Hey there, if you're new here I'm Tomas from realguitarsuccess.com
and this is my day 10 of my 30-day guitar coaching challenge. It is a
challenge for me and a coaching for you. I don't think it would be too revealing
to tell you this has been quite a ride sort of both exhausting and
exhilarating. I guess not unlike a roller coaster ride. As part of my challenge,
I shaved on day one and I'm going to let my beard grow for all 30 days.
What do you think? So far we've got 20 days left. Let's see what happens.
Today's video is from a request for some finger picking exercises
so I really thought this out and I put together
actually 6 exercises but on this video there's going to be 3 because I'm
going to have a part 2. I didn't want to overwhelm you the first time around.
These are my best exercises and they're in the order
of difficulty so one kind of feeds to the other.
Even if you think you already know how to finger pick I encourage you to watch
through all the exercises and maybe even practice through them
even if you think it's easy because it's the subtleties that I
include in there that'll really make the difference in the long run.
My goal is to get you to where you can finger pick smooth
quickly and with ease without strain or struggle.
So if you haven't already get your guitar out, this is an
interactive video and let's get started. This is part one of a two part
series. Now I'm going to show you the chords to start off. We're going to use
the same 2 chords for each of the exercises.
So from this point on, we won't have to go through each of the chords every time.
Let's start off with a basic G chord. I'm going to use a 4 finger G.
It'll make more sense as we get going with the exercises
so it looks like this. I've got my pinky and third fingers together on the
third fret of the second and first strings. Then the first finger
stretches over to the fifth string second fret
and the second finger onto the sixth string third fret.
So make sure you can play that chord. Try that a few times. If this is old stuff, we
can just keep moving on. Now we're going to the next chord. I'm
going to use 2 chords. The C chord. I'm going to go right from
this G chord. Let me show you. I'm just gonna move my second finger
over one string to the fifth and first finger over to the fourth
string. Now I've got the first finger on the second fret of the fourth string
and second finger on the fifth string third fret. Pinky and the third finger
stay right where they are. So I call this C but it's really a Cadd
2 or add9. One in the same
kind of a cool chord. We're gonna stick to just these 2 chords
so I can concentrate on the right hand. Okay we're ready for the first exercise.
Let me just give you a little heads up. This exercise
is not complicated but it is the foundation
of everything that we're going to do but it's also the foundation of good
fingerpicking guitar. What you want to do is practice this
exercise even if you think you know it. It's not a matter of
intellectually knowing it. It's a matter of
making it a part of you that means paying attention to the details and
relaxing at the same time to where it becomes fluent and natural. Let me show
it to you first.
So yeah everybody's heard that pattern. It's a basic arpeggio pattern.
I call it the bass note arpeggio exercise. No mystery there.
You're going to put your thumb to make a bass note and then your
first 3 fingers to make the other three notes. We're using the first finger
on the third string. From this point on, I'm
going to use numbers to explain the pattern itself and when I
say numbers I mean the numbers of the string. So the fixed string
is the sixth string and the high E is the first string.
So I can say 6 3 2 1 - makes it very easy to explain the
pattern. By the way, I'm always using my thumb for
the bass note. First finger is going to stay on this third string.
Second finger on the second string and third finger on the right hand
on the first string so that's the basic chord. Go ahead and just
play that for me so we're together on this. Thumb on the sixth string,
all together. Got it? One more.
Now what I want your thumb to do is to aim towards
going down. It doesn't have to be perfect, right? But as opposed to
yanking it out like this, I have slight nails from the way I play my guitar. You
don't need nails. It'll just be a little softer sound.
Thumb down and first finger goes into your palm, second finger and third
finger. Now did you notice my hand didn't yank
out? That's a habit you want to develop not doing this rather pulling your
fingers in so your hands right ready to go back to
the next picking. You see when you yank out you
got to get back there.
I'm exaggerating of course but even a little bit makes it a little harder to
play smooth and fast. So I'm setting you up to be able to play
a nice quick fast fingerpicking pattern that's
relaxed without a lot of strain and so we're going to get these little
habits right from the beginning and that's the main purpose of this first
fingerpicking exercise. Is it's simple enough
to really focus on getting everything just right and
working on a little by little till it becomes a habit. If I gave you something
more complicated from the beginning not only would you miss out on a simple
but very useful pattern but you'd be focusing on the
technicalities of the exercise and not on
getting it right and relaxing. So let's do this together once.
It's gonna go base 3 2 1. Remember I'm going to call it
the strings. Let's do it together. First perch your hand on the strings
and let's do it - base, sixth string 3 2 1. Let's do it again -
6 3 2 1 again 6 3 2
1. Okay, very good. Now let's switch to the next chord.
Remember we just got to move the first and second fingers over one string.
Now the thumb goes to the fifth string that's the bass note. C bass note.
Perch. Play. Thumb 3 2 1. I'll keep the top strings
the same - 5 3 2 1.
We're gonna do each one 4x. Let's try it.
Ready go - 6 3 2 1 6
3 that's 2 6 3. Again. Stay relaxed.
It's okay to stop and shake it off if you get too tense. Oh I get a little
excited there. Okay, next chord go - 5 3
2 1. Again.
Okay, so even the simple pattern sounds good when it's smooth
and relaxed. That's a little you know slow but it still sounds good faster.
And a lot of famous guitar players have used just that basic pattern.
Okay so practice that and I'm going to show you the next
exercise which builds on this one. Exercise number 2.
For this exercise we're going to use the same chords . We're going to use that 4
finger G, 4 finger C and the basic same hand
position, the right hand. By the way, on the right hand sometimes I
find if I twist my hand a little bit this way it's
a little easier instead of straight up and down. Of
course too much angle this way. You have to find your own
place and I've seen some people play really up and down works for them
and some people more like this but for me it's kind of in between.
Experiment with that a little bit and see if one feels less strenuous than
another or rather what degree feels less
strenuous. It's probably a degree from straight up and down to kind of angled
like this somewhere in between. So let's do this. Exercise number 2.
We're going to hit the bass note and then three notes like we did but now
we're going to alternate the bass note.
So you can get another chance to practice a nice smooth arpeggio
without yanking your hand out and bringing your fingers and your palm and
thumb basically on more down than out
not exactly like that but you know not like that.
Then we'll add this alternating bass note. We'll start with a
first base note that we already know and we're going to add for the G
chord the fourth string which is a D note by the way.
So it's going to be like this, just do that with me so
we're on the same page. So go ahead and hit that G note
that's the sixth string. Now the fourth string,
right. Got a G chord again 6 4 so go back to numbers 6
4. If this is new for you that's not a bad thing to warm up by just
practicing this getting a nice round bass note.
Now let's go ahead and do that on the C chord. Move your fingers over to the C
chord, left hand. Hit the fifth string for the bass note
and the alternate is going to be on the fourth string.
It's not the same as it was before because I got my first finger there.
Again fifth string 4 5 4.
Okay I think we're ready to try this. Put your hand.
Let me show you what we're gonna aim at. Bass note and then the arpeggio,
you know that then the alternate bass note
and then repeat. Let's try it. Here we go 1
2 ready, hit it - 6 3 2 1
4 3 2 1 6 3 2 1
4. Now to the C chord, now 5
and 4 5
4
Okay, I think you're ready to go practice that now. Time for exercise number 3.
Okay, we're up in the any again same chords same.
Bass note pattern or the thumb is going to do an alternating bass
note but we're going to change up the melody a little bit or the higher notes.
Let me give you a quick demonstration what we're aiming after.
Okay so now you can see there's a little alternating going on on both sides - the
base and the melody notes. Let's break it down.
Go ahead and make your G chord. Thumb goes down on 6 pluck 6 now
2 and then the thumb goes to 4 and 1. Now here's something to watch
for. What I just did is fine. I used my second
finger for the second string and third finger for the first string, right?
Like we've been doing but for this pattern
I tend to use my second string for both. Why?
Because I know something else is coming later on in part 2
where that's going to be a benefit so it's not critical
but I suggest that in this pattern use your second finger for both strings as
you alternate. Let's do it again 6 2
4 1. See I move my second finger on the right hand.
Again 6 2 4 1. Again 6
2 4 1. One more time 6 2
4 1. Now move over to the C chord. Uh yes!
Fingers getting sore yet? So get it shake it out. I can feel the dance huh.
Okay back to work. Here we go 5 2 4 1
and I move my second finger over again. Again 5
2 4 1 5 2 4
1. One more time - 5 2 4 and 1. Let's try this together
more evenly and slow. Don't worry if you don't get it.
It's meant to just kind of give you something to aim for and then you're
going to practice it of course. Here we go. Ready, chord good
perch stand. Here we go 6 2 4 1
6 2 4 1 -6 2 4 1 -6 2
4 1 - 6 2 4 1and one. Now I'm gonna change
over to the C. Now 5 2 4
1 5 2 4 1 2 more
2 4 1 5 2 41 and shake it out.
Good work. So how'd you do? If you don't have them perfect yet or
if you're finding you're struggling with them this is really normal. These are
exercises. If they weren't difficult, you wouldn't need them and if you do
find them easy I'd ask you to at least be
open to see if you can get some value out of them particularly
because I found that a lot of people kind of brush over some of the
subtleties, just a thought. This is part 1. Keep an
eye out for part 2 and I'll give you a quick little
sample of where this is all heading.
Thanks for hanging out with me today. If there's some videos that you'd like to
see me make please let me know in the comments. I've still got spaces for
new ideas in this 30-day challenge so I'd love to hear from you
and I'm curious. Do you find this helpful? Do you find it too easy?
Or would you like something more challenging? I'd like to know kind of how
this fits with people who are watching the videos and
if you do find it too easy let me know what kinds of finger picking
you would like to learn. I hope to see you in tomorrow's video.
Bye for now.