Fingerstyle Intermediate Advice – Lesson 13

For intermediate fingerpicking players looking to push their skill set I have the Beyond Fingerstyle Freedom Course

The course features 30 mini songs that feature travis picking, open tunings, speed playing, barre chords and percussive techniques.

 

I would suggest using this course for half of your practice while taking on bigger fingerstyle projects like the ones listed below. You can continue through this course whilst advancing your fingerstyle playing with the lessons I’ve described. Divide your practice in half, with half on this course and the other half on progressing your fingerstyle.

 

The songs below are mainly to test your fingerstyle speed and right hand picking.

 

Dust In The Wind – (Great for travis picking players looking to advance their speed)

Road Trippin – (Another fast fingerstyle song with some challenging chord shapes)

Shape Of My Heart – (Great for classical players and some big stretches on your fretting hand)

Fire And Rain – (Complex picking and pinch patterns in this James Taylor classic)

Never Going Back Again – (Fast travis picking song with complex right hand picking patterns)

 

There are other intermediate fingerstyle projects at this page

 

Speed is a By Product of Accuracy

Many times students can play fast, but it’s at the expense of their tone and accuracy. Basically when they play fast they make more mistakes.

It’s imperative to start off slow with particularly challenging songs and techniques. Once you can play something slow and accurate then use speed training to improve how fast you can play. See this video on fingerstyle speed training

Use the “thumbs up” technique for increased speed. See 4.20 in the video above for more.

Course Progress Bar