Tonys

FINGERPICKING
JUMPSTART
Go from zero to playing a song

This free 6 part beginner’s guide to playing fingerstyle

guitar is your gateway to being ready for Tony’s Acoustic
Challenge, the best place for fingerpickers & flatpickers to
build skills, repertoire, & the confidence to play for others.
Click here for more info.
1. Finger Familiarity and Technique (6 min)
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How to use your fingers when fingerpicking so you can

become familiar with the strings and hit the correct one
when playing. This lesson will familiarize your picking hand
fingers with the strings. You will learn the “golden rule” of
traditional fingerpicking, which finger is responsible for
which string, as well as learn how to read fingerpicking
notation on the tablature staff.

2. All Thumbs (10 min)

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How to use your thumb while fingerpicking so you can

maintain a steady rhythm over basic chords. Your thumb is
the rock that your oth tonypolecastro.com/free-fingerstyle-
acoustic er fingers will lean on when fingerpicking. This
lesson will show you how the thumb usually works when
fingerpicking in the traditional three finger style. Your thumb
will gain comfort in keeping a steady bass rhythm, as well
as get a feel for some commonly traveled paths over the
bass notes of some common chords.
3. Pinching Pyrotechnics (10 min)
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How to use your index and middle finger to pinch so you

can start adding higher notes to the steady bass pulse you
have developed. In this lesson you will gain the power to
add your index or middle finger to a thumb stroke so that
you can bring in higher notes for interest and ultimately, the
melody line of a song. This technique is at the heart of how
you begin to integrate the melody of a song into the bass all
at the same time.

4. Staggered Pinchers & Eighth Notes (13 min)

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How to stagger the quarter note pinch and introduce eighth

notes for rhythmic variety and the all important syncopation.
Introducing the staggered pinch (commonly referred to as
playing eighth notes) is the very thing that makes
fingerpicking sound so cool and catchy. This lesson will
show you how to use this technique to bring rhythmic
interest into your fingerpicking patterns as well as add that
signature sound of syncopation.
5: Mixed Note Values (9 min)
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How to mix up both the straight pinch and the staggered

pinch (quarter and eighth notes) so you can create your
own fingerpicking patterns. This lesson combines the
alternating bass line, as well as the staggered pinch, along
with the straight pinch to give you the power and authority
to create your own fingerpicking patterns. After this lesson
you will feel just as comfortable playing a series of quarter
notes as you do eighth notes… AND you will be able to mix
them up; transitioning from one to the other with ease.

6: Making the Chords Work For You (14 min)

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How to add notes to chords so that you can marry both the
bass line and melody line of a tune; the essence of
fingerpicking. In this final installment of the Fingerpicking
Jumpstart Course you will see what notes you can add to
the common chords C, F, and G so that when necessary
you can integrate melody notes. When you combine this
chord knowledge with the patterns you have learned, you
are officially a fingerpicker… in fact you are ready to take
on a song with your newly acquired technique.
Song Lesson: Freight Train by: Elizabeth Cotten
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How to use the skills you have developed in a real world

setting so that you can play the classic fingerpicking tune,
Freight Train. This song is a perfect match to put your newly
trained fingers to work. You will use your pinching
technique, supplement it with the chord additions you have
learned, to play through this must know fingerpicking song.
Once you have this song nailed, you have opened the door
to the world that is fingerpicking. Great job and a huge
congratulations for transforming your playing!!

____________

This free 6 part beginner’s guide to playing fingerstyle

guitar is your gateway to being ready for Tony’s Acoustic
Challenge, the best place for fingerpickers & flatpickers to
build skills, repertoire, & the confidence to play for others.
Click here for more info.