, 09:26 PM
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TBman TBman is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by WoodBlues View Post
I want to start learning simple fingerstyle acoustic.
Just like this : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNSdJU7EFRQ

I live in a remote area, and can't find a teacher.

Do you know an online ressource besides YouTube?
For example, teachers over Skype, etc...
That's not finger style. Finger style is an instrumental solo style of playing. That's just picking and strumming to back up a vocalist.

This is finger style:



And this:

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Old 01-04-2020, 10:07 PM
rwhitney rwhitney is offline
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Start by not using a pick. Sounds facetious, but it’s not. Your fingers will know what to do (or not). Of course, that’s just the way I think one should start. Take lessons, buy books, watch YouTube, sure; but see what your fingers do creatively, guided by your own knowledge of chords, melodies, and rhythms first. It’s not rocket surgery after all. If you read music or tab, get this book and learn the three easy transcriptions of Mississippi John Hurt recordings in standard tuning: https://www.amazon.com/Masters-Count.../dp/076920953X. That’s as good a place to start as any. Another good thing to do is to pick out tunes you know by heart and put chords to them using your fingers. Jingle Bells, Amazing Grace, stuff like that.
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Last edited by rwhitney; 01-04-2020 at 10:27 PM.
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Old 01-05-2020, 09:09 AM
Pitar Pitar is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by WoodBlues View Post
I want to start learning simple fingerstyle acoustic.
Just like this : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNSdJU7EFRQ

I live in a remote area, and can't find a teacher.

Do you know an online ressource besides YouTube?
For example, teachers over Skype, etc...
I wasn't remote but a good teacher was, just the same, so I taught myself to finger pick. It took less than a year to play the way I wanted to by (only) listening to the music I liked. You can do the same with enough desire, enthusiasm and dedication. Finger picking is not hard at all. It's just methodical and demands repetition. I pick with all 5 and I recommend you learn to do the same. Assign the thumb to the bass string (E&A) and your fingers to the remaining strings. Practice rolling arpeggios forward, backward and alternating both ways. Become fluid in the 4 patterns and there's nothing you won't be able to play. You will be able to change up your fingers on-the-fly at that point, using them all or not as the music deems. While you're progressing through them keep a keen ear for what you're playing to develop it in step with the mechanical movement of your fingers. The ear training and patterns learned are the basis for improvisation. After you achieve this goal and can tell yourself that you accomplished what you set out to do, keep at it. The learning curve will significantly flatten out if you don't.
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Old 01-05-2020, 10:06 AM
JonPR JonPR is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by WoodBlues View Post
I want to start learning simple fingerstyle acoustic.
Just like this : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNSdJU7EFRQ

I live in a remote area, and can't find a teacher.

Do you know an online ressource besides YouTube?
For example, teachers over Skype, etc...
I agree with TBMan, that's not really fingerstyle.
That doesn't mean you shouldn't learn that song if you want! Just that it's useful to be able to distinguish different guitar techniques from listening.

That track sounds like it could have been played with fingers (and thumb), not a pick, but it's mainly just strumming, with the occasional single bass note picked.
Here's a live version, showing he does it (at least on that occasion). As you can see, he's strumming with his thumb. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lG6Y9_iSCoI
(You shouldn't really need much instruction in that . Drop the pick, use your thumb, and just pick out the occasional bass note on a downstroke instead of a full chord.)

For true fingerstyle, there are a few different approaches, from straight classical, through to flamenco, American and British folk and country styles, to blues and modern semi-percussive techniques.

Some good examples above, and here are a few more:
Blues: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fm1qtX7Mz5w
Folk-Blues: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85BvT5X6WSo
Country: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btVAuFMpNr4
Folk/singer-songwriter:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4it9vK6G7o (see also just about every 1960s folk singer)

Most of those are the so-called "alternating bass", "Piedmont style", "Travis style" or "thumb style" . But there is also the so-called "folk baroque" style invented by British players in the 60s, mixing blues and classical techniques to accompany folk tunes -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkX7Q2J7k48
- and original pieces like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAtiofihEu0

Then - at the peak of technical accomplishment (exploiting alternative tunings and flamenco techniques) - you find things like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nY7GnAq6Znw
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  #15  
Old 01-05-2020, 02:34 PM
sixx sixx is offline
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Wow. I guess I live under a rock. I'd not seen that Jon Gomm video....that is/was amazing. Thanks very much for sharing.
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