Fingerpicking

[Balls88]

How bad were you guys when you first started fingerpicking. I'm literally terrible.

[Misty44]

I started first learning the banjo, the 5-string variety, and would practice forward three-finger picking rolls over and over again all the time on whatever surface I had at hand, especially during Chemistry class. Day in, day out. After awhile I sounded pretty good on the textbooks, thought I was pretty hot, but sounded awkward and clumsy when I put fingers to the actual strings. So more practice, both on and off the court so to speak.

Then one day - presto! It all came together, and away I went Foggy Mountain Breakdowning all over the place. Transferring the banjo picking to the guitar was straightforward, and over the years I added technique and embellishments to my playing.

The key for me was first finding a good learning source and then investing hour upon hour of practice. It don't come easy, but eventually will!

[LindaW]

I was terrible. Now I'm fairly good but don't have a lot of variety. You will get better though, and so will I if I put the time in. If I can learn, you can too!

[Backslider]

Originally Posted by Balls88

How bad were you guys when you first started fingerpicking. I'm literally terrible.

First song I ever learned was "Stairway To Heaven".... I picked it pretty good, but then, its not that difficult.

Then I wanted to learn Travis Picking, which was a whole different ball game. I simply could not do it at all and after persevering for a few weeks, decided to give it a rest. Then I heard this tune on TV as my young brother and sister were watching Sesame Street and just HAD to learn it.

So, I tried again and for some reason it just clicked. I think maybe because the tune was in my head rather than trying to learn something out of a book.

[Stringin Swing]

Originally Posted by Balls88

when you first started fingerpicking

Very, very few of us have the kind of inherent ability that allows us to pick -- in this case, literally -- up something right at the start of trying. It will come, trust me, with that inescapable combination of time, effort and concentration.

[joehempel]

Fingerpicking was VERY natural to me, I had zero problems other than the usual beginner playing a guitar for the first time.

My fingers have half way decent dexterity though....a friend of mine attributed it to my stint as a close up magician years back, never thought of it like that, but it makes sense.

[62panshovel]

I find flatpicking and crosspicking more difficult for me personally. Then again I started on a banjo first also. I enjoy Travis picking...

[Minotaur]

Really bad. But I was following tabs. For some reason they really don't make sense to me unless they represent a chord or part of a chord and have the chord name. I took to the pattern of Dust in the Wind and Coconut (yes Coconut, Nilsson) rapidly. Standard notation makes more sense to me than tab also.

[daza152]

Originally Posted by Backslider

First song I ever learned was "Stairway To Heaven".... I picked it pretty good, but then, its not that difficult.

Then I wanted to learn Travis Picking, which was a whole different ball game. I simply could not do it at all and after persevering for a few weeks, decided to give it a rest. Then I heard this tune on TV as my young brother and sister were watching Sesame Street and just HAD to learn it.

So, I tried again and for some reason it just clicked. I think maybe because the tune was in my head rather than trying to learn something out of a book.

nice tune is that a bluesy song? excuse my ignorance please. I too learned stairway first nice easy and sounds goooood!

[daza152]

Originally Posted by Stringin Swing

Very, very few of us have the kind of inherent ability that allows us to pick -- in this case, literally -- up something right at the start of trying. It will come, trust me, with that inescapable combination of time, effort and concentration.

+1 It will happen but not first try or second but on the 500th for certain!

[unimogbert]

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[Backslider]

Originally Posted by daza152

nice tune is that a bluesy song? excuse my ignorance please.

I class it as "Country Blues", so yes. I can transcribe it if you wanna learn it.

[Minotaur]

Originally Posted by Backslider

I class it as "Country Blues", so yes. I can transcribe it if you wanna learn it.

I'd like that.

[M19]

One of my tricks is to listen to the song, over and over and over whilst learning it. I have a playlist on iTunes called learning. I play it a lot. It REALLY helps to get the timings and syncopations down on a new song.

I also look to see if there is a performance on Youtube, so I can see if I am using the fingerings others are. An actual video lesson is icing, though some are of much lesser quality than others.

I also don't sing the song until I can play it through from memory (however haltingly).

Oh, and practice practice practice.

Except for the liars, we ALL sucked at first!

FWIW.

[Rick Jones]

I was stuck in the same pattern for ages, and the better I got at it the worse I got at everything else!!
It's hard work, especially at first.....keep with it!