All about fingerstyle

Fingerstyle is a fairly common style of guitar playing that is very popular with musical performers. It is quite difficult in terms of mastering not only for beginners, but also for professional guitarists with extensive experience. You can find out below about what fingerstyle is, what its features are, why it is difficult.

Fingerstyle is one of the styles of guitar playing, which implies the conduct of several parts at once by one performer - solo, rhythm, bass, and even often percussion. Thus, the style of playing allows you to perform both the accompaniment and the melody at once, which makes it possible to fully reveal the full potential of the instrument, to show its versatility.

Compared to other guitar playing styles, fingerstyle is one of the most difficult to master techniques., since a musician in the process of playing must learn to conduct melodic, bass and, at the same time, percussion parts. This is challenging not only for a beginner musician, but also for a performer who already has a wealth of experience in playing the guitar, for example, in the classical style.

Many famous names in musical history are associated with fingerstyle, which include Don Ross, Eric Mongrain, Evan Dobson, Don Ross, Anthony Dufour, Tommy Emmanuel, Chet Atkins, Andy McKee and others. All these performers greatly contributed to the spread and further development of fingerstyle.

Fingerstyle has a number of its own techniques. We will talk about them below.

This technique, which gave the name to the style as a whole, involves playing bass parts with the thumb of the right hand, while the other fingers are responsible for leading the melody on high-sounding strings.

This playing technique is most often used when playing guitar (mostly acoustic). As in the first case, the bass part is played with the thumb of the right hand, however, not only melodies, but also chord accords (accompaniment) are reproduced on the high strings.

It should be noted that the above playing techniques have long been intertwined in a single style called "fingerstyle", adding here also percussion effects. Percussion on a guitar means light tapping on one or another component of the guitar: on the neck, soundboard, sides, muffled strings. This produces sounds that simulate percussion.

It is worth paying great attention to the methods of percussion sound production, which also have their own names and characteristics.

• Kik. The name itself means a dull and low sound literally. It is reproduced by hitting the inner side of the base of the wrist at a place that is located just above the resonator hole. The result is a sound that resembles that of a bass drum.

• Snair. If translated literally from English, then this is the name of the snare drum - snare. This sound is reproduced by striking the fingerboard on the guitar deck just below the strings. The sound is quite bright and clear.

• Hi-hat. The name of this strike is also closely related to the drum kit: one of its elements - a double cymbal - bears the same name. To get a similar sound on a guitar, you need to firmly and sharply press the strings against the guitar neck, lightly hitting them with your finger.

If you are just starting learning to play the classical guitar from scratch, then it is better to postpone mastering the finger style for later, since this style is one of the most difficult to master.

If you have certain skills in playing the classical guitar, you can proceed to mastering this style as well. But it is worth considering that training will require a lot of time and perseverance, even from those who masterfully play the classical guitar.

You can start with video tutorials. In addition, it is worth referring to the literature, including various self-instruction manuals and not only. So, from the literature, you can recommend the following books:

• Frederick Node's Guitar Tutorial;
• Anthology of American Acoustic Guitar.

The first step is to start with a basic rhythm pattern that includes only kick and snare. It is best to practice counting, and for this it will be correct to resort to the help of a metronome.

Having mastered the first stage, you can move on to the next. Diversify the rhythm pattern by introducing two consecutive third beat kicks of eighths. Again, you don't have to forget about counting to keep the rhythm.

The third exercise is to make it harder for yourself by adding hi-hat hits between kick and snair. To do this, you already have to use both hands.

Further, getting used to using two hands at once, you need to learn to use both kick and hi-hat at once. Then add playing your right thumb on the 5th and 6th strings, thus incorporating the bass part into the exercise.

Before moving on to finger style, familiarize yourself with the most basic tricks of playing the classical guitar. Learn the basics, including instrument tuning, basic combat, busting, and more. Pay attention to the correct fit, as well as the position of the guitar. This also needs to be worked out in order to ease the efforts on the back and arms, thereby making the game process more enjoyable. Master the pick.

When honing percussion or any other technique, try to bring your movements to complete automatism. Do not chase after speed - when performing a musical composition, the important role is played not so much by the musician's speed as by the quality of his playing. The best option is to start at a slower pace and continue at a gradual increase according to your ability.

It is also important to mention the use of the metronome when exercising. It will be useful not only for beginners, but also for experienced musicians, since it is this accessory that will contribute to the observance of the maximum precise rhythm.