Fingerstyle Primer

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Fingerstyle Primer

By Andrew Levin

Thanks for taking a look at this Fingerstyle Primer! This guide is meant to accompany my
Encore Stream for Rocksmith, and along with the video will get you started on finger-picking. It
is geared towards students who have been playing guitar for a little while, but struggle to get
the right sounds and fluidity from finger-style guitar playing. I will be going over two major
techniques; Travis Picking and Arpeggiating chords, providing a few exercises for each, and
examining one song related to each technique. I will also provide a list of finger-picking songs in
Rocksmith at the end, as well as some suggestions of books for further study. Before starting
this, you should at least be familiar with your basic open chords such as C, G, D, Am, Em, etc.
The first thing I would like to do is clarify what fingers I will be referring to when it
comes to tablature and sheet music. In written music, your thumb is almost always referred to
as p, your index finger is i, your middle finger is m, and your ring finger is a. Where do these
letters come from? Italian. Why? A couple hundred years ago, some guys decided they would
use Italian for this. Is it arbitrary? Yes. Is it easy? Good news is yes, it is very easy.

Getting a Good Tone


Ok cool, so you now know which fingers are which. Time to learn how to make it sound
good! This is probably the biggest thing that most people struggle with when it comes to
fingerstyle guitar.
Many people get a scratchy, weak, and undesirable tone when they are starting out with
finger picking. This actually has mainly to do with your finger prints brushing against the string,
and the peaks and valleys of those finger prints creating a harsh sound.

You can remedy this by pushing downward onto the string with the tip of your finger
and releasing rather than scooping with your finger. This way, only the very top of your finger
tip is making contact with the string. It also results in will a much fatter tone than scooping the
string, even though it uses less surface area. Check out these photos to see what I mean.
This is an example of good technique. Notice how I’m pushing down with the top of my
finger.

And here is an example of bad technique. Notice how I’m using the whole pad of my finger.
Lastly, notice how my thumb is planted on the low E string. When you are using your i, m, and a
fingers without using your thumb, it will be much easier if you leave your thumb planted on a
lower string.

Travis Picking
Ok, now that we have gone over the basics, let’s play some music! One technique that is
all over the place in rock, folk, pop, etc, is what is called Travis Picking. Travis Picking is named
after the guitarist Merle Travis, who was one of the pioneers of ragtime guitar. This technique
features the thumb moving independently of the top fingers to play basslines reminiscent of
the left hand on a piano in a ragtime song. Over the years, this technique has been both
simplified and expanded upon. After doing the exercises later on in this section, you will likely
recognize the pattern from numerous folk guitar songs, particularly by artists such as Bob
Dylan, the Beatles, Kansas, and also modern artists like the Tallest Man on Earth, Phillip
Phillips, and Ed Sheeran. There are many variations of these patterns, so remember this is just
to get you started! Here is a video of Merle Travis for reference:
For a more modern example, here is Sean Lennon playing “Julia” live:

Although this may look difficult, it is actually easier than it seems. First thing we will do is start
with the bassline. This bassline is based off of an open C chord, and uses just the thumb to hit
the A and the D strings. Although only the bottom of the chord is being played here, I want you
to hold the whole chord with your left hand:
Now let’s build the pattern. Here is part one. Remember to hold the C chord the whole time.
Also make sure you pay attention to the right hand fingering that I have written out for you. In
this example, the thumb is playing the bottom notes, while the middle finger plays the top
notes:

Once you feel comfortable playing this, try here is part two:

Once you feel you have gotten the hang of these two parts and can consistently play them,
here is the full pattern.

Before we move on, let’s try this variation on pattern 2:


Now let’s take a look at “Dust in the Wind” by Kansas. This song a great study of Travis Picking
over open chords. You may notice that the pattern is slightly different that the basic Travis
Picking pattern you saw earlier.

Dust in the Wind


Kansas
If you are interested in exploring this further, I recommend checking out Blind Blake,
Chet Atkins, and Blind Willie McTell. The book, “Travis Picking: A Guitarist’s Guide to
Fingerpicking Techniques, Patterns, and Styles,” has some more resources. Some other great
Travis Picking songs include: Dear Prudence, Girl From the North Country (off of The
Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan), Home by Phillip Phillips, Julia by the Beatles, and many others.
Arpeggiating Chords
Arpeggiating chords is another great technique for fingerstyle guitar playing. Essentially
all this means is that you are plucking individual notes from the chords rather than playing the
entire chord at once. Travis Pickin’ arguably uses some arpeggiation, but for our purposes we
are going to practice arpeggiating chords by going up and down the strings in order for the
most part while holding a chord. Here is a great exercise that I have used extensively.

Now let’s take a look at “Hallelujah” as played by Jeff Buckley. Again, the full song can
be found within the Rocksmith Game, and this is mainly meant to clarify the fingering. The
whole song has a capo at the 5 th fret. To clarify, I have the frets written here in relation to the
capo, so the 2nd fret here is the 7th fret of the guitar.

Hallelujah
By Leonard Cohen, as played by Jeff Buckley
Finally, here is a list of many finger picking songs within Rocksmith that incorporate
these techniques. I also highly recommend a book called the “Christopher Parkening Method”
for Classical Guitar by Christopher Parkening. It will teach you to read notes, but will also give
you a lot of really fun material to practice that will make you a better guitar player. I have used
it with many students with a lot of success. Anyways, here is the list.

Bill Withers Ain't No Sunshine


Fleetwood Mac Never Going Back Again
Grateful Dead Friend of the Devil
Jack Johnson Banana Pancakes
Jeff Buckley Hallelujah
Jim Croce Time in a Bottle
Kansas Dust in the Wind
Kenny Rogers The Gambler
Norah Jones Don't Know Why
Pure Prairie League Amie
Queensrÿche Silent Lucidity
Rusted Root Send Me On My Way
Willie Nelson On the Road Again

To Nail or Not to Nail?


One final question that is on a lot of fingerstyle guitar players’ minds is, should I use
nails or should I keep my fingertips bare? I literally grapple with that question for myself to this
day. Personally, I have used nails and have for the last decade because I love the tone.
However, if you are a beginner at this stuff, I highly recommend not using nails unless you are
taking lessons from a classical guitarist with great nail tone. There are a lot of specifics on how
to play with nails, including the shape, consistency, length, the correct types of nail files,
supplements, etc. It is a real rabbit hole that should not be taken unless you are very serious
about playing with nails. Also, many people cannot play with nails on steel string/electric
guitars because the strings will dig into your nails and ruin your tone. This is something that
should be taken up with someone who is personally mentoring you, not something to learn
online.

I do want to mention that if you do not use nails, you should be careful to keep your
nails really short. I would use a nail file too. Uneven nails, even when short, will make your tone
way scratchier and can hinder you from playing a lot of different songs.

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