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I am new to fingerpicking and want to learn Here Comes The Sun. I understand about home position while playing a D chord and others, but when you play measures that combine quarter notes and eighth notes would you use more than one finger on a single string or stay with one finger per string? Is there a lesson that would explain it better.

rayray wrote:

I am new to fingerpicking and want to learn Here Comes The Sun. I understand about home position while playing a D chord and others, but when you play measures that combine quarter notes and eighth notes would you use more than one finger on a single string or stay with one finger per string? Is there a lesson that would explain it better.

Hi RayRay, I have learned this song and it was a challenge at the time, but has made way for harder songs. I would suggest if you have never finger picked before to try something easier first, like Blackbird or maybe someone could suggest something that would give you the skills needed here, but if you do decide to do Here Comes the Sun then all the fingering is in the lesson.

The way I approached it was to print out the sheets tab/music and write notes on it about what fingerings to use, whilst stopping and starting the video. Once I could play some of it, I would sometimes play along slowly with guitar pro to get the timing correct. You should break this into sections, playing slowly, or even very slowly at first, then join it up. You will be working on this for a long while, enjoy and good luck!

p.s. To answer part of your question........in this song for instance after thumb I play the first bar pinch using P and M fingers that's thumb and second finger, then index, then PM pinch then middle finger, next P then I finger. Bar 2 after pinch you use 2nd finger I think, (wish I had a guitar to hand) the G in bar 3 is home position using thumb and digits 2 and 3. Bar 4 I play PM on pinch then index then pm then index then p then A then P. Just incase......P=thumb. I=index or first finger m=middle. A= third finger. So it depends on which chord you use which fingering is used.

You don't need a lesson seperate from actually doing Neils lesson, as he teaches songs to teach technique. He works out the best fingering or maybe easiest fingering for you, but there are always more than one way to play a song, but on this one I learned it the way he taught it (hopefully).

Hope this helps, it is a beautiful song. Places that you may find the most difficult are bar4, bars 12 to14...... the hammer on in bar 17...... and bars 20 and 21 these are not pinches they are hammer ons and a thumb beat together, tricky if you haven't done it before. That's it, good luck!

Tom N.

Rayray:

Tom gives good advice here. To piggyback, I would recommend trying a lesson on "House of the Rising Sun". It is a very basic fingerpicking song that really helps you get used to finger placement. Typically the thumb plays the bottom three strings (still drives me nuts that they call them the bottom three strings when they are at the top.... :huh: ). The index finger plays the third (g string), the middle finger plays the second (b string) and the ring finger plays the first (high e string). There are certainly times when this changes up due to chord shapes and such, but, for the most part, it is the norm and will help get you used to fingerpicking. Now, there are times that you need to hit the same string twice very rapidly (I think this may be what your question pertained to). The more you fingerpick, the more speed and accuracy you will build up, and the easier it will be to hit that string twice with the same finger and stay in position. I know that a lot of songs I have worked on have required very fast movements with my thumb to keep an alternating bass line going, or to hit the same bass string twice. I struggled with this (still do at times) for a while, but it is getting better and smoother. Most of all, please be patient with yourself and start out slow. I would highly recommend using a metronome and starting out at a slow pace til it becomes comfortable making some of these multiple picks. Once it is comfortable, step up the speed a bit and repeat the process. Can be daunting at times, but like Tom mentions, it pays dividends. You will find that a song you learn will open up doors to lots of others......

Good luck.

J

I think you can use more fingers then one on one string as well,i thought i got that tip from Neil(and more) in a review on ''here comes the sun''

There are some video reviews on that song....