Fingerpicking, or fingerstyle guitar as it’s
commonly called, is basically plucking
the strings with bare fingers, fingernails,
and on occasion, with the aid of picks. I
began fingerpicking early in my career and
after throwing away my fingerpicks—once
referred to by a colleague as my Freddy
Krueger Starter Set—I found myself playing
with more fluid movements and power. This
came along with the discovery of my ability
to create three-dimensional dynamic effects.
If you find yourself among the players
who still lack a system for fingerpicking
that prevents you from producing these
sounds, perhaps your “fingerpicking engine”
needs a tune-up. Is your tone production
often weak? Do you use the same finger
twice in a row to pluck the same string,
creating not only a hiccup in the music, but
also a tense feeling in your hands and the
rest of your body? Then you have come to
the right place.
As my students cultivate their own fingerpicking
system, I try to convince them
to first focus on themselves, then the music
in front of them. I encourage them to tune
into their breathing, their body postures,
and any tension that might be building
up in order to learn how to relax during
the development of a piece or during an
exercise. Only then, as they relax, can their
entire attention be focused and devoted to
learning. Even while they work extensively
with a metronome at different speeds to
develop a groove, I want them to remain
calm and not stressed out.
Let’s get on to revving up your fingerpicking
engine. Your transmission is made
up of a basic language of picking patterns
with a positional system used to create
group landing points, and most importantly,
a borrowing system that eliminates using
the same picking finger twice in a row.
Don’t get me wrong. There are many
times when I will use the same finger twice
in a row, such as with a grouped finger
vamp of sorts, frequently used in jazz, or if
I am dealing with quarter- and eighth-notes
where a finger substitution is not as urgent a
requirement. But these moves are intentional,
not accidental due to poor finger placement.
For a closer look at the language of the
picking hand, visualize two different menus
of choices, much like sitting down at your
two favorite restaurants. One menu offers
up arpeggio patterns, where a group of fingers
pluck, following a single thumb strike.
You can see an example of this with an Am
chord in
Fig. 1 and an E chord in
Fig. 2.
Just a reminder, for all these examples we
are using the traditional
p–i–m–a notation
for the plucking hand where
p is for the
thumb,
i is for index,
m is for middle, and
a
is for the ring finger.
or download example audio
or download example audio
The other menu, which is slightly more
expansive, consists of alternating bass patterns,
including two types of rolls, pinch
patterns, and pairings of fingers. In
Fig. 3,
we combine an inside roll with a forward
roll. If you look at the first two beats of
each measure, you can see how we pluck the
2nd and 5th strings before moving “inside”
to hit the 4th and 3rd strings. In the second
half of the measure we begin with the 5th
and 3rd strings before moving “forward”
onto the 4th and 2nd strings.
or download example audio
We begin to develop multiple patterns
with multiple voices in
Fig. 4. By using
your m and a fingers for the melody, you are
able to keep the upper voice ringing while
p and
i keep the accompaniment going. I
call these “pinch” patterns because there is a
pinching motion between your thumb and
your middle or ring fingers.
Fig. 5 is a variation
on the forward roll, but here we add an
additional note in order to practice moving
our fingers in specific groupings.
or download example audio
or download example audio
Once we have some basic patterns down,
we can move on to different string sets with
a position-based system that will keep your
fingers in an orderly arrangement. Using a
simple E chord, I have demonstrated the
three positions in
Fig. 6. In the first measure,
we use
i–m–a on strings 3–1. Think of
this as position 1. We move that group of
fingers to strings 4–2 in the second measure
for position 2, and finally we shift to strings
5–3 for position 3. Try some arpeggios
with these positions and practice moving
between them.
or download example audio
Let’s try some finger substitutions with
the picking hand so you can begin to see
when and where these opportunities arise.
The most basic example I can think of,
which appears in some fashion in nearly
every tune I encounter, is shown in
Fig.
7. Essentially, when you have two or more
notes on the same string you can “borrow” a
finger to help out. When I am moving from
the 2nd string to the 1st string, I start with
m–i and then use a on the 1st string. When
going the other direction, I use
m–a.
or download example audio
It’s that simple. This exercise should
demonstrate that each finger can stay close
to its home base. Just to test the theory,
try plucking with the same finger twice in
a row, pick up speed, and watch, or better
yet,
feel what happens. This method can
be done with any chord, on any groups of
strings, in any tuning, and with any style
of music.
When learning a new piece, I often refer
to my approach as tapping, clapping, and
mapping. It’s a method of first tapping out
the rhythms on a table using a metronome
as my guide, then clapping the rhythm
with my hands, and finally mapping out
the intended choice of fingerings for both
hands. Similar to programming a computer,
my hands now seem to know what to do
automatically. As you polish up your fingerpicking
engine, always inspect each measure,
one at a time, to make sure no details
have been missed. That is what separates the
good pickers from the great ones.
Richard Gilewitz
Once touted as one of the strangest men in
acoustic music, fingerstyle guitarist Richard
Gilewitz lives up to this depiction with his rousing
performances filled with amazing chops,
humor, and a history of the acoustic guitar
from blues to folk, traditional to classical, and
all points in between. For more information,
visit
richardgilewitz.com.