2 MUST KNOW Beginner Fingerpicking Patterns

Hey, guitar enthusiast. I had a question from a YouTuber about some beginner finger picking patterns that they can get started with. So I'm going to show you that in this video.

Now if you guys have any questions that you might want me to answer here on YouTube, put a comment below the video and maybe I'll answer your question in a video. So in this video I'm going to show you two very simple patterns that are very common and actually not too hard for beginners to learn. Now, I'm not going to be using a pick. You just see I have my fingers here and I know some of you are going to ask what happened with my finger? I cut my thumb with a knife. So if you want to know why I'm wearing a band aid, that's why. So what we're going to be doing is first we're going to be doing a base pluck picking pattern like this. Something very simple, very common. Think of like Yesterday by the Beatles. You can do that. Another one we're going to be doing is what we call an arpeggio over different chords. Very common, used in a lot of songs. Think of Everybody Hurts by R.E.M. think of Hallelujah by Jeff Buckley. So those are good examples of where you can use these. So let's start off with the first one which is the bass pluck picking pattern. So what we're going to do on this is depending on what chord we're playing. Whether we're playing a six string chord like a G chord, a five string chord like an E or a four string chord like a D, we're going to be moving our thumb along the bass notes. Now whenever you're finger picking, the thumb always plays the bass notes. Okay? And in this we're not going to be doing any alternating bass lines. We're going to keep it super simple. So when we're going to do a chord, let's pick a chord progression. I'm going to do G, C and D. Okay? A G chord, a C chord and a D chord, okay? That's all we're going to do. So the thumb on the G chord is going to play the top string, the sixth string, that's the bass note. When we play the C chord, it's going to play the fifth string. And when we play the D chord, the thumb is going to play the fourth string. So one more time, when we play six string chords, E minor, E, whatever, anything that requires six strings, you would play the top string. So for G, we're going to play the top String C, we're going to play the fifth string. This would also work for an A minor chord or an A chord. Then D or D minor, any type of D chord. You play the fourth string. That's what the thumb is doing. Okay. It's playing one of those strings. Now, the bottom two or three fingers, depending on how many you have control over. When you're a beginner and you're first starting with finger picking, you don't oftentimes have a lot of control. Actually, I'll put a video up here for you guys on an exercise you can do to start getting some more dexterity in your picking hand. So go check that out after this if you want. So the bottom three fingers are going to pluck the strings on the bottom. So your first finger is going to be on the third string. Your second finger is going to be on the second string, and your third finger is going to be on the bottom E string. And all we're going to do is we're going to kind of do this with our fingers very lightly. I'm not killing the strings, just lightly gliding over. I'm plucking up on the strings. So with the thumb, you're going down and the bottom strings are going up. Hear that?

Okay. Very common. I mean, you could use this for a song like Country Road, Almost Heaven, West Virginia. Very cool pattern. You can use it on lots of songs. So let's talk about what we're going to do. So if we have a G chord, we're going to be picking the rhythm. One and two and three and four. And hear that? Bass and bass and bass and bass. And so I call it bass pluck. Bass pluck. Bass pluck, bass pluck. All right, so if a G chord would sound like that, the sixth string. Bass pluck, bass pluck, bass pluck, bass pluck. Now we're going to move to a C chord. Thumb moves down to the fifth string. Bass pluck, bass pluck, bass pluck, bass pluck. And then when we go to the D chord again, we're going to move our thumb down to the fourth string. Bass pluck, bass pluck, bass pluck, bass pluck. So if I play those together very quickly, it's going to be 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and C and 2 and 3 and 4 and D and 2 and 3 and 4 and. All right, that's the most simplest way to do it. Now, if you're having trouble with that third finger and you just want to use the first two fingers, you can do that. Too. It'll sound like this. You just won't get that bright note on the bottom.

Some people find that easier. 1, 2, 3, 4. 1, 2, 3, four. 1, 2, 3, Four. And then they kind of anchor their third finger on the bottom string. Some people find that more comfortable. Whichever way works for you. I'm going to go in for a close up so that you guys can see what I'm doing here. So here I am guys, for a little bit of a close up here. So I want you to see my thumb is alternating between either the sixth string, the fifth string and the fourth string. And my bottom three strings are plucking up just a little bit on the bottom strings. Or if you're just using two fingers, it's just the two fingers. So here's G1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and C.

And D.

Back to G.

And C.

And D.

So that's the first kind of finger picking pattern that we'll be going over in this lesson. So let's talk about a very common one which is finger picking pattern number two. Hey guys, if you're interested in learning more about finger picking, I have an entire course on finger picking with over 21 finger picking patterns. So I'll put a link in the description below with a very special discount code for my YouTube subscribers. So go check that out. So beginner finger picking number, I guess two would be arpeggios. And what does that sound like? This would be more for stuff that's in six, eight time, like a waltz or so. The first one I showed you is for songs in what we call 4, 4 where you count to four and you start again. 1, 2, 3, 4. 1, 2, 3, four. 1, 2, 3, Four. This would be something that has more of a swing, more of a waltz to it. Very, very common. Okay, Think of songs like I said earlier. Think of Hallelujah, think of Everybody Hurts by R.E.M. they have this, this sway to them.

Okay, so that's what we call six, eight time. Alright, now what we're going to do is again, the fingers are going to own the same string. So the first finger is going to own the third string. The second finger is going to own the second string and the third finger is going to own that bottom E string. They're never going to move off those strings. What I want you to do just now, practice going first finger, second finger, third finger. Alright, I want you to go 1, 1, 2, 3, 2. 1. Again. 1, 2, 3, 2. 1. One more time. 1, 2, 3, two, one. All right. And what we're going to do is we're going to sandwich that between bass notes. And again, just like in the earlier exercise, the bass note is going to depend on what chord you're playing. So for our G chord, we're going to be playing the bass note, the sixth string, C chord, five string chord, bass note on the fifth string, D four string chord, bass note as the fourth. All right, so I'm gonna say the string numbers. So I'm gonna say 6, 3, 2, 1, 2, 3, 6, 3, 2. 1, 2, 3. Okay, for a G chord. So it's gonna be 6th string, 3rd string, 2nd string, 1st string, 2nd string, 3rd string. Or the thumb 1, 2, 3, 2, 1. Thumb 1, 2, 3, two, 1. That's gonna be your G chord. Now your C chord will be the fifth string, three, two, one, two, three. So it's gonna be thumb one, two, three two, one. Thumb one, two, three two, 1. On strings five, three, two, one, 2, three. And then the D chord, we're going to play the thumb on the fourth string, 3, 2, 1, 2, 3. Okay, strings 4, 3, 2, 1, two, three. So that'll be thumb 1, 2, 3, 2, 1. So you'll notice the pattern if we're just talking about our fingers is going to be thumb 1, 2, 3, 2, 1. Thumb 1, 2, 3, 2,. The only thing that's changing is which bass note we're playing on a chord. So, so let me do a slightly different chord progression for this one I'm going to do G, E minor, C, D. So for E minor, that's a six string chord. So we're going to play the thumb on the sixth string for that. So this is what it's going to sound like. Ready? It's going to be thumb 1, 2, 3, 2, 1. Now E minor, sixth string.

Hear that? So now back to C. We're going to the fifth string with the thumb.

And then D, fourth string.

Hear that? So here's what it's going to sound like. 6, 3, 2, 1, 2, 3, 6, 3, 2. 1, 2, 3, 5, 3, 2. 1, two, three, four, three, two. 1, 2, 3. Thumb 1, 2, 3, 2, 1. Thumb 1, 2, three two, one. Thumb 1, 2, Three two, one. Thumb one, two, three two, one.

So can you hear that? So that's a great, great strumming pattern to work on. It's used in lots and lots of songs. You guys can go check that out. Practice really hard. But those are two very basic finger pickings that you guys can learn as beginner guitar players. Hope you guys enjoyed this video. Don't forget to subscribe to my channel and turn notifications on so you can see when I release more videos just like this one. YouTube's going to pop up a couple more videos over there. Go check those out. And I hope to see you guys in another lesson video.