- Hey, I'm Nate Savage and I wanna show you
six really simple exercises to start getting
your coordination for fingerstyle guitar today.
Okay the first one, and this where you need to start
if you want to get into fingerstyle guitar,
is just being able to hit
accurate bass notes with your thumb.
And I have a thumb pick on,
but I don't always use a thumb pick,
sometimes I just use my finger.
It's really up to you and what you wanna do.
But just being able to consistently hit
an A string or an E string, whichever one you want,
just a single bass note is really the first step
to getting into fingerstyle guitar.
That's gonna save you a lot of headache and frustration
if you really spend the time to get there
your accuracy up with your thumb.
So that's the first little pattern or thing
you need to build for coordination for fingerstyle.
The second thing, is to get to where you can alternate
between bass notes.
And you should only do this after you spend some time
on working on your aim with your thumb
on single notes.
And it may take a week or a month.
It really depends on ho much you put in the work on this.
But the more time you put in with this, the better.
So maybe just alternate between your A and D strings,
and get really accurate at that.
Make this part of your daily routine
if you want to get into fingerstyle.
And then maybe just alternate between E and A.
But normally I have my heel of my hand
planted right here on the guitar.
And maybe my fingers are touching the top of the guitar,
the high strings just to keep track of where I am.
It's a bit easier that way.
But also if I'm doing classical guitar,
my hand can be floating.
It doesn't really matter, just depends what you want
to do for yourself and which way you want to develop this,
but that's really the first two steps.
Step number three throws in the fingers,
and what you're gonna do is just play quarter notes
with your thumb on any string.
I'm gonna use a C chord for the rest of this lesson.
So, I'm gonna be playing the lowest note of that C chord,
the lowest root note of that C chord with my thumb,
and then my top three strings
I'm gonna get with my first, second, and third fingers.
And that's gonna be kinda the formula
for all the chords I play throughout this particular lesson.
So, all you're gonna do is play quarter notes
with your thumb, one, two, three, four.
But you're also gonna throw in your fingers
on just beat one.
So one, two, three, four.
One, two, three, four.
And this is where the first two little things
that we went over are gonna come in very handy,
and you're gonna see why it's so critical
if you can't that A string,
really accurately, you're gonna have a hard time
playing this exercise.
And again, one thing that helps me
is planting my wrist right here on the bridge.
If I'm using a thumb pick,
or I'm not using the thumb pick,
and doing more classical style,
then just being aware and really training my body
of where that A string is and building that coordination
to kind of pinch...
with my thumb and my fingers at the same time.
So you're just building your coordination
that's really necessary for fingerstyle guitar.
And you can apply this to any chord progression you like.
I'm gonna play a C, F, and a G.
You probably noticed that my bass note changed.
I changed to the low E string on the F and G chord,
because I'm sticking with my kind of rule that I said,
"play the lowest root of whatever chord you're playing."
So, on the E string, first fret when you're playing an F,
still playing the top three strings with my three fingers.
And then when I change to a G, playing the low E string,
that low G root note.
It can be any chord progression you want.
This is a really good one to get down,
super common key to play in,
when you're playing fingerstyle stuff, the C
and that's a super common chord progression to use,
C, F,
and G.
Our next example takes our coordination a little bit further
and just alternates between the thumb and the fingers.
It's kind of the same we did earlier.
Guess it's easier to show you than to
actually talk about it so I'll just do this.
So, thumb on the low A string, with a C chord,
and then fingers on the top three strings.
And if you need to spend time being able to get
where you can play all three strings
on top with your fingers, just do that.
Then put a C chord on and just alternate
between that low bass note, thumb, fingers,
thumb, fingers.
And I'm muting the low E string with my thumb,
just to make sure I don't accidentally hit it.
But that's the coordination you wanna work on,
but very slow at first.
And you'll notice every time my thumb goes down,
my fingers go out to prepare.
And every time my fingers play the top strings,
my thumb comes back to prepare
on that A string.
So you get this kind of give and take going here
with your fingers and thumb.
But once you get that down with one chord,
then you can put it in the chord progression
like the C-F-G.
Okay I should mention this at this point,
this video, going through this if you're new to fingerstyle,
might take you literally weeks or even months.
Probably more like months if you're new to it,
because it's a lot of coordination to build
if you're new to it.
The next little pattern we have,
is kinda the same as the last one,
but instead of just having one bass note
for that C chord,
what we're gonna do is start alternating bass.
So from the fifth string,
to the fourth string.
Or the A string to the D string.
So, thumb, fingers, switch strings on your thumb,
thumb, fingers.
And this is why getting that alternating bass
down like first step is the most important thing.
The more time you spend on that,
the easier the rest of this, these examples will be.
But just spend time doing that, as slow as you need to.
And if you need to take a couple weeks,
to work on this pattern that's totally fine.
Once you get it down with one chord,
then you can start trying to do any progression.
For example, the C-F-G that we have.
Alright this last little coordination building
exercise for fingerstyle,
kind of works a different part of your brain
because there's some syncopation involved with your fingers.
Let me show you what I mean.
Alright the foundation for this one, this pattern
is just quarter notes with your thumb,
on that low C note.
One, two, three, four.
Let me slow that down a little bit.
One, two, three, four.
Then you're gonna grab the top three strings
on the one as well.
One, two,
and then on the 'and' of two,
you're gonna the strings, top three strings again
with your fingers.
And then keep...
Your bass going.
So, one, two-and, three, four.
One, two-and, three, four.
So, you're on the beat with all thumbs and fingers for one.
One, two, and then you had the syncopated feel
on the 'and' of two with your fingers.
Which, again it kind of engages a different part
of your brain so go really slow.
One, two-and, three, four.
And this one might take you a while to get down,
totally fine, just work consistently on it
over the following months.
And when you get it for one chord,
put it in your progression C-F-G.
Make sure to get the bass notes
changing when the different chords come around.
So those are some great coordinations
to build with fingerstyle guitar.
And again, if you're new to this,
spend a lot of time on the first two.
The single bass notes, and the alternating bass notes.
Let me know what you're having trouble with
in the comments, and let me know how long
you've been playing fingerstyle guitar below.
See you later.
(acoustic guitar music)