Fingerpicking

Playing bass, chords and melody at the same time — with your hand rather than a pick.

Setting the hand up

Fingerpicking is less about speed than about the hand staying still. Get the position right and the patterns come quickly.

The finger names

Fingerstyle music labels the picking hand with four letters, from the Spanish. You will see them written above the notes.

Patterns to work through

In order of difficulty. Learn each one until your hand does it without you watching, then move on. Slowly and evenly beats fast and ragged, every time.

Styles worth knowing

Nails, flesh, or picks

Scales & shapes →

Practice routines →

Anchor the thumb behind, not over

The fretting thumb stays behind the neck. The picking thumb sits forward of the fingers, roughly over the bass strings, not tucked under the palm.

Give each finger a string

Thumb takes the three bass strings, index the G, middle the B, ring the top E. Keep to that and you will rarely need to look at your hand.

Keep the wrist relaxed and slightly arched

Imagine holding a small ball. A collapsed wrist buries the fingers in the strings; a locked one makes everything hard work.

Pull towards the palm, not away from the guitar

The motion comes from the knuckle. Fingers move in a small curl, not a flick upwards.

Rest the forearm, not the hand

Let the forearm sit on the body edge and keep the picking hand floating. Some players lightly plant the little finger on the top — it is a fair way to start, if you can drop it later.

Play it quietly first

Fingerpicking is naturally softer than strumming. Work on evenness — every note the same weight — before you work on volume or speed.

Pulgar — thumb. Bass strings.

Indice — index. Usually the G string.

Medio — middle. Usually the B string.

Anular — ring. Usually the top E.

Thumb and fingers

The first thing to get comfortable with. Thumb on the low E, then index, middle and ring in turn. Nothing to fret at all — the shape is open Em.

Count it in four. Say the finger names out loud as you play them until they stop needing thought.

Alternating bass

The thumb now moves between two bass strings while the fingers answer. This alternating thumb is the engine of almost all folk and country picking.

Thumb on 6, finger, thumb on 5, finger. Keep the thumb dead steady — it is the drummer in this arrangement.

Thumb and a finger strike together on the same beat, giving a fuller sound at the start of the bar. Written as two notes stacked in the same column.

The first column is a pinch — thumb and ring finger at the same moment. Everything after it is single notes.

Classical arpeggio

The p-a-m-i pattern, running down from the top string instead of up. Standard classical study material, and it evens out the weaker fingers.

Play it with the back of the hand still. If the wrist rocks, slow down until it does not.

Travis picking

Named after Merle Travis. The thumb keeps an alternating bass while the fingers drop melody notes between the beats, so one guitar sounds like two. This is the pattern behind an enormous amount of folk, country and ragtime playing.

Learn the thumb part on its own first — bass on 5, then 4, over and over. Only add the fingers once the thumb runs without you.

Travis with a syncopation

The same pattern with a melody note pushed off the beat. Getting used to notes landing between the thumb strokes is what makes fingerpicking sound like music rather than an exercise.

The extra top note on beat four is the whole trick. Count “one and two and” aloud and it falls into place.

Alternating thumb bass with syncopated melody. Merle Travis, Chet Atkins, Doc Watson, and by way of them a great deal of Paul Simon and Simon & Garfunkel.

Free strokes and rest strokes, nails shaped and polished, the guitar held on the leg with a footstool. The most formal technique, and the best foundation if you have the patience for it.

Folk and open tunings

DADGAD and open G, droning bass strings, and the hand often staying in one shape while the fretting hand moves. Associated with Bert Jansch, John Renbourn and Nick Drake.

Hybrid picking

A pick held between thumb and index while the middle and ring fingers pluck. Lets you switch between flatpicked lines and fingered chords without putting anything down. Country and modern rock lean on it heavily.

Chord melody

Melody on the top strings, bass and chord underneath, arranged so one guitar covers the whole song. Slow to arrange, enormously satisfying to play.

Rasgueado — fingers unrolling across the strings in rapid succession — plus golpe taps on the body. A discipline of its own, and worth hearing even if you never play it.

Soft, warm and quiet, with less attack. Easiest to start with and forgiving of short nails. Steel strings can feel harsh on bare fingertips at first — that passes.

Brighter, louder and more precise. Leave 2 to 3mm past the fingertip, shape them in a smooth ramp with fine paper rather than clippers, and keep the edge polished so it does not catch.

Metal or plastic picks worn on the fingers. Very loud and bright, standard on banjo and resonator, and awkward at first because you lose all sense of touch.

A pick clipped to the thumb, leaving the fingers bare. Gives the alternating bass real weight without deadening the melody, which is why so many Travis players use one.

Choose your cookie settings below

Left-handed mode on — diagrams mirrored

Left-handed mode off

Aim for 45 to 55 percent

That is the range most guitars are built in and happiest living in. Anywhere from 40 to 60 is fine day to day.

Too dry is the dangerous one

Below about 35 percent the top sinks, the action drops, fret ends turn sharp and the wood can crack. Winter heating is the usual culprit.

Too damp swells it

Above about 65 percent the top rises, the action climbs and the tone goes dull and muddy. Damp rooms and lofts do this.

Measure where the guitar lives

Put the hygrometer in the case or on the wall beside the stand, not in another room. Give it a couple of hours to settle before you trust the reading.

Act on what it tells you

A soundhole humidifier or a case humidifier packet costs very little and fixes a dry room. A dehumidifier or silica packs handle the opposite.

Tech or careful DIY

The truss rod sets a very slight forward bow in the neck. Too little and the strings buzz; too much and the action is high in the middle of the neck. Small turns only, and let the neck settle between them.

Action height

How far the strings sit above the frets, set at the bridge or saddle. Lower is easier to play but buzzes sooner — the right height depends on how hard you play.

Slots cut too high make the first few frets feel stiff and play sharp. This is the most commonly neglected part of a cheap guitar and the most transformative to fix. Cut too deep and the nut needs replacing, so leave it to someone with the files.

Pickup height

On an electric, two screws either side of each pickup. Closer to the strings is louder, but too close pulls the strings out of tune magnetically, especially on the bass side.

DIY on electric, tech on acoustic

Setting each string so it plays in tune all the way up the neck. See below.

Fit fresh strings and tune the guitar accurately. Old strings will never intonate properly.

Play the open string, then the note at the 12th fret, and compare the two on a tuner.

If the 12th-fret note reads sharp, the string is too short — move that saddle back, away from the neck. If it reads flat, move the saddle forward.

Retune and check again after every adjustment, and work one string at a time. Small movements make a surprising difference.