Fingerstyle Guitar – Fingerpicking Patterns and

Exercises

Fingerstyle Guitar –
Fingerpicking Patterns and
Exercises
 PUBLISHED IN BEGINNER, JAZZ GUITAR LESSONS, POPULAR, PRACTICING JAZZ GUITAR

I think you’ll agree that ngerstyle guitar sounds great, but it can be tough to know
where to start.

There seems to be countless ngerpicking exercises to work on even before you can play
your rst ngerstyle song on guitar.

This leads to frustration, and more often than not, guitarists avoiding ngerstyle all
together.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

In this lesson, you focus on essential beginner ngerstyle exercises and learn to comp
and solo over songs with ngerstyle technique.

By working speci c exercises, you focus on exactly what you need to learn ngerstyle
guitar.
As well, learning to comp and solo over tunes with ngerpicking applies these exercises
into a musical situation right away.

That’s a win-win musical situation.

Check out these ngerpicking exercises and have fun with the songs in your studies.

Even if you don’t become a full-time ngerstyle guitarist, these techniques will make you
a better player no matter what style you play.

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Fingerstyle Guitar Exercises (Click to Skip

Down)

1. Fingerstyle Picking
 2. Fingerstyle Warm Up Patterns
3. Easy Fingerstyle Exercises
4. Fingerstyle Song – 12 Bar Blues
5. Intermediate Fingerstyle Exercises
6. Fingerstyle Song – Minor Blues
7. Advanced Fingerstyle Exercises
8. Fingerstyle Song – Summertime
9. Fingerstyle Scales
10. Fingerstyle Arpeggios
11. Fingerstyle Licks
12. Fingerstyle Solo – Solar

Fingerstyle Picking
Before you dive into the material below, take a look at exactly what ngerstyle guitar is.

Though ngerstyle means different things to different players, it boils down to one
de nition:


Fingerstyle guitar is music played with picking-hand ngers not with a plectrum (pick).

Though you can mix pick and ngers, called hybrid picking, this lesson focuses on pure
ngerpicking technique.
When doing so, you give each nger a name to make it easier to know which ngers to
use on each note.

Here are the picking-hand symbols used in this lesson, and in any ngerstyle song where
ngers are indicated.

Thumb = p
Index = i
Middle = m
Ring = a

Now that you know what ngerstyle guitar is, you’re ready to learn  ve ngerstyle warm
up exercises.

Fingerstyle Warm Up Patterns

Here are ve warm up exercises that you can use in your practice routine.

Each of these exercises gets all of your picking-hand ngers moving and develops
speci c ngerpicking skills.

The rst exercise has three variations, which you can see in the tabs below.

Each of these variations warms up your alternate ngerpicking, such as im and ma.

Go slow, use a metronome, take this pattern to other strings, and focus on each note
sounding at the same volume.

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Here, you move up and down each string as you bring your thumb into the picture.

Aim to have every string ring with the same volume as you focus on picking-hand control
over these strings.

If this exercise becomes easy, add chords to challenge your fretting hand with this
pattern.

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In this pattern, you alternate your thumb and each nger on one open string at a time.

Shown on the D string, you can do this exercise on any string for variation.

The goal of this warm up is to get each note to sound like it’s plucked with the same
nger.
If you can do this, you have control over your picking hand when working the exercises
below.

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You now alternate your thumb with m and i as you work open strings with this warm up.

Go slow, get every note to sound even, and nail the rhythm before moving on to the next
variation of this exercise.

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The nal warm up alternates your thumb with a and m as you play up and down the open
strings.
Again, aim for even tone and timbre, as well as being rhythmically secure to get the most
from this exercise.

If you want to take this further, add chords to your fretting hand.

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Beginner Fingerstyle Exercises

Now that you know how to warm up, you’re ready to develop picking hand technique
with these rst ve exercises.

Each exercise is written over a C chord; so work them over other chords and
progressions to expand them in your studies.

As well, always use a metronome to get the most out of these exercises in the practice
room.

The rst pattern is a straight C chord, which seems easy, but challenges your picking
hand to play evenly.

The goal of this exercise is to play every note with the same tone and volume, setting
yourself up to add accents later on.
If you want a challenge, play the lowest or highest note of the chord louder than the
other notes.

This works on nger independence, something that’s developed throughout this lesson.

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Now that you can play the chords evenly, you break up the chord into two parts.

Here, you play the lower note with p, then the upper three notes with ima as you
highlight the bass note of the C chord.

This prepares you to play bass lines later on in your studies, as well as works nger
independence in your picking hand.

When you’re comfortable with this pattern, take it to other chords and songs in your
studies.

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You now separate the melody from the lower chord as you pluck the top note followed
by the lower notes.

This exercise is essential when working towards playing solo guitar, chord melody, or
other melodic guitar styles.

Use a-pim for the picking hand on this exercise, and take it to other chords and
progressions when you feel ready.

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You now break up that C chord with this ascending ngerpicking pattern.

Use p-i-m-a for each ascending chord, and add in the accents to challenge your picking
hand further.
To add the accents, you play one note louder in each bar, marked with the accent symbol
above the tab.

Adding accents is easy on paper and tough on the fretboard, so take your time with this
ngerpicking technique.

Get all the notes to ring evenly rst then add accents when ready.

Adding accents to chords is the best exercise for nger independence at the beginner, or
any, stage.

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The nal beginner exercise reverses the previous one, as you now descend each C chord.

There are accents included so you can take this exercise to the next level in your studies.

As well, work a-m-i-p for each descending chord.

Lastly, take this exercise to other chords and progressions to get the most out of this
pattern in the practice room.

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 Fingerstyle Blues Study
Now that you worked on ngerpicking exercises alone, you bring them to a practical
situation.

In this case, you play the chords to a 12-bar blues in the key of G.

Working ngerpicking over songs is essential to bridge the gap between the practice
room and performance.

Plus, it’s plain ole fun to learn songs on guitar and exercises become boring after a while.

Once you can play this chord study, put on the backing track and make it your own.

Change the rhythms, add new chords, change the ngerpicking, etc., whatever keeps the
form while personalizing the comping.

If you have trouble learning the whole song at once, not to worry, that’s totally normal.

Start by learning one bar, then two, then three, until you’ve got the rst line down.

Repeat that process with the second line, and then the third.

At that point you’re ready to play the whole song together.

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 Intermediate Fingerstyle Exercises
Moving on, you challenge your picking hand further with these intermediate exercises.

Each of these exercises takes the beginner patterns a step further, as well as introduces
new patterns to your vocabulary.

This rst intermediate pattern alternates outer and inner notes of the C chord.

Here are the ngering variations to work with this exercise.

pa-im
pm-pi
pm-im

Once you can play this pattern comfortably, take it to other chords, keys, and full
progressions to expand it in the practice room.

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You have a few picking hand options with this exercise. Work each of these over the C
chord to challenge your picking hand.

Alternating p-i
Alternating p-m
Alternating p-a
p-i-p-m-p-i-p-m
p-m-p-a-p-m-p-a
p-i-p-a-p-i-p-a

While working these patterns, take this exercise to other chords and full progressions in
your studies.

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There are a few ngerpicking options for this exercise. For each four-note group, work
these picking hand options.

p-i-m-i
 p-m-a-m
p-i-a-i
p-i-m-a
p-a-m-i

As well as working these variations, take this exercise to other chords, keys, and
progressions.

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The next exercise features a p-i-m-a ascending and a-m-i-p descending pattern over a C
chord.

Start with that pattern then change up your picking hand to explore further options with
this exercise.

Also, start with a C chord then move on to other chords and full progressions when
ready.

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The nal intermediate exercise reverses the previous one; as you now descend then
ascend each C chord.

There are accents included so you can work your picking hand further with this pattern.

Start on C, then take this ngerstyle pattern to other chords and full progressions as you
expand it in your studies.

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Fingerstyle Minor Blues Study

You now apply the techniques in this section to a song, in this case comping the chords
to a minor blues.

Work each phrase, or even bar, one at a time in the beginning.

Then, when those small sections are comfortable, bring them together to play the whole
study.

It’s important to work ngerstyle technique alone, but it’s also important to apply it to
musical situations.

Here, you challenge your picking hand by playing the chords to a popular musical form.

After you work out this study, put on the backing track and come up with your own
accompaniment for this minor blues song.

Transitioning from exercises to songs is hard, but it’s studies like this that make it easier
to bridge that gap in your playing.

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 Advanced Fingerstyle Exercises
The last group of exercises is for guitarists that can play the intermediate and beginner
patterns with relative ease.
These patterns mix faster rhythms, two-hand coordination, and speed bursts to get your
chops to the next level.

If you nd you can do some, but not all, of these exercises, go back and review the
previous two levels of exercises.

Then when ready, return to this section to tackle these tougher exercises with stronger
ngerpicking chops.

The rst advanced ngerpicking exercise breaks up a C chord into two, two-note groups.

On the rst beat you play the 5th and 3rd strings with p and m, then you play the 4th and
2nd strings with i and a.

This seems like a simple exercise, but it challenges your coordination, especially when
adding accents.

Begin by playing this exercise with an even tone for every note.

Then, accent one note at a time, such as the open G-string, every time you see that note
in the bar.

From there, take this ngerpicking pattern to other chords, progressions, and full songs
to expand it in your studies.

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You now mix rhythms as you practice a speed burst exercise over a C chord.

Here, you play two beats of 8th notes followed by two beats of 16th notes, using p-i-m-a
for both rhythms.

Changing speeds like this, getting faster later in the bar then resetting back to the slow
rhythm at the start of the next, is an excellent chops builder.

Go slow with this exercise, use a metronome, and make sure you play exact rhythms with
a metronome, not just slow vs. fast notes.

When ready, take this pattern to other chords and progressions to push it further in
your practicing.

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You now descend the previous exercise as you continue the speed burst drill.

Use a-m-i-p for each chord in your picking hand, and feel free to experiment with other
ngerings if you want to be creative with this exercise.

As well, take this pattern to other chords and progressions to get the most out of your
practice routine.

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You now mix three different rhythms as you ascend to different chords in this exercise.

Notice the B moving to C on the second string between the rst two arpeggios.

This brings focus to both hands, elevating the dif culty of the exercise and building your
coordination in the process.

Use p-i-m-a for each chord in this arpeggio exercise.

Once you have this pattern down, take it to other chord shapes and full progressions in
your studies.

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The nal advanced exercise is a reverse of the previous one, where you now descend
each chord.

Remember to change the shapes in your fretting hand, moving between the open B and
C notes on the 2nd string.

For your picking hand, you use a-m-i-p on each descending chord shape.

When you have this pattern down, alternate it with the previous exercise, as well as
apply it to other chords and chord progressions.

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 Fingerstyle Summertime
One of the most popular, and fun, ngerstyle techniques is walking and comping chords
at the same time.

Being able to cover the bass and guitar roles in a group is one of the reasons ngerstyle
is so effective, and ef cient.

In this study, you learn a bassline and chords to the Gershwin song Summertime.

Though the technique is the same throughout, bass and chords, your picking hand gets a
workout with this tune.

This is especially true at faster tempos.

Start with just the bass notes with this study, adding in the chords later on when you feel
ready.

After you work out the study as written, put on the backing track and add your own
chords, and even notes, to this bassline.

Knowing how to walk basslines and comp chords is an invaluable skill for any modern
guitarist.

Not only does it sound sophisticated, it allows you to cover two parts in a band,
something that opens new gigging opportunities if you’re out there playing.

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 Fingerstyle Scales
As well as working ngerstyle chords and harmonic techniques, you can use ngerstyle
techniques with single notes.

When doing so, you focus on three musical concepts, scales, arpeggios, and licks.

To begin your single-note studies, here are six different ngerstyle scale exercises that
you can use in your practicing.

There are two for each performance level, beginner, intermediate, and advanced.

Each exercise is written out over a C major scale, so make sure to apply each exercise to
other keys and scales.

To begin, here are two exercises over a C major one-octave ngering.

Learn this rst exercise in the given key, then take it to other keys in your studies.

As well, take the ngerpicking variations to any scale you’re working on in the practice
room.

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In the next scale exercise, you play down then up a C major scale, reversing the previous
exercise.

Run this exercise with all three ngerpicking variations to get the most out of your time
in the practice room.

As well, go slow at rst, as seeing scales from the top down takes time to become
comfortable in your playing.

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Moving on to the intermediate scale exercises, you now work two-octave scales in your
studies.

Begin with this C major scale, using the three ngerpicking variations to expand your
technique.

Then, take this exercise to other keys and to other scales, such as Mixolydian, natural
minor, and melodic minor, in your practice routine.

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You now reverse the previous exercise as you work down then up the C major scale.

Don’t forget to work each ngerpicking variation to get the most out of this, or any,
exercise.

Also, keep track of how fast you get this exercise in your practice journal each day.

Then, aim to beat that tempo each week as you progress with your ngerstyle guitar
technique in the practice room.

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To create advanced versions of this exercise, add rhythmic variety to the two-octave
exercises you just practiced.

In these examples, you use an 8th note followed by two 16 notes as you work up and
down a two-octave C major scale.

As well, you alternate your thumb plus two other ngers in each variation.

After you can play this exercise with a metronome at a comfortable speed, take it to
other keys and other scales in your practice routine.

You can challenge yourself further by coming up with other rhythmic groupings to
practice with any scale you work on.

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The nal scale exercise reverses the previous example as you now play down then up a C
major scale.

When doing so, you keep the same advanced ngerpicking technique you used in the
previous example, alternating p-m-i and p-a-m.

Once you can play this exercise over a C major scale, take it to other keys and other
scales in your practice routine.

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 Fingerstyle Arpeggios
You now shift your focus to arpeggios as you expand your ngerstyle guitar technique.

In these patterns, you learn two beginner, intermediate, and advanced level exercises.

Work each exercise in the given key at rst, with a metronome, before taking it to other
keys in your studies.

As well, each of these exercises can be applied to any arpeggio, such as m7, m7b5, dim7,
mMaj7, etc.

Work each ngerpicking variation to get the most out of these exercises, and for a
further challenge, add accents to each shape.

The rst arpeggio exercise ascends then descends a Cmaj7 one-octave shape.

When doing so, you have three ngerpicking options, which you can see written above
the tab.

Work each option with a metronome, slow at rst and speeding things up over time.

From there, take this arpeggio to other keys, and then apply the ngerpicking variations
to other arpeggios, such as 7, m7, and m7b5 shapes.

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To challenge your picking hand further, reverse the previous exercise by starting at the
top of the arpeggio and working down.

When doing so, you only bring your thumb into play half way through the exercise.

Make sure to use your thumb on that lowest note in order to get the most from this
exercise.

If you’re daydreaming a bit, or focusing too much on your fretting hand, it’s easy to
forget to use your thumb on that lower C.

To avoid this, go slow, even working without any tempo at rst if needed, before
speeding things up when ready.

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Moving on to the intermediate arpeggio exercises, you now work on two-octave shapes.

Here’s an example of how to ngerpick a two-octave Cmaj7 arpeggio, which you can
then take to other keys in your practicing.

Work this arpeggio with a metronome and with the three picking variations in the tab to
gain the most bene t from this exercise.

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You now reverse the previous exercise as you play down then up a Cmaj7 arpeggio.
When doing so, the thumb comes into play half way through, rather than at the
beginning as in the previous example.

Make sure to run this arpeggio with a metronome at different speeds, as well as take it
to other keys.

Lastly, take this and any arpeggio exercise to other ngerings and chord qualities, such
as 7th, m7, m7b5, and dim7 arpeggios.

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Moving on to the advanced arpeggio exercises, you now add rhythmic variety to a two-
octave Cmaj7 arpeggio.

Adding rhythms not only works your musicianship, it challenges your picking hand in
both control and coordination.

In these examples, you play an 8th note followed by two 16th notes on each beat.

After you can play this rhythm comfortably, create your own variations by using other
rhythms over arpeggios in your studies.

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In this nal arpeggio exercise, you reverse the pattern from the previous example.

Though it’s only a reversal of a pattern you know, working down then up arpeggios is
tough on your picking hand.

Because of this, go slow, work with a metronome, and take this pattern to other keys as
you expand it in your practicing.

Once you can play this pattern, work arpeggios with different rhythms as you challenge
your picking hand further in the practice room.

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 Fingerstyle Guitar Licks
Now that you’ve worked arpeggios and scales on their own, it’s time to bring them
together in musical phrases.

The following licks are divided into three sections of two lines each, beginner,
intermediate, and advanced.

Though they use techniques from each of those experience levels, you can work any of
these licks even if you’re a beginner.

Start with the rst phrase and work down the list from there, as each gets progressively
more dif cult.

If you get stuck on a lick, not to worry, go back and work on the technique exercises until
you’re ready to tackle that tough lick in the practice room.

If you’re an improvising musician, take these licks into your solos as well as use them to
build technique.

While you don’t want to only run licks in your solos, having a solid vocabulary is essential
when learning how to play lead guitar.

The rst ngerstyle lick alternates arpeggios over a ii V I progression in C.

When doing so, you use your thumb in several places, alternating i and m the rest of the
way.

Starting arpeggios with your thumb is something you’ve already worked on, but not in a
musical phrase.

If it’s awkward at rst, go slow, use a metronome, and isolate the Dm7 and Cmaj7 notes
to focus on that picking technique.

When it’s comfortable, bring the whole line together in your studies.
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In this line, you descend the rst arpeggio, before alternating your way through the
chords from there.

Again, there’s a suggested ngering below the notes that you can start using.

If it ts, stick with it. But if it’s uncomfortable, change the ngering to something better
suited to your hands and musical tastes.

Same goes for every lick and solo in this lesson. The ngerings are there to get you
started, but aren’t one size ts all.

Try them out and then alter where necessary to get the most out each lick in the practice
room.

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In this ngerstyle riff, you mix scales and arpeggios over a minor ii V I progression.

Though these are techniques you’ve studied, scales and arpeggios, moving between
them in a lick is tough.

Take your time with this line, work it in sections, and focus on the transition where you
switch from steps to leaps in the phrase.

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In this ngerstyle lick, you run up several arpeggios, and jump around an arpeggio over
D7alt.
There’s a double thumb pick at the end of the rst bar and beginning of the second bar,
where you play two notes in a row with your thumb.

More on this in the next lick, but for now, experiment with that ngering and see if it
makes sense to you.

If not, you can alter your picking hand for those notes to make it more comfortable.

If so, work that technique so it’s available when needed in future musical situations.

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In this ii V I lick, you use a double thumb to start the line, which is a new technique for
you at this point in your development.

If you’re going to double any nger when picking, it’s the thumb, and only twice in a row
to avoid any technical issues.

Here’s an example of when it makes sense to double your thumb.

The line starts with an arpeggio over Am7, and the rst two notes are on the same
string.

Rather than play p-i, or i-m, there, which would make the rest of the arpeggio awkward
to pick, you play p-p.
You might not double pick your thumb very often, but when you do it’s important to
have that technique in your repertoire.

Lines like these prepare you for just those musical situations.

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This nal lick uses a number of arpeggios over each chord in the progression, including
both 3 and 4-note shapes.

Because of this, your thumb is highly involved during this minor ii V I line.

Go slow with this lick, work it with a metronome, and then when ready, bring it to the
audio below.

From there, take it to other keys to expand this idea in the practice room.

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 Fingerstyle Soloing – Solar Study
To get your ngerpicking licks onto the guitar, here’s a solo over the tune Solar that uses
material from this lesson.

Work each phrase one at a time to begin. Then, when ready, bring them together to form
the whole solo.

I’ve included a sample picking-hand ngering to get you started with these lines.

But, make sure to work on different ngerpicking variations to get the most out of this
study.

There’s also a backing track to solo over with your own lines as you improvise over this
tune in the practice room.

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