Your first finger pickin' songs?

The first song I ever played finger picking was House of the rising sun when it first came out. Now I use a pick to play it. I just never got good at finger picking but I think if I were to "practice" it.

Hi,

House of the Rising Sun for me too.

There must be thousands of us who started finger picking with that song. :)

The chords are pretty straightforward and the picking is often given as the standard thumb + 3 fingers, up and back run - P I M A M I.

There is a bit of a trick to making it sound better though (apart from not rushing it). The thumb should really have one more note before you change chords. For some reason, many tabs leave that out, but it makes a difference. P I M A M I P then P I M A M I P etc.

A lot of the "feel" of the song can really come out with the choice of timing and emphasis you give to those two thumb strokes at the chord change.

Cheers, Chris.

Don't Follow - Alice In Chains

I have since come up with a little fingerpickin' ditty of my own, but I play with a plec for the most part.

Another for HOTRS ... shortly followed by Time in a Bottle and Blackbird.

rising sun also, followed by "girl from the north country" a few months later and then "don't think twice, it's alright", both dylan songs.

"Blackbird" by the Beatles- instantly recognizable, and very fun to learn. . . You'll know you're on track when you get the first notes right.

HOTR was my first song as well...followed by some classical studies, then Dust in the Wind. I play classical guitar primarily so I fingerpick alot of stuff.

Nothing Else Matters- Metallica for me. I play metal, but fingerpicking is addictive...

I learned "romance" (I don't think that's the original name but it is that very popular classical piece, you know what I'm talking about...)

Hmm..found a link http://www.guitaretab.com/m/misc-classical/12225.html

It's really easy and impresses the ladies.

I also dig this new forum style.

It's also worth noting that Mark Knopfler played fingerstyle on his songs.

I started out with Going To California by Led Zeppelin.

Strangely enough, it was the Stone's As tears go by (probably because I could play the chord progression in my sleep), quickly followed by Dylan's Don't think twice (very similar chords, by the way), and then Dylan's Blowing in the wind, Mr Tambourine man, She belongs to me, Simple twist of Fate...
I began fingerpicking a few month ago, and though I'm not very good at it, I enjoy it a lot more than strumming.

"Blackbird" by the Beatles- instantly recognizable, and very fun to learn. . . You'll know you're on track when you get the first notes right.
Do you have tab for that by any chance? I recently figured out the first measure because it is similar to an exercise I was working on in my fingerpicking book. But I'm such a beginner, I can't figure out the rest.

I am mostly studying fingerpicking now. I started years ago and then stopped. I think the first song I learned was Simon & Garfunkle's The Boxer.

I just learned House of the Rising Sun from a lesson here.

Hotel California for me 8)

REM - Everybody Hurts. Nice easy pattern to learn.

I can't beleive some of you guys first song was stuff like Dust in the Wind. For the FIRST song? Played at speed?

I am working on Time in a Bottle at the moment - lovely to play.

Matt