Beginner to Fingerpicking

[Handsome Devil]

I've vowed to never use a pick again when I'm holding an acoustic! I wanna become a more "rounded" guitarist.

Can anybody point me in the direction of a few songs that are quite easy to learn with fingerpicked acoustic guitars in them?

I've been learning some Badly Drawn Boy stuff as he's a songwriting hero of mine. Also started to learn Blackbird, but it seems quite hard. Any other Beatles numbers that are slightly easier for a beginner?

thanks for any help

[clifford]

why not dive in headfirst... stairway to heaven and nothing else matters (metallica). and IF you can stomach it.. the intro to one last breath by creed is a good example (they do a lot of fingerpicking intros..) again, maybe try and choke down some 3 doors down, they do some intros with fingers (give me a break, i USED to be a fan of creed and 3dd)

those get a little wacky at times, especially when you're beginning.

oh yeah.. a good example of travis picking can be found in landslide by fleetwood mac or smashing pumpkins..

not really good examples of BEGINNER stuff, but if you can do these its a nice start

[Handsome Devil]

I'm only really interested in acoustic stuff for the moment, the stuff you mentioned sounded a bit rraawwwkkk for me Clifford!

I try to avoid using books and stuff guru, cause I always spot one little mistake and it annoys me so much! I'm got a pretty good ear, so I can always learn stuff just by listening.

Blackbird took a while, I've almost got it nailed now. I find it so rewarding playing what I can of it already so, it's such a gorgeous piece of music!

Is Badly Drawn Boy well known in the U.S now?

thanks guys

[Crash]

Tears in Heaven by Eric CLapton is fingerpicking and not overly difficult.

[guy malone]

blackbird isn't that hard i learned it all in one night

learn stairway to heaven

[clifford]

Originally posted by Handsome Devil
I'm only really interested in acoustic stuff for the moment, the stuff you mentioned sounded a bit rraawwwkkk for me Clifford!


nooooo.. i was talking about the intros of those songs.. and they're all either clean electric (which will carry over) or acoustic.. those are the songs i learned on my acoustic before i even got my electric.. they are good examples, i promise.
you cant distort fingerpicking much anyway..

[TheWizard]

i hate it when people tell me to play stairway to heaven. its so damn boring after a while...

[accord dude]

Hey Stair Way is a great song learn it and love it.

And also learn Dust In the Wind. Its an easy finger picker. It was the first song I learned to finger pick. Also you can finger pick the intro to More Than A Feeling. Also try i dont like the dude to much but John Mayer's Your Body Is A Wonderland its an easy song to learn. Before You Accuse Me by bodiddley or eric clapton its a bit harder but it dosent seem to much harder. Im learning Before You Accuse Me right now ive been working on it for under a day and really I had the Just of it down in under an hour. But its not been perfected yet.

But for me as i guess many of yall finger picking came really easy. Its an easy style to learn and its fun. Especially the look some people give you when they notice your not using a pick.

[The User]

A Perfect Circle - 3 Libras

[joeinthebox1980]

guru is right, beatles stuff are realtively easy to learn and since a lot of those songs should be relatively familiar, you'll know when you get it right. :)

blackbird is a good place to start.
tears in heaven, another good place.

also... a lot of female acoustic guitarists finger pick, try some Jewel stuff.

all of that is good practice.

i love fingerpicking!

EDIT: y'know, as a sort of side note, i think Johnny Marr of the Smiths did a lot of fingerpicking, even in his electric work.

[joeinthebox1980]

Originally posted by gururyan
Of course if it's anything like his electric work...it's not beginner level. Damn that Johnny Marr!

very true. :)

marr's work is fingerpicking at its most unique, i think... it's not in the traditional vein of fingerpicking... but he makes it work!

[galaxee]

ahem. the entertainer. yknow, the generic ice cream truck song.

[accord dude]

Dude the Entertaner is the worlds best song I love playing at on Paino but I have never played it on Guitar I think that im going to have to give it a try. Humm...Well if you say the Entertainer why not try a few other Scott Joppelin songs like Mapel Leaf Rags or something else?

And also try Baby I'm Going To Leave You by Zeppelin.

[thetikiman]

Look into playing some Don Ross (First Ride, King Street Suite), guy is a folk genius. Also some classical tunes might help you out as well (Invention #8).

Also when you're feeling really good try Fantasia in E Minor by Sylvius Leopold Weiss.

[Dubious]

Originally posted by accord dude
Hey Stair Way is a great song learn it and love it.



It may be a great song, but that doesn't mean it's a prerequisite for a good guitar player. Why should I learn to play it, when everyone else already can? They've got it covered - I'll take care of learning Jeff Buckley songs or something.

[Dubious]

Which reminds me: Buckley's "Mojo Pin" has some fun fingerpicking in it.

[Wir-Click-Wir]

"Blackbird" is one of the easiest fingerpicking songs out there. "We're Going To Be Friends" by the White Stripes is simple, too.

I'm having a very difficult time playing Don Mclean's "Vincent" right now. Anyone got this song down?