Fingerstyle Guitar Introduction Video Lecture - The Ultimate Guitar Course

our fingers and thumbs are what separate
us from the animals which is why monkeys
are only proficient in symbols and
grinder organs so what better way to
celebrate the essence of what makes us
human by using our fingers pulling some
finger style guitar so we're gonna do
just a couple different kind of
introductory patterns and kind of the
way I like to do it there's a lot of
different ways to come about it but this
is just a good way to start to think
about it and we are going to play a
little thing I wrote for a musical that
I co-wrote and we're just using it
because it's kind of easy the chords are
easier and it's gonna sound like this so
basically it's for really similar
patterns kind of thrown together in a
way that's kind of it's kind of cool to
play and we're gonna talk about some
principles of finger style guitar so the
first chord is gonna be a d7 right so
you got your ring finger on the high E
string 2nd fret pull your finger on the
B string 1st fret middle finger on the g
string 2nd fret we're working on the
bottom four strings and now the fingers
you use are actually really important
for this and this is gonna be a thumb
and a two finger type pattern here now
some of them you can do a thumb and a
single finger sometimes you use three
fingers and like flamenco stuff use four
fingers a lot of times but this is just
gonna get you started using two fingers
right so we've got this g7 chord and you
we're gonna assign strings to a certain
digit if you will alright so the D
string and the g string are gonna be
your thumbs territory right and we're
gonna create what's called a pulse a
pulse is just kind of like if you were
to have a metronome on one two three
four that's the pulse and we're gonna
alternate between the D and the g string
so whatever tempo you want to do it at
super slow one two three four your thumb
is responsible for going back and forth
between keeping that pulse and now your
fingers are actually going to be
responsible for hitting certain notes in
addition to that so we just got to keep
this nice and steady
right now really quickly just kind of a
way to show the attack of your of your
fingers on the strings and your thumb is
should be brushing it you should be
using the side of your thumb to brush
this string and if you notice like when
I hit the D string and then I hit the g
string when I go to the g string I'm
muting the D string and then when I go
back to the D string I'm muting the g
string so it's not as sustained it's
like hmm
it's kind of like a back and forth type
thing which gives you that now your
fingers okay your your pointer finger is
going to be assigned to the B string
first off and your middle finger is
going to be assigned to the E string now
when you first start it might seem
really uncomfortable trying to maneuver
your hand in a way to get this working
together now a lot of different styles
will have you kind of come straight at
it but right now we're gonna work on
tilting your fingers a little bit so you
get kind of the inside part of your
finger and you're kind of coming up on
the strings and the reason I do this is
because I think this is a way to easily
make a repetitive thing that you can
kind of do on a loop because if you have
your fingers come up into your hand
almost kind of like the brakes of a
bicycle right if they come up into your
hand they'll come straight down in the
exact same spot every way so you can do
a very repeatable thing right here if
you come like this you have to find the
strings again and eventually you get
that but to start off I want to start
doing this where you go you brush with
the side of your thumb and you come into
your hand with your fingers right so
again pointer finger D string middle
finger your pointer finger B string
middle finger high E string and this is
a good technique in case you want to do
more finger style stuff later on like it
all kind of comes together and this is
just a good way to get in a comfortable
groove of doing a repeatable pattern
right so this is all gonna be on this d7
Florida the first bar the first four
count is gonna sound like this
okay so we've got one two three and four
no matter how slow you have to do to get
that on the loop this is gonna be the
first pattern we're gonna do it so one
is just a teaching by itself one two two
is gonna be the g string with your thumb
and the high E string with your middle
finger so one two or think of one both
alright one two three and four okay so
three I'm gonna go back to the D string
with my thumb so we've got one on the D
string one two three and four now the
and of three of the three and we call it
the end of three is your pointer finger
by itself hitting the B string before
your thumb goes down to the D string
alright one two three and four one two
three and four one two three four one
two three four so this is gonna be the
first pattern we do
but in this progression that's only give
me the first box is the second bar is
going to be similar but a little bit
different right so here are the first
two bars of the progression one two
three and four one two and three and
four one two three four one two and
three and four and so the second bar is
a one two and three and four hand and on
the one where we have the D string with
your thumb we're gonna add the middle
finger one so you get both of them one
two thumb on the g string one two and
alright so the end is always the end of
two is your pointer finger one two and
three and four and now the three and
four on the back end of this bar is a
very common pattern that you'll see if
you just go thumb index thumb metal and
in fact if you can just practice that as
your own pattern on any quarter it'll
sound great like here's just a minor
chord you're just kind of getting that
sequence that pulse in between and
you're training all this rhythm into
just certain fingers and your thumb and
kind of counter playing off of each
other so three and four and on the d7
chord one two and three and four
so is the first bar
one two and three and four and so so far
we haven't moved this d7 chord we're
just kind of sat here now we're gonna
change to kind of like a c9 chord right
here right so I've got my ring finger on
the C which is 3a my middle finger on to
D and my pinky on 3b right so we're
gonna take the whole sequence we just
did and move it all up a string so now
your thumb is responsible for the a and
the D string and your pointer fingers
responsible for the g string and your
middle finger is responsible for the B
string so we just moved everything up a
string right so coming from the d7 so
for this new C chord we're gonna do a
one two three and four and one two three
and four and
alright so really similar to the other
one one by itself to is D string and B
string one two three and four and just
like it in the other part three and four
and a GDB right if you want to just work
that a little bit
but we're gonna add it to the back of
this bar so 1 2 3 M 4 and and then we're
gonna slide it up two frets or down two
frets but everything
now this next chord we're just gonna
manipulate we're gonna kind of do half
time each so the first two counts one
and two and just like we did on the back
end of the other bar so AG DB and then
I'm gonna open up the a string and swap
my pinkie for my pointer finger so I'm
on 3b okay so there's just a switch from
this chord but it's the same pattern one
and two and three and four and so the
last two bars starting with the C 1 2 3
& 4 & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 1 2 3 & 4 & 1 & 2
& 3 & 4 & 1 2 3 4 & 1 & 2 empty and then
you more the more you do it while
keeping the pulse steady the quicker
you're gonna get so let's go through all
four bars of this starting on the d7 one
two three and four one two and three and
four and one two three and four and one
and two and three and four and one two
three and four one two and three four
and one two three and four and one
and three four and one alright so I
think the trickiest part is assigning
strings to your fingers and then being
able to move them throughout and use of
anything any kind of chord that you can
play it like to take a submit totally to
play the E major chord right let's just
do that same thing where we assign four
strings the lowest to being your thumb
back and forth between E and a and then
your pointer fingers on D and your
middle fingers on gia one two three and
four and one two three and four so once
you gotta get the pulse in it you can
just start swapping out like do I want
to put maybe a higher string on the end
of one or the hand of - do I want to
leave more space and just have the
downbeats the one two three four one two
three four one two three four and you
can really create a lot of tension and
make it seem like you're speeding it up
by loading the back end of these beats
right so when I say loading the back end
of the bar it's like one two three and
four alright one two three four one two
three four and sometimes you can make a
song seem like it's speeding up without
changing the tempo just by taking a
loaded back end of a bar and adding a
little more movement to it now the last
thing I kind of want to talk about here
is something that's responsible for this
this certain kind of sound and this is
kind of like a bluesy bluegrass ish type
style I guess
and that's choking the notes with your
left hand right so I've got my right
hand kind of doing this thing but my
left hand is actually responsible for
the sustain or the choke of the note
right so notice how I'm just kind of
bouncing off it I'm releasing the
pressure of my left hand to choke that
note and make this a real quick hit one
two three and four and what it does it
creates a lot of a lot more space and
you can hear more clearly the individual
things going on if I left my left hand
down sustained the whole time it was
sound a little bit different
which maybe that's what you're going for
and that's cool but for this one in
particular I'm using my left hand almost
as a sustain control like if you look at
it it's kind of jumping on and off you
can see the pressure coming down and
that's just developing the timing
between your left in your right hand
which is a really really important thing
to work on