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Hello Neil/Target Members,

I have some questions with fingerpicking. Neil has beginning lessons with strumming patterns and trying to develop good skills with right hand strumming techniques and progression from beginning lessons/songs 1, 2, 3, etc to help advance with strumming. However there is no correlate as far as I could see with fingerpicking. There is a basic video of how to do home postion and alternate positions, but nothing with patterns or developing this technique more efficiently. Any suggestions or any possible lessons as you did with the strumming? I don't feel comfortable diving right in to song lessons without more lessons or proper techniques and don't want to practice songs with bad habits either. Do you still suggest to move right into fingerpicking songs without other lessons on this? Thanks. Just wondering the best way to get into fingerpicking as the strumming lessons were a big help.

I have a pile of books for learning guitar. I got the most info from a beginners ftngerstyle book .It has 10 or 12 patterns and etudes to help apply them to something.
it also had some songs in the back. naturally iwent to the end of the book first.

My answer is really simply the following

We designed Target so that you could learn technique and grow through song selection..

So ...Start with a basic song like house of the rising sun..and you will learn all you need and in progression that way ..move onto higher rated songs ..use the aosutic genius series as your support..

This is how the program is best used..and this is how I started..and how Target became Target...through talking through the issues a newbee like me faced with this exact issue..

The answer is songs..learn through songs...

Hope this helps

Hi Fisher, I agree with Matt, you have to get into the songs. For every lesson with finger picking, Neil always describes what the right hand needs to do and that includes the pattern when there is one, as it is not always the case. For most finger picking songs, you actually pick the notes of the melody instead of playing the melody on a pattern. This is why the home postion is important as your fingers are ready to pick the required string without having to find it. The home position is the most important, as you need to develop the hability to use your 3 fingers (M_I_A) and have your thumb covering the bass notes.

Hope this helps

Marc

Great answers from all my friends. In my humble opinion, you learn fingerpicking by doing it. So jump in on a song. Eventually you will begin to see that some patterns repeat in other songs. Like Marc said, not all the fingerpicking has a name and a bunch of rules. That is why it is so much fun.... Izzy

Thanks