What is Fingerstyle Guitar?

Fingerstyle guitar is a technique in which bass line, chords and melody are played together.

The technique derives from the classical guitar arpeggio approach for the right-hand: the thumb covers the three bass strings, the index plays the 3rd, the middle finger the 2nd, and the ring finger the 1st. Most methods symbolise these fingers with capital letters: P = thumb, I = index, M = middle finger, A = ring finger. If you wonder why the thumb and ring finger don’t have their first letter as a symbol, you’ll find the answer in Spanish (thumb = pulgar; ring finger = anular).

First exercises involve playing any chord as an arpeggio, then experimenting with different picking patterns. Continue reading “What is Fingerstyle Guitar?”