Home
Creators
Search Recent Random
Posts
Search DMs Popular Hash Lookup Tags Random
Importer
Import FAQ
Register Favorites Keys Review DMs Logout
Community
Telegram ThePornDude
Home Creators Posts Import Register Favorites Logout

10 Essential Fingerstyle Picking Patterns (Patreon)

Published:
2021-02-05 15:29:22
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

Downloads

Content

Hello patrons! Hope you're all doing okay. Today, an epic beginner's fingerstyle lesson (there's also some slightly more advanced material towards the end). The idea here is to look at  all of the most commonly used picking patterns in folk/blues playing. Learn them, and you'll set yourself up to be able to tackle any number of famous fingerstlye songs. Here's the link - 

https://youtu.be/_zsTA6wKd7A

There's a lot of information in this video, so it might be one to bookmark and slowly work your way through over a period of weeks or months. Everything is notated and tabbed below. Hope this inspires some of you to give this wonderful style of playing a try. 

Have a great week. Speak next Friday,

Adrian

Comments

swirly12

Thanks! What songs/ artists do you recommend learning to really drill down into this style?

anyonecanplayguitar

Hi Lewis - obvious names which spring to mind - Dylan, White album era Beatles, Paul Simon. Perhaps also some of the people I've covered in my videos in the past - Bert Jansch, Nick Drake. Mississippi John Hurt would be good to look at at the bluesier end of the spectrum. I might try and look at a few beginner friendly fingerstyle songs later this year. Hope that helps.

Christopher Guempel

how provident, yesterday I was trying to learn fingerpicking stuff

Chris Maddox

Lovely stuff Adrian. Yet another set of arrows for the quiver. Many thanks!

Boomer Dell

"...in typical YouTube style, I have a Top Ten..." -- always love your dry sense of humor, Adrian!

Jeff Sims

Excellent lesson as usual. I need to point out that a lot of us (well me anyway, but I doubt I'm the only one) can't fret an F chord using our thumbs. Having to use the proper barre shape makes finger style about 100 x harder when an F chord is involved, to the point where a beginner level chord progression becomes not really beginner level. My favourite work around is to drop the tuning half a step and use a capo on the first fret. It lowers the action enough to make the dreaded F major a lot easier.

Scott Rees

Love it. What a great detailed run through. We all start hearing these patterns in songs. I recognized Pattern 7 especially as recently worked out 5 Days In May by Blue Rodeo (Canadian content.) Also tried each time thumb hits the 4th string to make it a light strum on strings 4, 3 maybe 2. As you noted, variations, mix & match. Thank you, it's something completely different for me.

SandChannel

My thumb can mute the low string, but fretting it causes me to mute the high strings. I have a hitchhiker thumb that bends back the wrong way - broke too many times playing rugby!

J.R.

This is a great idea, Jeff. Can't believe I never thought of it. Short fingers of the world unite and take over!!!

anyonecanplayguitar

Yes, the old thumb over the top F is difficult for many people. Like the capo idea. If playing the F that wayreally is impossible I 'd recommend ditching the low E altogether and just playing a 5th in bass F/C - X33211

anyonecanplayguitar

Yes, good timing! Best of luck learning to fingerpick, hope you find this video helpful.

anyonecanplayguitar

Thanks Boomer, glad someone appreciates my not always great attempts at humour!

anyonecanplayguitar

Thanks Scott. Yes, I think once you've learned these patterns you'll start hearing them everywhere. There's probably another video to made on combining these patterns with strums or brushes on the higher strings, that can be a great sounding technique.

Anthony O.

Just joined the patreon, excited to get started. Newbie question: what is the .gp file for and what does it contain?

Boomer Dell

Never change, my Brother! :)

Rajesh magan

This was a fantastic lesson. I have just started playing the guitar again after years of messing about with it. I have been working on a practice routine and there is so much in this video to use. Thanks so much for this. Please keep the beginner lessons going. You are a great teacher.

Chris Kueny

Anthony, they're Guitar Pro files. Adrian or someone else can tell you more. I've opened them with a free Guitar Pro app on my iPhone that plays the tune (in a very tinny electronic sound) and shows the music scrolling by. The full version of Guitar Pro I've never used but is a full featured app for creating notation, etc. Someone else might have a more informed answer. I've still never gotten in the habit of using these. Maybe if I was using them on something bigger than a phone...

Chris Kueny

Nice lesson Adrian, thanks! I'll use this. And on an unrelated note, you might already know this but I heard Eric Haugen give you a plug in his latest lesson which was on basics of music theory. I think he was talking about scales and he mentioned some channels by people including you who knew what they were doing and were worth learning from.

anyonecanplayguitar

Yes, thanks for that Chris. Guitar Pro is basically tab writing and editing software. My tab is always exactly the same as the PDF but some people find Guitar Pro a useful practice tool - you can change the speed, isolate difficult bits, check rhythms etc. You need to pay for the official app (think they offer a free trial), but there are quite a few freeware alternatives.

anyonecanplayguitar

Ahh, that's very nice of him to do that. I am a big fan of his videos but I don't watch every single one. I shall have to reciprocate at some point. We have talked about a possible collaboration video at some point. Maybe that will happen later this year.

anyonecanplayguitar

Thanks Rajesh, glad you liked this lesson! Yes, I'll certainly try and keep the more beginner-friendly lessons coming. I think my audience has quite a wide range of different playing abilities so I'll always try and cover a good mix of levels and styles.

Chris Kueny

I actually only watch his intermittently myself. Although the qualities are clear, some of them are pitched a bit fast for me, and his style doesn't quite click with me in the same way that yours do. But (for anyone else reading this) he does have some great material, and I should probably dig around some more through his huge collection. No doubt there's material that bewildered me once that I might tackle now.

Steve G.

Alot of different playing styles here, I realize that the term "fingerstyle" can mean so many different styles, from the "pure" folkies of the Weavers/ PeterPaul Mary tree, to other stuff including fingepicking. I'd like to learn the patterns, but also want to get behind whatever you'd call the Neil Young acoustic style--whether or not he is using alternate tuning, it's a very melodic yet percussive style, with hand palming, that augments the tune and for most part sounds like none of these patterns. Or maybe I've got that wrong. What's the "category" for Neil's acoustic stylings, is it a fingerstyle...to me, it's very inventive, I'd be interested in your thoughts on playing / approaching tunes, Neil style... (I know Neil always said his favorite acoustic player was Bert Jansch, whom he invited to open for him during a 2010 solo acoustic tour and Bert played a few months but became ill and passed in 2011).

anyonecanplayguitar

Hi Steve. Yes, the NY acoustic style is fascinating. I might well try and do a proper lesson looking into it. Certainly lots to talk about. I might be wrong, but you don't often hear Neil using these kinds of patterns - he might occasionally, but often tends to do things his own way. Quite often plays acoustic with a pick, or with pick and fingers I think. But very rhythmic and inventive. I will definitely think about a NY acoustic style lesson. Think a lot of people would find that interesting.