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Joined:
September 2006
Posts: 10777
Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | No, Really.
I've been play with a pick, since... Well, I learned with a pick in the seventies. And I have been plying with a pick daily since I got my first O in 2006.
So I am sitting here trying to do a folksy kind of thumb bass line, and up-strum/pick with the rest of my fingers...
I'm glad I cut the fingernails on my left hand, cuz while I am concentrating on my right hand, I am squeezing the neck like I wanna choke something.
Now my left wrist hurts. You'd figure that my Right hand would hurt from learning something new with it
[When I do my little finger picking Stairway to Heaven thing, my left foot toes all curl-up... But that is not keeping a rhythm.]
I was just keeping a rhythm with some country folk songs on NPR... Lonesome coal-miner type songs. Just keeping time with some open chords. I understand that this is a reaction to me doing something that my muscle-memory isn't used to doing, and I am hoping that this will pass.
I really gotta/wanna learn this. So I plan on putting a real effort into this, cuz there is only so far I can go with Cowboy Chords and a pick.
So... Any Advice? :cool: |
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Joined:
February 2004
Posts: 2487
| Ohh man don't say it.............I know a few of you are thinking it................
I'll say good luck finger picking should be learned correctly. I am pretty good but I picked up bad habits years ago that are tough to break and they limit my speed and mechanical dexterity. You can really do this wrong if you don't have a little guidance first. If you just want to pick a little and learna song or two, then go for it, it's mostly muscle memory exercises anyway. |
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Joined:
April 2008
Posts: 2985
Location: Sydney, Australia | The key to finger picking is relaxing. Finger picking also exposes any slack chording, which is why your left hand hurts. It's easy to over-pressure your chords to make sure nothing buzzes. Also very important to make sure none of the left fingers brushes against a string it's not supposed to touch.
My first suggestion: Practice with very easy chords only (at first) so you don't have to over worry about keeping the chord clean. This is why 1 3/4" necks are popular with finger pickers. Maybe even use super basic chords such as the four string G which only requires one string to be fretted.
Second suggestion: Relax everything. Watch your right hand pinky - if your hand is tense it will tend to rise up.
Do it really slowly and focus on a simple picking pattern. I think the best pattern for learning is the p i m a (thumb, first finger, second finger, ring finger) which goes well with most 4/4 stuff.
Better to learn it relaxed and increase the speed later - as Northcountry pointed out it's a lot harder to change a bad habit than it is to learn the right one in the first place. If you go too fast, you will automatically get tense. Time spent going slowly now will pay off later.
A good "learn how to finger pick" book can be helpful too. I've got one and it was very helpful. |
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Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 12761
Location: Boise, Idaho | Get a Pete Huttlinger dvd. He has 2 instructional dvds and several that show you how to play Jim Croce or John Denver. The one I have is fingerstyle exercises. If you do his 12 exercises every day you'll be fantastic in no time. |
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Joined:
September 2006
Posts: 10777
Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | Bad Habits? HA! :p
When I bought my cheapie-strat, it came with a lesson DVD and a link to a site.
The teachers told you to avoid bad habits, cuz once you acquire them they are hard to break.
I learned guitar in pot circles in the seventies.
All I KNOW is bad habits... but I have modified them alot in the last coupla years.
OH! That Pete Huttlinger |
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Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 15682
Location: SoCal | Take up golf instead. It's less frustrating for more socially acceptable...... |
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Joined:
July 2005
Posts: 3411
Location: GA USA | OMA, I've never been a fingerstyle player. Now I practice it every day. Just one more thing I am picking up from workshoplive.com
There are good lessons there from beginner on up. |
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Joined:
January 2006
Posts: 1132
Location: NW Washington State | Artur, if you've still got a VHS player, I can loan you some tapes to get you started. Like most instructional materials, they didn't have much effect on me, but they're interesting to watch.
-Steve W. |
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Joined:
April 2007
Posts: 318
Location: Slightly northwest of Trader Jim | Trust your left hand( Luke ,,,feel the force)it's there. now think about the right. I was a finger picker(and still am) and had a hell of a time trying to flat pick,I just started to play strumming songs now my wife say's I don't sound to bad.Don't try to get any volume, cause you won't,it'll just make you pick harder,which will make you squeeze harder with your left. By the way the first song I thought I had to learn was "dust in the wind". |
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Joined:
September 2006
Posts: 10777
Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | No... "Dreamboat Annie/Crazy on You" intro...
I ain't quite worried about volume... My guitars Plug-In! (well, most of them)
So I do a sorta appregio version of Dust in the Wind...
Is that a Hard song to pick, cuz it is on my list.
BTW-- The first song that I decided that I had to learn when I got that Strat was "Wish You Were Here"...
And not "Stairway to Heaven" like everyone else! :D |
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Joined:
April 2008
Posts: 2985
Location: Sydney, Australia | Dust in the Wind is far easier than Crazy on You intro. I reckon I could nail Dust in the wind in a week or so (I've briefly tinkered with it in the past). I've been working hard on Crazy on You for about 4 months now and can do a knockabout version at about 50% speed, with some mistakes! I haven't looked at Dreamboat Annie, trying to keep my learning to a few manageable tasks at the moment.
You want to get some success under your belt first - go for Dust in the Wind. Or, for something that sounds way harder than it actually is, 59th St Bridge Song, is a walk in the park. You can simplify the chords down to the actual notes that are played, making it something that is easy to finger and easy to pick. If you want to go that way, let me know and I'll make a quick video of the fingering and put it up on the "other" OFC site. |
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Joined:
December 2003
Posts: 13997
Location: Upper Left USA | City of New Orleans
Helplessly Hoping
Peaceful, Easy Feeling
Midnight Special
Frieght Train
The Boxer... |
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Joined:
January 2007
Posts: 672
Location: New South Wales, Australia | My little piece of advice doesn't go into the technicalities of hand position and grip pressure etc etc.
What I would say Arthur, is to persevere with it. I attempted to become a finger picker a few years ago. I threw away all my plectrums, determined that I was going to practice nothing but fingerpicking for at least 12 months. Two months later I threw away the thumb pick and went back to the plectrum.
I can do bad versions of Blackbird, Freight Train, Dust in the Wind and a few others but I didn't stick at it.....no excuses really..just my general laziness.
So don't give up and good luck |
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Joined:
September 2006
Posts: 10777
Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | I actually bought a set of finger-and-thumb picks awhile ago. Even though they we size L, they feel too small. So I don't use them, they just reside in my pick bowl. I am just using my fingers.
I just try to pick out House Of The Rising Sun with my fingers instead of appregio. And Free Bird.
But there are songs that I would like to do that need to be finger picked.
Not just done easy/sleazy with a pick.
Yeah... Like I said (and you said) it is just Hard. |
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Joined:
January 2007
Posts: 672
Location: New South Wales, Australia | I just went with the thumb pick but it always seemed too tight..like it was going to cut off the blood supply to my thumb...and I don't have real big fingers.
If i fingerpick now it's fingers only for me. |
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Joined:
April 2008
Posts: 2985
Location: Sydney, Australia | Fingers only for me. The thumbpick and finger picks are not necessary when you can plug in to get extra volume. I think fingers make a nicer sound and give more "feel" which helps keep you on the right string. |
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Joined:
August 2003
Posts: 4619
Location: SoCal | The finger picks can be enlarged with a little hot water from the tap and a form to bend them.
Best were the old Nationals, don't like the Dunlop as they curve too much to the finger. As I can't find the Nationals anymore, I have used pliars to flatten the pick...mediocre result but workable.
In the early '80's in Lake Oswego, used to play the 1158 Custom Legend slothead 12-string with 3-4 Martin 6-string guitars...thumb and finger picks created a very clear and boisterous voice...had to be careful not to blow out the wood box 6-strings.
12-string is often a supportive instrument able to play unique parts (5th and 7th frets) and the picks allowed you to create a very clear sound for a banjo or mandolin part. Even had fun with a couple of songs using the metal finger picks.
I don't really see a need for more than a thumb pick if a 6-string.
I have seen some use the 5th finger in the picking pattern or planted...usually, it is the tumb and first three fingers. |
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Joined:
May 2005
Posts: 486
Location: North Carolina | I use thumb and first two, but then I taught myself by watching a banjo player. I use a plastic thumbpick and brass fingerpicks. I also anchor with my pinky, They say you shouldn't do this, but I can't change now after forty plus years, and I don't notice any difference in tone with/without.
I've read that many Nashville session guys use a flatpick plus one finger to get the finger picking effect. You might want to consider this. |
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Joined:
October 2007
Posts: 2711
Location: Vernon CT | I guess I was one of the lucky ones. Basic fingerpicking came real easy/natually to me. Don't know why, but it just felt right. Stay relaxed in you picking hand and try not to use your pinky as an anchor.Trust your 'Fretting" hand and take it slow in the begginning. In some ways you are relearning guitar playing. so don't get frustrated.
Good Luck!! |
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Joined:
December 2006
Posts: 6268
Location: Florida Central Gulf Coast | I wish I could use a pick/plectrum. :( |
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Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 12761
Location: Boise, Idaho | Don't be afraid of that Pete Huttlinger. His instructional videos are very simple and easy to follow.
Back in the day I picked up Dreamboat Annie while listening to the record. I was much faster then. Crazy on You is way harder, but there's a kid on YouTube that does very good job of explaining it in 3 parts.
Once you get your right hand going, you'll go back to being impressed with those guys that can use a pick for those electric solos. |
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Joined:
March 2008
Posts: 2683
Location: Hot Springs, S.D. | I started finger-picking the day I got my guitar. It might help to start with thumb and two fingers. Assign your middle finger to the first string, your index finger to the second string, and let your thumb take care of the rest. Now, instead of chords, try picking out a simple melody, one note at a time. DO NOT look at your right hand! For some reason, 99% of the time, if you are looking at whatever note you are playing on your left hand, the right hand will pick that string. Trust me.
Now, after you've done that for a while, try a few chords. Hit the bass string with your thumb, followed by index then middle. Then hit the third string with your thumb followed by middle, then index. Now you've got six notes to this "pattern". Repeat, repeat, repeat. This will get your fingers used to picking, and YOU used to NOT LOOKING AT YOUR RIGHT HAND.
OK, now your fingers realize maybe they can do this. What you should try now is, go back to that simple melody you worked on, and try adding the chords. Make the melody note the highest note you pick. Make sure you get the bass note in there, and let your fingers and thumb fill in the spaces with random notes from the rest of the chord. You will find that none of the notes are wrong, but some sound better than others. When you find a pattern that sounds good to you, study it and then repeat it over and over again. Muscle memory will kick in. When you think you're getting it, then all of a sudden you CAN'T do it ("Man! I just HAD it, and now I can't do it at all!") put the guitar down and go do something else for 20 minutes. When you come back, you'll be able to do it without thinking about it.
I suggest this random picking because if you try learning a specific song, your fingers will learn that pattern and get stuck there. With this method, you are teaching your fingers that there are lots of notes to choose from, and they will like that freedom. Eventually you can add a finger, and even your pinky, but there will still be some songs where the extra fingers get in the way and slow you down. If you can get to South Dakota, I'd love to give you a few lessons. |
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I have finally decided to learn finger picking, any advice?
