Dansm's Fingerpicking Lessons
More Complex Picking Patterns
Once you have learned how to pick, you can begin to learn new chords and
to make up your own picking patterns. Basically I will outline patterns
on common chords, and allow you to invent different ones and to play around
on more obscure chords.

  1. Now we will study a pattern for the D chord. This pattern is very similar to the C chord pattern except different strings are used. Simply shift your fingers up one string, so the thumb is playing the 4th string, as shown in Figure 1.

  1. Now I will introduce a new pattern, based on the C and D chord patterns learned above. This new pattern is shown in Figure 2. Notice that in the middle of this exercise you must change your finger position to switch between the C and D chord.


  1. Once you feel comfortable changing chords, you can learn a new pattern of picking, shown in Figure 3. Start slowly, and work up to speed; you have never seen this pattern before.



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© 1997 Daniel E. Smith.