Complete amateur trying to learn finger picking (Simon and Garfunkels 59th street bridge song)

Feel free to get outside the box here.
jimlard
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Sat Sep 03, 2011 4:31 am

Hello, I have been visiting the Total Guitars.com site for a couple of weeks now, what a great place.
I have just completed the Beginner's genius lessons (I learnt more in two weeks doing that than I have done in over 10 years trying to learn from a book) and fancied trying to learn some finger picking.
My chosen song is Simon and Garfunkels 59th Bridge Street Song as it is aimed at beginners but I am having real trouble with it.
I can strum the chords and change chords in time with the music no trouble at all, but when I try and finger pick it would seem that all my brain power is going in to picking the correct strings and my left hand gets left way behind. It feels like the 'patting the head and rubbing the belly syndrome' where I can't do both at the same time.
Are there any tips or techniques that I can use to learn to finger pick this song please? Or is my enthusiasm getting the better of me and I'm trying to run before I can walk?
Jim


tovo
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Sat Sep 03, 2011 4:47 am

Hi Jim,

I don't think you can be too enthusiastic so I wouldn't worry about that.

My advice is, just work on the finger-picking pattern initially, rather than trying to get through the whole tune. Get the pattern and then sit and practice the pattern over and over until it is second nature. Do it in front of the TV or having a conversation. I don't know what type of picking it is, haven't looked at the lesson, but no matter if it is Travis picking or arpeggio, the same applies. Get the pattern and get it in your muscle memory. After that, worry about the progression.

I'm sure you will get other advice as well. Good luck with it mate.


dsmarion
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Sat Sep 03, 2011 5:36 am

Jim,
I can't give you any real advice on fingerpicking technique as that is something I am working hard to learn as well. But I can tell you you will be surprised how much better you will get in only a short amout of time if you just keep at it. Try this. Take a video of yourself right now for a reference point of where you are at with the picking. Do that again after a couple weeks and then again in another month. If you have been practicing during that time (as you should be) you should notice a marked improvement, it will surprise you really. These things take time, don't get discouraged because it doesn't come right away. It will over time if you keep at it. Remember, the people who make it look so easy have been doing it for a long time. Good luck.

Scott


tombo1230
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Sat Sep 03, 2011 8:18 am

jimlard wrote:
Hello, I have been visiting the Total Guitars.com site for a couple of weeks now, what a great place.
I have just completed the Beginner's genius lessons (I learnt more in two weeks doing that than I have done in over 10 years trying to learn from a book) and fancied trying to learn some finger picking.
My chosen song is Simon and Garfunkels 59th Bridge Street Song as it is aimed at beginners but I am having real trouble with it.
I can strum the chords and change chords in time with the music no trouble at all, but when I try and finger pick it would seem that all my brain power is going in to picking the correct strings and my left hand gets left way behind. It feels like the 'patting the head and rubbing the belly syndrome' where I can't do both at the same time.
Are there any tips or techniques that I can use to learn to finger pick this song please? Or is my enthusiasm getting the better of me and I'm trying to run before I can walk?
Jim
Hi Jim,
well done in finding this site, your right it is great!

Fingerpicking is what I do mostly, it's my favourite way to play. My best piece of advice to you is to slow everything down to as slow as both of your hands can work together. Then take one bar of your tune and play it as slow as both hands can play it together. If you can't play a whole bar, play as much or as little of it until you can play the bar. Then play that bar and one note from the next bar until you have two bars that you can play together. Just keep going like that and you will be able to play it all eventually. The secret if there is one, is to do it slooooooooooowly until the pathways between fingers and your brain have got up to speed so to speak.

Good luck and enjoy! You can post a video when you have cracked it. You just have to persevere and practice a lot, that's all :)

Tom N.


Lavallee
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Sat Sep 03, 2011 8:32 am

Hi Jim, great advices you got so far. I would add that, to progress in a fingerpicking song, you have to memorize the sheet .You have to see in your mind where the fingers must be. Your fingers will read better what to do from your mind than trying to read it from the sheet all the time. Of course you have to look at the sheet and play at the same time at first, but your energy should be to memorize quickly, to visualize the sheet in your mind, to get rid of the music sheet as soon as possible. Once you have both hand position memorized, you will naturally increase speed. This is where the muscle memory kicks in.

Marc


jayswett
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Sat Sep 03, 2011 11:30 am

All of the above is sound advice. The only thing I would add is DON"T GIVE UP. If you practice, the ability will find its way into your brain and fingers.


jimlard
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Sat Sep 03, 2011 12:25 pm

Thank you all for your advice. I shall look up arpeggio and travis picking so I can learn the difference, sloooooow down both hands, memorise the sheet, I have memorised the chords but not the strings to pick yet so I'll do that one and just learn the first bar then add one note at a time.
Thank you all once again, I'll definitely not be giving up because I am having a lot of fun and 'feeling groovy' ;)


kcatthedog
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Sat Sep 03, 2011 8:13 pm

Hey ,

One other thought forget about learning the pattern mechanically and just feel the song from memory no seriously finger picking always has a patern to it that is what you play mechanically but it is also where the songs groove is.

So like both people said get the tab and play the right hand pattern one bar at a time learn it mechanically but feel for the groove: like in Julia by Lennon or Scarborough fair then introduce the chord voicings slowly learn the mechanics but play the feel and always have fun !!!


dsmarion
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Sun Sep 04, 2011 4:50 am

Hey Jim,
You know I had completely forgot about this song until you started this thread. When I first came to the site, before I joined Target (which I highly recommend) I started to look at this song. I did that for the same reason as you, I came here as a fingerpicking novice and this was the first one listed on the free side. I then joined Target very quickly and totally forgot about the free side which means I never learned this song. But I do remember the first time I tried it I had a hard time for the same reasons as you -- -- my right hand would not work and when it did my left hand got lost.

Now after being here for a couple of months and working on some other fingerpicking songs I went back to this one yesterday -- and it was so much easier that before. That is only after two months, when I first looked at it seemed much harder. You will quickly get better at it too. The other songs I have worked on have helped me understand this one much better now. So try working on a couple songs, not just this one. Stick to lower difficulty ones if you like but try a few of them. Then you can practice all of them when you sit down to practice. And you will revisit the lessons as you go along too. Just keep at it and you will quickly get better at it.

Scott


jimlard
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Sun Sep 04, 2011 5:32 am

Hello Scott, thanks for your advice. It's always nice to hear from people that have been at the stage that I am at (I guess everybody was at one time or another.) This site is such a great source of inspiration, I am aiming to join the Target light program in the next few weeks and if I get on well with that I hope to join the full target program a few months to a year down the line, the old purse strings are a bit tight at the moment (but that's another long and incredibly boring story)
I shall have a look for some other beginners finger picking songs to learn along side this one.
Cheers
Jim


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