How do I learn fingerstyle guitar from YouTube videos?

By the RepeatWatch team · Updated

Quick answer

Learn fingerstyle guitar one bar at a time, thumb first. Loop a bar of the arrangement, slow it to about 0.5×, and learn the steady bass the thumb plays. Then add the melody notes your fingers pluck on top. Once the bar runs without stopping, let the speed trainer bring it up to tempo.

Try this now: loop one bar of a fingerstyle tune at 0.5× and play only the thumb notes ten times. Can you keep them steady while you look away from your picking hand?

How to learn a fingerstyle arrangement bar by bar

  1. Loop one bar. Set A on beat one and B on the next beat one. Fingerstyle arrangements are dense, so one bar is plenty to start with.
  2. Thumb only. At 0.5×, play just the bass notes. They're often steady quarter notes or an alternating pattern between two strings.
  3. Add the melody. Loop again and add the notes your fingers play. Notice which melody notes land together with a thumb note and which fall between them.
  4. Count the in-between notes. Count "1 and 2 and" aloud. A melody note on an "and" pulls against the thumb; drop to 0.4× for bars full of them.
  5. Climb gradually. Speed trainer: Step +0.05×, Every 4 loops, Goal 1×. Fingerstyle usually needs more repeats per step than strumming.
  6. Join bars in pairs. Loop bars 1–2, then 2–3, and save each pair as a section. The joins between bars are where the chord shapes change.

Try it now: paste a YouTube link.

5 common mistakes

  • Learning melody and bass together from the very first loop.
  • Letting the thumb follow the melody's rhythm instead of staying steady.
  • Copying finger movements from the screen without listening for which notes should ring.
  • Starting with a dense arrangement before you can keep a simple thumb pattern going.
  • Speeding up while notes still buzz or get cut off; those problems grow at full speed.

Frequently asked questions

What is fingerstyle guitar?

Fingerstyle is playing the guitar by plucking the strings with the fingertips or nails instead of a single pick, often playing bass, chords and melody at the same time.

Should I use tabs for fingerstyle?

Tabs show where to put your fingers, but they often leave out the rhythm. Loop the video alongside the tab so you hear how long each note lasts.

How slow should I practice fingerstyle?

Slow enough that every note rings clearly and the thumb stays steady, often 0.4× to 0.6× at first. Raise it by 0.05× every few loops.

Sources