GUITAR
FINGERSTYLE CRASH COURSE | David Harsh
If you ’ ve always wanted to experiment with fingerstyle guitar but you didn ’ t know where to start , you ’ re in the right place . Fingerstyle guitar spans multiple genres , and can be applied beautifully to worship music , folk music , pop music , and more .
Today , I ’ m going to show you my approach to a “ crash course ” for fingerstyle guitar .
I highly recommend watching the accompanying instructional video , while it ’ s available , because it will literally unlock these concepts for your eyes and ears in a way that my typed words and diagrams won ’ t be able to .
Now , as you may know , a crash course is a quick , intense approach to learning something , so I want to keep our expectations reasonable .
The world of fingerstyle guitar is vast and beautiful , and even though we ’ re only going to tackle one fingerstyle pattern today , I think you ’ ll be able to celebrate a win with me , because it ’ s a good one . So , let ’ s embark on some important initial steps .
Let ’ s start by defining some quick terms . I like to use the Spanish system for memorizing my thumb and fingers . Even if we ’ re not playing Spanish or classical guitar , this system can totally benefit us .
The names of our picking hand digits can be found in the diagram below .
Try saying just the letter that corresponds to each . We have : p , i , m , a , and c . Try going backwards : c , a , m , i , and p .
Now , let ’ s talk about how we place these digits on the strings .
Our pulgar , or thumb , is so strong , that we can start by allocating strings 6 , 5 and 4 to it . The thumb literally owns half of the strings for beginning fingerstyle guitar . Then , the indicio or index owns string 3 , the medio or middle owns string 2 , and the anular or ring finger owns string 1 . The chico does not get used in these early stages .
So , from low to high , the digits owning these strings are p , p , p , i , m , and a , and from high to low , they are a , m , i , p , p and p .
Abbreviations for Picking Hand Digits : p = pulgar ( thumb ) i = indicio ( index ) m = medio ( middle ) a = anular ( ring ) c = chico ( pinky )
Introductory
Placement of Fingers on Strings :