FingerStyle

Picking the guitar using your fingers. James Taylor and Nick Drake both play a lot of fingerstyle, well Nick doesnt play so much anymore.

I would give it a go. You can work around chords so its mostly your right hand that does the work. You will also need to grow your nails on you right hand a bit. It will give you more options when you play though and lets face it chicks dig fingerstyle.

the first song I ever learned to "fingerpick" was "All or Nothing" by The Small Faces.....A and E chords for the intro.....basically, it's just arpeggeiated chords, with the odd sus4th thrown in.....

It's great when you learn a song like that, "More Than A Feeling" is another one I can do now....so when you're practising those chords, instead of just strumming them, play individual strings, see what they sound like......doesn't take long to build up a bit of speed...

Try "House of the Rising Sun" on the Lessons section......that'll give you a good intro......

Vic.

I started lessons 7 weeks ago and my teacher has had me working on fingerstyle since the beginning, I think his logic may be that it forces me to build a little more right hand coordination, not sure though. I do like the sound, compared to the strumming I've been doing. I've also taken what I've learned and tried to incorperate it into to my picking and strumming.
Do a search on fingerstyle you'll probably find some good lessons.

When I first was learning my father was teaching me. He didn't fingerpick, so I didn't fingerpick. But, I would sit and watch these people play these wonderful, full pieces and know that I couldn't duplicate it with a pick. So I started learning and it opened up a whole new world for me. I think that if you can start it in the very beginning of the learning process, then you will be better prepared to play anything that catches your fancy down the road and not have to re-train your right hand years down the line (like me!). I know quite a few guitar players, though, that never have mastered it and they are quite content to flatpick and strum and leave the fingerpicking to those of us who really enjoy the freedom of it.

thanx for all the advice i think im gonna go ahead and try fingerpicking. And is fingerpicking associated more with classical style guitar playing

Give fingerstyle a try. It adds a whole new dimension to your playing. I've been working on it for about six months and highly recommend a book called "Fingerstyle Guitar from Scratch" by Bruce Emery. Here's a link to his web site: http://www.skepticalguitarist.com/

I have no affiliation with Mr. Emery, but I really like his books. He has a great sense of humor as well as being quite capable of explaining things so I can understand why I'm doing something, not just how to do it. I've got 4 of his 6 books and intend to buy the other 2 when I get through these. You can buy them directly from his web site or from Elderly.com. My local music store also carries his books. Good luck.

Fingerpicking is outstanding for beginners, even if you don't stick with the style. The reason: picking single notes lets you know where your chord fingerings need work - strumming often buries strings that sound a bit dead.

:) I like fingerpicking alot it gives a acoustic guitar much more fuller sound with melody comming out alot stronger, Jimmy Page used it, another great example is Chet Atkins he played Country but he sure was good he could play bass lead and rthym all buy himself using fingerstyle, This is something I have not much Practice on but eventualy I will get more Involved in it, Like anything else takes alot of Practice but sounds great when you can do it.

:D

And is fingerpicking associated more with classical style guitar playing

Not necessarily, although most classical stuff IS fingerpicked, there are a lot of rock, country, blues, jazz (and I'm sure any other genre you can think of) songs for fingerpicking. Right now I'm working on Susan Tedeschi's version of Bob Dylan's version of 'Don't Think Twice', I also fingerpick Fleetwood Mac's 'Landslide', Eva Cassidy's version of 'Ain't No Sunshine' , and Dylan's version of 'Early Morning Rain'. The Beatles have a good many fingerpicking songs, such as Blackbird. Led Zeppelin has some fingerpicking songs. And, of course, the beginning guitar player's 'Must Learn', "House Of The Rising Sun". And I absolutely LOVE blues fingerstyle (which you can totally improvise on since blues is such a loose form).

David Hodge has a great version of 'House of the Rising Sun', which is a wonderful beginning fingerpicking piece that I would recommend highly to get used to the PIMA thing and just to generally exercise all of your fingers. You can find it under 'Easy Songs For Beginners'. Check it out. It's fun! :D

Speaking of Fleetwod Mac. I don't believe I have ever seen Buckingham use a flatpick.

Speaking of Fleetwod Mac. I don't believe I have ever seen Buckingham use a flatpick.

You know, I don't believe I have, either. (And, if you listen to the solo stuff Lindsey Buckingham did (or even the Buckingham/Nicks album) it all sounds fingerpicked as well.) I was also watching this thing on Jim Croce a few weeks ago and he was a fingerpicker, too, for the most part. And, even though Joni Mitchell DID occasionally use a pick, a lot of her stuff is fingerpicked, too (which brings us to alternate tunings, which can be a whole lot of fun, IMHO, but is a completely different subject, sort of!).

There are quite a few famous, but pickless guitar players, including Mark Knopfler, Jeff Beck, Wes Montgomery, Lindsey Buckingham, Albert Collins ...

NoteBoat I think you make a good point.

Since I've started fingerstyle, I've noticed I do have to finger the notes/chords correctly or I end up hearing a thud......

It's also made me more aware of my thumb postion on the neck, as I've noticed my thumb postion is now a little lower closer to the center of the neck, like i think it should be.

Side note:
After each lesson, I'm like man this fingerpicking sucks I'm never going to get it, but usually a few days later right before my next lesson things start sounding better, and then it's okay maybe this is working. After a month and a half of lessons I'm like man I'm ready for this to be easy, start sounding like the CD, I want so much more. I think patience and persitance are what I need the most of right now. I played on my own for a year so I need to give these lessons some time. I can say I've improved since starting but I guess I'm of the microwave generation, I want it in a hurry.....sorry for getting off topic.

I can second everything said here. When i started playing i was VERY lucky, i started fingerstyle because I wanted to play Simon and Garfunkel stuff.

Now I pick about everything, and sometimes you find a piece that is "normally" (whatever that is!!!) played strummed, or with power chords, or whatever, and i pick it, and you hit upon something that blows you away.

Dig out a tab of the Who's Behind Blue Eyes. Its not difficult, but its very effective. Once you learn a song like that, you're away and won't look back.

Also can STRONGLY recommend the Scarborough Fair lesson by David - I think its in the Intermediates lessons here.

Fingerpickingtastic!!