(American) Fingerstyle learning recommendations

[rdeane]

I signed up for David Hamburger's Blues lessons on Truefire and so far I really like his approach. He explains things well and goes slowly.

[mike243]

Caren (or was it Karen?), a teacher on Guitartricks has a really good, but short, set of videos on Travis Picking, and I've adapted it for other things. After viewing those videos I had a difficult time finding them, but I'd go to her page under instructors and get there through that.

Her method is basically this: develop the muscle memory so you can pick without even thinking about it. You need to do this to be able to sing along anyway.

Start out as slow as you need to to get the pattern down. And she means really, really slow. "Accuracy builds speed," and she's correct.

She repeats regularly, "If you put it in wrong, it will come out wrong." I've followed this advice in every attempt to learn a new pattern. I think it should work for any kind of picking.

It's the same idea with Justin's Chord Perfect exercise. You start by breaking down the individual aspects of the chord until they all sound good. Then the fingers lift from the strings and drop into place; over and over again. Only then do you practice "Changing Chords in a Minute.

So those two instructors worked for me, but different ones may work for others. We're all hunter gatherers on the web looking for the instructor that "clicks." Same thing with private lessons, but costly. Looping videos is a lot cheaper that having someone explain the same thing over and over until it sinks in. But I'm not discounting private lessons, even it's just occasionally for a course correction.

Pick on!

[Brent Hutto]

Originally Posted by mike243

Same thing with private lessons, but costly. Looping videos is a lot cheaper that having someone explain the same thing over and over until it sinks in. But I'm not discounting private lessons, even it's just occasionally for a course correction.

You can eat your cake and have it too by taking private lessons and recording each session!

[Trent in WA]

I liked the Dan Holloway video at the beginning of the thread (along with many of the other musical recs). Based on the OP's interests and stylistic markers, it looks like you're interested in music that borrows heavily from three distinct musical traditions or approaches: classical guitar (for the basic mechanics), jazz chord melody playing (for the harmonic approach), and Travis-style picking (for the strongly rhythmical drive). There are a lot of resources available for each of those, and it might pay off in the long run to focus on one of them at a time until you feel that you've plateaued and then move on to the next.

Two books I'm really fond of are Mark Hanson's The Art of Contemporary Travis Picking and The Art of Solo Fingerpicking. The exercises and pieces in them build on each other, and by the time you make it through the second book you'll have a great basis for further exploration.

It sounds like you're having fun, which is the most important thing!

[TDW]

Thanks very much for your input, it's always helpful to have people far more knowledgeable than me to help with the finer grain detail around things. There is so much material out across the Web that it's really difficult finding quality over quantity.

I've actually just finished the GCH YouTube play list that I was enjoying. Overall I'd describe it as very basic and it didn't give me any of the fundamentals I was looking for so I've decided to move on.

I haven't discarded the idea of books and I can see that many people value them. The thing about me is that I'm a visual learner and get more from watching than anything else. It's for that reason I find myself being slightly reluctant to buy the books.

But irrespective, I've just just stumbled upon the next chapter for me! I had a quick look on Truefire and found that they have a sale on across lots of different content. The 2 courses I was previously looking at under Tommy Emmanuel were both 70% off and when I signed up I got a further 25% discount. So all in all, the courses should have been $50 each, but I got them both for $18!

Has anyone else done these courses on Truefire? The content seems fairly good even if the videos are rather short. That said, 6hrs+ of Tommy Emmanuel tuition with videos and tabliture for $18 is a bargain by anyones measure! I'll keep you posted on how I get on.

On a side note, it's worth mentioning that I've started getting the hang of making independent use of the thumb and fingers. I am also getting fairly good at anchoring the pinky finger and using the index, middle and annular fingers for the GBE strings. It was (and still is) a real pain relearning the music I've played for years, trying to get the fingers in the right place to improve speed, accuracy and technique. It's slow progress but it does feel worth it.

[mike243]

Originally Posted by Brent Hutto

You can eat your cake and have it too by taking private lessons and recording each session!

Great idea!

[TDW]

Hi all, a quick update from me on how I'm progressing. I'm about 40% complete on the Tommy Emmanuel 'Milestones' module which has (so far) focused on learning the boom chick method of playing. I had previously given this a go for about an hour so I wasn't a compete beginner in that respect. I'm enjoying it so far, although it's really hard to coordinate everything that you need to do correctly ie accuracy on the fret board, vs correct use of the PIMA system in the fingers, vs the alternating bass strings etc..

I've just started trying out the 'anticipated' melody section where Tommy is showing us how to play the melody with a bit of heart and character instead of dropping it in on the beat. It's like learning a whole new skill, but enjoyable none the less.

Aside of that I've been playing two easier pieces by Dan Holloway as I wanted something else to play if the truefire course became too difficult. I'm playing Amazing Grace and Annie's Song. Both are fairly straightforward, but both make good use of the PIMA system so I'm happy as it's really improving my technique. The bit I'm trying to focus on is the steady smooth progression so that I can play both pieces all the way through, at the right speed and tempo, without mistakes. It's much harder than I anticipated and I think this is because I've often learned to play music and simply accepted that I'm OK with the easier bits, but slower with the hard bits.

It's a hard habit to try and train myself out of because I've got quite a few bad habits, but I'm currently determined to be much more disciplined after reading that my playing will become much better if I can train my fingers correctly alongside the speed and accuracy on the fret board.

[SprintBob]

Originally Posted by Trent in WA

Two books I'm really fond of are Mark Hanson's The Art of Contemporary Travis Picking and The Art of Solo Fingerpicking. The exercises and pieces in them build on each other, and by the time you make it through the second book you'll have a great basis for further exploration

Agree. Both of Mark’s books recently celebrated their 30 year anniversary with re-issues which says something about their popularity and relevance (and he updated both). The progressive structure in both will really help build a solid foundation for what I believe the OP is looking for.

[TDW]

Originally Posted by SprintBob

Agree. Both of Mark’s books recently celebrated their 30 year anniversary with re-issues which says something about their popularity and relevance (and he updated both). The progressive structure in both will really help build a solid foundation for what I believe the OP is looking for.

Thanks very much for the follow up recommendation. I've just researched both books and subsequently bought both just because they get consistently recommended on here for all levels.

I'm still on the TE milestones, about 54% through and trying to master syncopated style play. I'm getting pretty good with the boom chick alternating, but plucking harmonic chords off beat is another story. Enjoying it none the less and going slowly enough to ensure it sinks in before I move forward.

As an aside, I bought another truefire course by Richard Smith https://truefire.com/fingerstyle-gui...horizons/c1676

I think he's an excellent player (and I forgot to include him in my original list of admired players) so I couldn't resist as he also covers his approach to some classic fingerstyle pieces.

I reckon with the two TE modules. The Richard Smith module and the two Mark Hanson's books, I should have all the basic foundations covered.... And more!

[Jaxon]

New here but I've 70 been playing since I was 10 and to this day I don't know all the music boom chick etc music terminology. I do know simply playing the note melodies to traditional tunes and nursery rhymes you can hum in as many positions and keys possible will carry you a long ways

[TDW]

I thought it might be worth a quick update. So I'm about 85% complete on the first TE module. Would I recommend it? yes I would, but is it as good as I thought it would be? mmmm, that's a bit more of a difficult one.

TE's teaching style is to demonstrate exercises that will help build up to some wider exercise or piece of music to play. I find that some of them are really good and others are pretty pointless. That said, the guy is a CGP so it's fair to say he knows what he's doing! I've flagged about 10 of his short lessons to revisit and improve on technique so I think the longer term benefit will play out over time.

Next step for me is to finish the module and then I'm going to look at the Richard Smith package. I was going to move straight onto TE's second module (which covers learning more of his music) but I want to see what foundational exercises RS provide to see if I can build on what I've learned. Once I'm done with that I intend to look at the books by Mark Hanson.

Two things that I think are worth mentioning if anyone in a similar position is reading this thread - firstly, I'm impressed with how good I'm getting with the independent thumb/PIMA system. TE provides catchy harmonic chord patterns so his lessons are quite infectious. The result is obviously to play more and more, which in turn improves technique. One tip I'd give when learning boom chick is to lift the palm away from the bass strings to hear them in their full glory. This helps with two things, firstly it helps you confirm if you have fingered the chord correctly by hearing all of the strings play nice and clear. Secondly (and more importantly imo) it helps you identify when you make a mistake with selecting the bass string. Advanced players won't have that problem, but as a beginner it's easy to hear the bass strings when they are dampened and convince yourself it all sounds great. Lift your palm and you'll soon pick up on any errors as the bass won't compliment the harmonic of the GBE strings. The overall effect is that it makes you much more mindful with the thumb positioning and alternation of strings.

Secondly, I've found myself switching towards playing full time with a thumb pick! I was originally comfortable playing the boom chick with the pick on, but removing it when playing other pieces using full open string method. The more I've practiced, the more reliant I've become on the speed and accuracy that the thumb pick offers.

It's difficult to explain, but when I don't use the thumb pick I find that I miss the bass strings and have to 'reach back' further to pluck them. Using the thumb pick reduces the reach back which increases the overall speed of playing. I've been testing out 4 different thumb picks to see which ones suit me best (noting that I've got thick thumbs).

1. Metal .25 gauge Dunlop one from amazon, which I bought in this set https://www.amazon.co.uk/Jim-Dunlop-...7&sr=8-17&th=1 I really like the fact it can be moulded easily to your thumb and it's comfortable to play with. I don't like the fact that it makes an unpleasant sound when it slides on the strings as it's metal on metal. I would definitely recommend this pick overall.

2. I bought myself 4 of the Fred Kelly yellow picks https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fred-Kelly-...63&sr=8-1&th=1 I shaved one of them down so that only a tiny edge was protruding and in all honesty, this is the one that got me more comfortable with that method as your thumb doesn't have to make so much of an adjustment. I then played with the metal one for a while and flitted between the metal and a full Fred Kelly pick to compare the two. The Fred Kelly's don't make an unpleasant sound when sliding on the string so all in all I now prefer the full Fred Kelly pick.

3. the fourth and final thumb pick I've been trying is this one https://www.antonyscott.com/products...4915a4d7&_ss=r You can buy them from Amazon as well and I have to say that I think this is my favourite. It plays very similar to the FK, but it has a slightly different shape to the end of it and the overall build quality is quicker and more sturdy.

Just a bit of food for thought for anyone else in a similar position.

[TDW]

I've now finished the TE modules and I definitely recommend it. I have enjoyed some of the exercises and still revisit some, but haven't kept playing all of them.

I've just moved onto the Richard Smith package and I'm really enjoying it. Slightly different teaching style and more advanced in some respects, but I don't mind it as he's good at showing things down and explaining them.

Currently learning his version of freight train which is excellent as it's easy to play, but with lots of little syncopated notes to add real character.

[catt]

I always heard it as "American Primitive" - John Fahey and that crowd - derivative of country blues players (which is where I recommend one begin study).

*Lo and behold - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_primitive_guitar