I still remember the day I figured out this was going on too... man that was a hard day. This stuff is kinda tricky but you know you can just take in a little bit and it's going to increase you toolkit handsomely!!

I'm showing you these patterns to give you some ideas to move forward with - they are kinda tricky and require quite a lot of practice (well at least they did for me), but the idea is used in many tunes and if you fancy trying to play the complex fingerstyle songs by Tommy Emmanuel, James Taylor, Chet Atkins or any of the great Fingerstyle players you will need these skills.

Take them slow and get just one down at a time and learn how to use it before trying the next!

Video Lesson

TAB

This first one is using Flicks and hammers and has about all the techniques combined into one lick. Most people will find this quite tricky, but it has one great advantage... get this one under your fingers and it will help you in many different patterns in the 'real world'. It's based around a C Chord - but you should try it with an A minor too!

This one I added in there for more practice with your flick-offs and to introduce the idea of a bass note change, it's quite a funky plan and sounds real good in the right place.

This one is shows a common rhythm for the melody, so it's a good one to work on. But as usually try mix these things up and explore the seed from each - see if you can transform it into another pattern that you dig!

This one will work on your playing a note with the bass and then flicking it off - very common in blues fingerstyle too this one.

 

Where to now??

Well those that have the DVD set should have a go next at the version there of Waltzing Matilda which puts all these ideas into practice in the one tune - lots of fun.

Those without the DVD could check out my song Page 99, which also uses many of the techniques covered in this course...

You should also be looking for other patterns and ways of using your fingers now - learning a James Taylor tune might be fun, or some Simon and Garfunkel - whatever tickles your fancy really...

Or if you are happy with this as an intro to fingerstyle I guess you check out the next Intermediate Style Module!! :)

 

Folk Fingerstyle Module on DVD This DVD contains all 10 lessons from the Folk Fingerstyle Module found online PLUS 37 minutes of exclusive bonus material, more complex versions of Happy Birthday and Waltzing Matilda PLUS a 28 minute lesson on my song Page 99. You'll also find all the tab examples in an easy to print pdf ebook - and buying products helps keep this site (and further style modules) free for those that can't afford to contribute financially!

 

HELP!!!!

If you need to ask a question about this lesson - there is a topic set up specifically to help you with this lesson. To help you find it easily you can click the following link and it will take you right the topic. You'll be able to see questions that other people had and ask your own questions! Hopefully one of the very helpful members of our community will be there to help you soon, I do go there and answer stuff too - but there are just too many questions for me to answer alone! So click this link to get help with this lesson!