Beginner Fingerpicking Patterns
Welcome to my beginner fingerpicking patterns page. I consider fingerpicking more of a late beginner skill.
Can an absolute beginners do it?
Yes.
How to know if you’re ready?
Usually you are starting to feel pretty good about the sound of your chords. There’s nothing more frustrating than trying to fingerpick a song when half of the strings are muted.
Trust me on this.
Below is the step-by-step approach I use to introduce fingerpicking in my 7 Level Guitar System.
Return to All Guitar LessonsBeginner fingerpicking pattern 1
The first pattern I’m going to show you is used over song that have a 4/4 rhythm. That means you count to 4 before changing chords. In the diagram below, you can see we are using a Bass Pluck pattern where you play the bass note (lowest note of the chord) followed by two treble notes.
The bass note is played by the thumb and the treble notes are played by finger 1 and 2.
As you can see, the bass note will move depending on what chord you are playing.
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Beginner Fingerpicking Patterns 2
This pattern is used for songs that have a waltz feel to them. Usually this would be counted in what we call 6/8 time, or 6 beats for every chord. 1 2 3 4 5 6
Again, the thumb is playing the bass note that will move depending on what chord you are playing and fingers 1, 2 and 3 are playing the treble notes.
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Finger 1 plays string 3 (G)
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Finger 2 plays string 2 (B)
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Finger 3 plays string 1 (e)
You can watch my tutorial on how to accomplish these two patterns flawlessly.