Fingerstyle Blues Guitar Lessons

The majority of the music presented here is traditionally played on steel-string acoustic as opposed to nylon. The goal when buying any guitar is to get the best instrument for the best value. If money is no object, well, good for you! For the rest of us though, price is something to take into consideration.

here are no hard fast rules about how to maintain your nails but there are some things you should be aware of.

There are at least two schools of thought, or should I say technique, when it comes to hand positions.

Once you have established or at least understand the basic technical rudiments, you’re on your way to independence. The next step is to forget everything. You should be able to enjoy listening to what you are creating and not worrying about where your thumb is...

There is a lot of depth in the silence between the notes. Don’t overplay. You don’t need to emphasize every note of every song, just some notes play themselves. A strong rhythm hides a multitude of sins.

Try to imagine the tonal differences between the wing flaps of a Sparrow and those of an Eagle. Quick, flighty and erratic or strong, confident and soaring.

You will quickly come to find the most important foundation is a solid rhythm. The focus of these first lessons is traditional roots style music, and if you break it down two distinct profiles begin to emerge, Travis style and Alternating Bass. Both are equally valid and invaluable in the proper situation.

Fingerpicking is not easy, it takes time and work to establish a solid technique. With that said, it’s also not as mystifying as it might first appear

When you first look at a piece of tablature, especially for fingerstyle, at first glance it looks like an impossible number of random notes that you somehow have to figure out a way to memorize.

This first pattern is demonstrated on the E major and A major chords, but as you’ll see it can be used over any chord combinations.