Book recommendations for learning proper fingerstyle technique...

[bluesholyman]

Looking for a good book that teaches proper fingerstyle technique and how to develop as a fingerstlye player. I found this one on Amazon by Dan Thorpe and I like how he has things structured: How to do it right, how to avoid doing it wrong, etc. That kind of teaching style is appealing to me because its direct and not a lot of fluff.

Would appreciate recommendations on books you have found helpful that are about finger style technique and playing.

My goal is as a songwriter and being able to play the ideas I hear in my head that are best expressed using fingerstyle and going beyond strumming, chords and flat picking.

Much appreciated.

 

[johnny k]

Fingerstyle, do you mean like arpeggios ? Or travis, chet atkins sort of playing ?

 

[Boreas]

Looking for a good book that teaches proper fingerstyle technique and how to develop as a fingerstlye player. I found this one on Amazon by Dan Thorpe and I like how he has things structured: How to do it right, how to avoid doing it wrong, etc. That kind of teaching style is appealing to me because its direct and not a lot of fluff.

Would appreciate recommendations on books you have found helpful that are about finger style technique and playing.

My goal is as a songwriter and being able to play the ideas I hear in my head that are best expressed using fingerstyle and going beyond strumming, chords and flat picking.

Much appreciated.

Books are becoming kind of hard to find, so I would suggest buying any you can find. The more techniques and approaches you are exposed to, the easier it will be for you to develop your own style by adapting bits and pieces of other's styles. The 70s and 80s seems to have been the golden age of guitar technique books - including fingerstyle. I would STRONGLY advise searching on used book sites like Abe's and Powell's for used instruction books that have been out of print for decades. Duck Baker and several other artists of the era put out books that included TAB and music - often for particular albums - on labels that no longer exist. Just a few for example:

Book Depository: Free delivery worldwide on over 20 million books

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When I bought the vinyl way back when, there were usually flyers inside that suggested buying the accompanying book for tab and instruction. I bought quite a few by several artists and tried them, but I just didn't have the skill/patience to learn the stuff. To me, TAB is like hieroglyphics. I usually do better with a few chord stamps, the recording, and figuring out how to make my fingers work on their own. But as you say, it can be important not to learn bad technique, which is at least ONE reason why I am not an International Fingerstyle Champion.

I feel it is best to follow YOUR ears and not ours. Listen to as many artists as you can and see who pulls you in. I was hooked on Irish tunes - both fingerstyle and flatpicking - where David Bromberg got me started on the many artists that had varying styles within the genre. But you may lean more toward dudes like Travis, Atkins, New Age artists, or even classical artists. Listen, listen, listen!

 

[PCollen]

Looking for a good book that teaches proper fingerstyle technique and how to develop as a fingerstlye player. I found this one on Amazon by Dan Thorpe and I like how he has things structured: How to do it right, how to avoid doing it wrong, etc. That kind of teaching style is appealing to me because its direct and not a lot of fluff.

Would appreciate recommendations on books you have found helpful that are about finger style technique and playing.

My goal is as a songwriter and being able to play the ideas I hear in my head that are best expressed using fingerstyle and going beyond strumming, chords and flat picking.

Much appreciated.

There are so many on-line resources these days it's hard to believe that books on the subject are selling. There may be books on the subject at your local library that you can check out over and over again if there is no local demand for them. I have an old 1985 "Fingerstyle Guitar" book by Ken Perlman which is pretty comprehensive.

 

[SRHmusic]

The Dan Thorpe book looks pretty good. I'm not aware of many that focus on fingerstyle steel string guitar.

Roy Block has a good book on country blues that is fun to work through.


I would (and did) start learning classical guitar. (I even bought a used "student" model for $300 when I got into this after having played electric for 15 years.)

You can learn pieces like Blackbird and Dust In The Wind pretty easily without training. But working up to playing some classical pieces is rewarding and more versatile. Plus it's the most effective way to learn to read standard notation for guitar.

I recommend Aaron Shearer's book 1. It starts with learning the notes in each string in the first 3 or 5 frets, and reading, which helps a lot with this kind of music- being able to see the rhythms and clearly which bits are played with the thumb. Classical guitar has two basic strokes (free and rest), as well, that are covered.



The Carcasdi Method is still good, too.

And for a real technique builder Scott Tenant's Pumping Nylon is great.

 

[Freeman Keller]

Anything by Mark Hanson depending on your taste in music

Products – Mark Hanson

 

[mkster]

I don't think playing what is in your head can be found in a book .

Finger style picking is like your fingerprint , everyone is different the length , size and agility of the fingers vary greatly . Some will show you patterns , places to put your finger and so on . The truth is you cant do a marathon if you don't learn to run first , What makes a great player is that they make it there own way. I am attempting to show people how to do Travis picking with one exercise , because that is all i needed to know how to run. Inspiration should come for within , you want to know how play something create your answer be patient try stuff you will see .

Good luck.

 

[Gogogoch]

Looking for a good book that teaches proper fingerstyle technique and how to develop as a fingerstlye player. I found this one on Amazon by Dan Thorpe and I like how he has things structured: How to do it right, how to avoid doing it wrong, etc. That kind of teaching style is appealing to me because its direct and not a lot of fluff.

Would appreciate recommendations on books you have found helpful that are about finger style technique and playing.

My goal is as a songwriter and being able to play the ideas I hear in my head that are best expressed using fingerstyle and going beyond strumming, chords and flat picking.

Much appreciated.

I initially learned fingerstyle by teaching myself Street Spirit by Radiohead. Another great tune for getting used to the thumb playing the 6th, 5th and 4th strings and the index finger on the 3rd string, middle on 2nd and ring on 1st (with pinkie planted on the scratch plate) is the Pink Floyd tune Is There Anybody Out There. It’s all eighth notes, so it’s a good one for getting the picking rhythm even. I’ll happily send you the Word version I tabbed out for myself, if that helps.

Other than that, I’ve used these two books, but never completed either of them, simply because I got from them what I needed to write my own songs and then I jumped ship to another genre (jump blues, no pun intended!). But the Ken Perlman book in particular is really good for starting out. And has photos showing good fingerstyle technique and patterns (Travis picking, etc.) which you can apply to your own compositions or to arranging other people’s songs.
Hope that helps.

 

[Tommy Biggs]

I was going to do Happy Traums’s Fingerstyle for guitar, it looked like a dec foundation. Unfortunately I got on a project playing bass and lost my mojo on that.

My .02, making your thumb the driver is the first critical skill.

 

[58Bassman]

John Stropes is the head of the American Fingerstyle Guitar program at UW-Milwaukee and the only person authorized to transcribe Leo Kottke's music, by Leo Kottke. His site offers teaching and if you look for fingerstyle books, you'll probably see this name fairly often.

I worked at a stereo store from early-'78 into '88 and he became a customer after being referred by a local Flamenco player, who is on the music faculty at a college- I saw John open for Eric Johnson and it was a bit shocking since John a very soft-spoken. We chatted before he went onstage and then, his playing was extremely powerful.

Contemporary Fingerstyle Guitar Lessons | Stropes Editions, Ltd.

We document fingerstyle guitar and work directly with contemporary performers to create transcriptions. Check out our online lessons, titles/tunings database, and research projects!

www.stropes.com

 

[Supertwang]

I'll second the opinion that if you are seriously interested in fingerstyle techniques going through a couple of the beginner Classical Guitar books is the way to go. Aaron Shearer to start and then book #1 by Berkeley Press. After those 2 books you can figure out pretty much what any finger style player is doing.

 

[BlueGillGreg]

I've like the beginner books by Aaron Shearer & Christopher Parkening. Getting a 300 dollar classical guitar with a solid top and laminated back and sides is a great platform for learning fingerstyle. Stefan Grossman has written a lot on American folk styles. His stuff on Reverend Gary Davis is great. Like electric guitarists, acoustic guitarists are inveterate knob twisters: Acoustic Guitar Magazine's "Alternate Tunings Guitar Essentials" and "Alternate Tunings Guitar Collection" both taught me a lot about that end of things. For a couple of years I practiced open chords while thumb thumping the chord roots in the bass and favoring the ring finger to play the melody at the same time. Really get that thumb on automatic. When your brain has enough headroom you'll start lightly brushing the other chord tones with index and ring on the middle strings, then making counter-rhythms. Good luck, it's a great adventure!

 

[Maguchi]

Roy Block has a good book on country blues that is fun to work through.

Roy Block? You mean Rory Block? She's a woman.

 

[Canadiense. El]

Pumping Nylon by Scott Tennant
Obviously, it's oriented to classical guitar, but it's a standard for a reason. You'll get a lot out of it whether you play steel string or electric, and no matter the style.

 

[rschiller]

Looking for a good book that teaches proper fingerstyle technique and how to develop as a fingerstlye player. I found this one on Amazon by Dan Thorpe and I like how he has things structured: How to do it right, how to avoid doing it wrong, etc. That kind of teaching style is appealing to me because its direct and not a lot of fluff.

Would appreciate recommendations on books you have found helpful that are about finger style technique and playing.

My goal is as a songwriter and being able to play the ideas I hear in my head that are best expressed using fingerstyle and going beyond strumming, chords and flat picking.

Much appreciated.

Dig out the stuff by Buster B. Jones. You can't do better.

 

[PhredE]

An old standby in the classical guitar realm:


Mauro Guiliani's
"120 Studies for Right-Hand Development"

It is helpful to be able to read proper music notation, but right-hand patterns are extensive and laid out well.

 

[Dostradamas]

Thumb for E & A

Index - D
Middle - G
Ring - B
Pinky - E

Do that lots.

Book done.

 

[SRHmusic]

Roy Block? You mean Rory Block? She's a woman.

Argh, yes, thanks... stupid autocorrect is more aggressive on my phone, and I didn't notice.
Yes, Rory Block. She's great. I've seen her in concert a couple times, too.

 

[SRHmusic]

Thumb for E & A

Index - D
Middle - G
Ring - B
Pinky - E

Do that lots.

Book done.

Does anyone use the pinky much?

Also, Leo Kottke almost certainly uses thumb and index for rapid alternating bass runs at times. It opens up some possibilities.

No hard and fast rules, but it's good to sort out the puzzle of how to not use a finger twice in a row for eighth and sixteenth notes. Makes for smoother lines, but can be a little hard to remember what works best unless you pencil in some notes on the page (e.g. what finger to start with).

Reminds me, in classical notation, p=pulgar (thumb), i=(index), m=(middle), a= annular (ring).

 

[G Stone496]

Looking for a good book that teaches proper fingerstyle technique and how to develop as a fingerstlye player. I found this one on Amazon by Dan Thorpe and I like how he has things structured: How to do it right, how to avoid doing it wrong, etc. That kind of teaching style is appealing to me because its direct and not a lot of fluff.

Would appreciate recommendations on books you have found helpful that are about finger style technique and playing.

My goal is as a songwriter and being able to play the ideas I hear in my head that are best expressed using fingerstyle and going beyond strumming, chords and flat picking.

Much appreciated.

They use this one in the college I went to. It’s classical nylon string style, but the techniques translate well to steel string acoustic flattop or electric as well. Some of the versions of this book come with recordings.

Frederick Noad also had a series of video lessons on one of the PBS television stations that you may be able to search and find on the internet.

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