fingerpicking

Middle finger on string 1, ring finger on 2 one fret/half tone higher, index finger on 3rd string at same fret as the middle finger...then pick 4, 3, 2, 4, 1, 2, 3, 2.

The chord shape (D) and fingering is from a Pink Floyd song but you can walk it all the way up and down the fret board. Just something I use in part of my daily exercises. Pretty kool stuff though when played fast.

Some little musical bits are ok? Since Pink Floyd was mentioned. The beginning to Brain Damage is good....

D
--2-----------------------2-----------2----------------------2------
--3------------3--------------------- 3-----------3------------------
--2------------------2----------------2-----------------2-----------
--0-------0---------------------0-----0------0---------------------0-
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

G7

--1-----------------------1------------1----------------------1--------
--0------------0-----------------------0-----------0--------------------
--0------------------0-----------------0-----------------0--------------
----------0---------------------0-------------0-----------------------0---
------------------------------------l---------------------------------------
------------------------------------l--------------------------------------
Then go back to the D. If you are interested: From there it goes to E/D twice, which looks just like the D but in the 4th fret and the 4 string open. Then to to A7 twice - playing a normal A chord and only adding the 7th on the first string - the pattern changes somewhat on the A7. Then to D with a new picking pattern and then back to the originial D, as shown above, and the whole thing repeats- If that makes sense! The intro might stay on D for quite some time with out changing chords. Now I am just confusing you!

When you hit the chords, it is a rake so just use your thumb to strum down. If you want more of the song actually tabbed out and not my confusing instructions, you can probably find it on line - it is a pain to type up - but if you can't find it, I will type up more.

another good small bit of music would be Pink Floyd, Hey You.
Capo at the third fret..

Em add9
-----------------------0-----------------l-0---------------------0--------------0---
-----4-----------------------------------l--------4----------------------------------
------------------6-----------6----------l--------------------6------6--------------
-----------6--------------------------6--l--------------6--------------------6------
------------------------------------------l-------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------l-------------------------------------------

Dm Add9
--------------------2-----------------2--------l--------------2--------------2------
---2----------------------3--------------------l---2-----------------3--------------
----------------4----------------4---------4---l----------4--------------4----------
---------4--------------------------------------l-----4---------------------------4--
------------------------------------------------l-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------l-------------------------------------

Hopefully these come out ok. The line is just to signify the end of the measure. Usually when I type in tab it looks all screwy in the post. I play both of these songs with a pick but they are pretty good to finger pick as well. EDIT in: make sure when you play you stick to using only your ring finger on string one, middle on 2, pointer on 3, and your thumb gets the top 3 strings. There are times when I have to break those rules but in the beginning you have to train your brain that every time you hit string 3 you automatically go to strike it with your pointer.

Hope this helped....
purple

i first learned to fingerpick by playing Dust in the Wind by kansas

I just learned Dust in the Wind, that's a good song to use fingerpicking and it's easy, also try House of the Rising Sun, or Landslide.

Blackbird is a good one too and there's a lesson right here on the site:

https://www.guitarnoise.com/article.php?id=67

Check out segovia's 20 studies too, after you get some practice. I'm working on a few of those now, and they're pretty fun to play.

Ive been taking lesson for a few months and all the songs I'm learning are fingerpicked, I just learned Dust in the Wind, this is the first song that I really wanted to learn, I can play it fairly well now but it's probably taken me six weeks of working at it to get to the point where Im playing up to speed and feel comfortable enough to play it for someone. I wouldnt say it was easy, but I took it a few sections at a time, the version my teacher has me working on is a little more complex than some i've found on the net.

One thing I might suggest is finding a teacher or friend to help you with a few simple picking patterns to get started with. What Ive found is I've been able to fingerpick most of the songs I use to just strumm using the few picking patterns Inow so far. I really enjoy fongerpicking, it's a nice alternative to strumming every song, whats cool is when you mix strumming and fingerpicking, it really adds some color to a song.

Best of luck

thanks josephlefty for that little tune. . . i can sit there and play it for a while because it sounds so peaceful. in fact, what i do is, because it's a D chord, instead of always hitting the open D string, i'll do what you wrote twice, then replace the open D string with the open A string. . . i hope that makes sense, because A is a part of the D chord. i think it sounds cool, anyway 8) it makes me want to just fret a chord and see if i can think of a cool tune that only uses the strings of that chord.

i can't grow out my nails because of where i work, so i end up just plucking the strings with my fingertips; the only problem is it is pretty quiet. but i guess that's good for when i'm playing late at night so i don't make the 'rents angry. . . and what i've been doing the past couple days is using my thumb, index and middle fingers. i probably should use the ring finger but it seems so weak that it's easier to just divide the strings into the thumb for low E,A,D; the index for G and B, and middle for high E.

i'm gonna check out blackbird, as well as all the tab purple put down. but i don't have a capo. . . would i just move that pink floyd tab up three frets?

oh good news: my brother is going to italy for four months for college, so i now have three guitars at my disposal: two acoustics and a squier strat with a little amp and effects peddle. ain't that cool? eh? eh?

i'm gonna check out blackbird, as well as all the tab purple put down. but i don't have a capo. . . would i just move that pink floyd tab up three frets?

Yes, just move it up 3 frets. When playing it with the capo at the third fret, the 0 fret becomes the third fret (or where ever the capo is). That moves anything played in the 4th fret up to the 7th.