- Did you know that you can play guitar solos
without a pick?
In this lesson,
we'll be talking about using your finger picking skills
for lead guitar,
and I'll show you two ways that it's commonly done.
Changing your tone isn't all about amp settings.
Finger picking is a great way to expand your lead playing
by just changing the way that the notes are articulated.
Listen to this idea with a pick.
(guitar notes)
Now listen again as I use my fingers to play the same idea.
(guitar notes)
Could you hear the difference?
So, the first way I'm gonna show you
involves alternating between plucking down with your thumb
and then up with your middle finger,
so thumb and middle finger.
(guitar notes)
We're gonna practice this with a really simple lick
on just the high E string.
So, first just get the movement down with me.
I'm just goin' thumb, middle, thumb, middle,
think one and two and three and four and.
Let's add a couple of notes here.
Let's play third fret and fifth fret.
So, it's gonna go three, O, five, O, like this.
Three, O, five, O.
(guitar notes)
Just back and forth.
We're more concerned with picking with our fingers
than fancy notes.
(guitar notes)
Got it?
Let's practice it a few more times, okay?
I'll count you in.
One and two and three and four and one.
(guitar notes)
One and two and three and four and a few more times.
(guitar notes)
And one and two and three and four and.
This style is commonly used on electric guitar
because the movement simulates using a pick anyways
and also allows for easy palm muting.
One other thing that you could add to this is the snap,
where I'll take my middle finger
and literally put it underneath the string
(guitar note)
and pop up like that.
So, you just literally go underneath
(guitar note)
and yank it out,
which causes the string to ricochet against the fret board
for that unique sound or articulation.
Next we'll try alternating
between our index and middle fingers of our strumming hand.
So, in this case
(guitar notes)
this is the movement.
(guitar notes)
We'll add a couple notes in a second,
but I'm literally going index, middle, index, middle,
index, middle.
For added power, I'm using a technique called a rest stroke.
Rest stroke means that when I pluck my high E string,
I'm gonna follow through
and allow that finger to rest on the B string.
(guitar note)
I can get way more power than if I use a free stroke
and I just kinda try and avoid it.
Try that with me, so let's just go real slow,
just the open string.
Open.
(guitar notes)
Now, let's add a couple of notes to this.
So, instead of three and five let's try one and three.
So, we'll go one, O, three, O, one, O, three, O,
and constantly alternating
(guitar notes)
So, index, middle, index, middle, index, middle,
like that, okay?
Let's try that together a few times.
So, starting on the first fret of high E,
and you're gonna use your first finger
on your strumming hand to pluck that first note, okay?
One and two and three and four and.
(guitar notes)
And we're thinkin' one and two and three and four and.
Keep going.
(guitar notes)
And one more time.
(guitar notes)
Okay, I've tortured you enough.
So, this type of finger picking
is common from the classical tradition,
but it can allow for some really fast movement.
You'll see it used more often on acoustic guitar
than on electric guitar
because it's not as easy to palm mute this way.
Lead guitar finger picking
is a great way to personalize your playing.
It will give you a different tone than that of a pick
and it will create new playing options to experiment with.
Put those picks down and see what you can come up with.
See you next time.