Fingerstyle Guitar: Fingerpicking, Travis Picking, Independent Thumb
Fingerstyle is playing with the fingers so that bass, chord, and melody sound at the same time. Start with placing the picking-hand fingers and the first five fingerpicking patterns, then make the thumb independent.
After that comes playing bass and melody together and Travis picking. Work through the patterns slowly with a metronome and pick the chords for them in the Riffonic chord trainer.
Fingerstyle & Acoustic
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How to Learn Fingerstyle Guitar
Which finger covers which string, which pattern to start with, and why evenness matters more than speed from day one.
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How to Make Your Thumb Independent
Why the thumb drifts along with the other fingers, and how to train it to hold its own separate rhythm.
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How to Play Bass and Melody at the Same Time
Why it's not about doing two things simultaneously, but about training each part separately to automatic before combining them.
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How to Play Travis Picking
What the classic Travis pattern is built from, and why it's impossible without an independent thumb trained ahead of time.
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How to Fingerpick: The First 5 Patterns for Beginners
Five concrete right-hand picking patterns over a held chord - from the simplest to slightly syncopated.
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How to Position Your Picking-Hand Fingers for Fingerstyle
The basic PIMA layout and three common hand-placement mistakes that interfere with clean fingerstyle.
Try it in practice
Open chord trainer