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Guitar chord forum - chordie → Acoustic → Learning different picking techniques with the right hand.
Can anyone direct me to useful videos on this or give me advice. I am 58 years old and started playing guitar this year. I am actually doing quite well but would like to learn some easy picking patterns for the right hand, with the left hand holding down the chord. If anyone can help, thanks a lot.
Hi there! I don't think I've welcomed you to the forum as of yet... so WELCOME! If you go to YouTube and search on "picking techniques guitar" you will find MOUNTAINS of videos! Just remember to try the pattern over and over and over slowly until you get it down then speed up slowly... once you can do the pattern well at the speed you like, then try adding the chord changes in. You want your right hand to kind of be on "auto pilot". That seems to work well for me anyhow! 
Good Luck!
You got any particularly useful ones? I have watched loads, but many are not really what I need. I need to learn to incorporate them into songs.
Welcome to Chordie, thingwhatsit. Go back to Yopu YTube and search on travis picking pattern. Merle Travis developed this unigue picking pattern way back when. It might get you started. Good luck.
Sounds like you might be interested in something like this: http://www.folkofthewood.com/page5308.htm
It's a flatpicking technique called "crosspicking" and can be quite useful. While there isn't any video on the site that I'm aware of, there's plenty of tab to get you started.
The first finger picking pattern I learned was this one. It works with all chords, but for this example we'll use a G chord. Play G with your left hand, and keep it there. With your right hand play the low E (first string at the top)with your thumb, then the B string(5th string down)with your middle finger, then G string(4th string down) with your thumb again, then the high E string(6th or last string down) with your ring finger. Once you get this down you can alternate the bass notes between the Low E string and the A string. It's all about practice, the more you do the easier things become. Start slow and play clear notes, then you can speed up if you want to. There are tons of different ways to finger pick, find one you like and feels comfortable to you and practice it.
Peace and music, Rev.
Here are a couple of easy ones I use.
An 8-note pattern: Use strings 4-1 only (D, G, B, e). Use thumb on 4, index on 3, middle on 2 and ring on 1. Pick 4-3-2-3-1-2-3-2. Play whatever chord you like with your left hand and it should sound OK. When you get proficient, switch your thumb to the string (6, 5 or 4) which frets the root note of the chord. I use this for Behind Blue Eyes (The Who) and Love Hurts (Nazareth's version).
A 7-note pattern: Again, with strings 4-1, simply 4-3-2-1-2-3-4. I use it for Everybody Hurts (REM) with a little variation on the walkdown G to Em.
Some advice from someone who is just above rank-amateur at fingerpicking: If you want to do it, learn a lot of different styles and patters. Otherwise, all of your songs will sound alike.
Practicing these simple patters will prepare you for learning more complex and song-specific ones, such as More Than a Feeling (Boston) and Dust in the Wind (Kansas).
Good luck,
'Nomikal
Goofy cover, but this book will get you going in the right direction: http://www.amazon.com/Mel-Teach-Yoursel … amp;sr=8-3
It's the one I used. Despite the adolescent cover, the material inside is good. It walks you in slowly but by lesson six you're very well challenged. Or at least I was.
- Zurf
Search "hybrid picking" on youtube. Once I got it down It became my favorite way of picking. You can also easily transition into a strum pattern. Good luck!
Thanks guitarg77, I'll look that up. Always looking for ways to spruce things up. Eventually I'll get that Travis picking thing down and folks'll point and say "Look at the dude Travis pickin'." Until then, it's an uphill battle.
Guitar chord forum - chordie → Acoustic → Learning different picking techniques with the right hand.
