Rhythm Exercise – Eighth Note Strumming Patterns

Eighth note strumming patterns are bread and butter to an acoustic guitarist. It’s therefore essential that you are comfortable in performing a variety of patterns. The exercise in this article sets out a fundamental approach to building strong rhythm skills, as well as a fun and challenging way to explore different strumming patterns. For this exercise, you will need your guitar, a piece of paper, a pencil, and an eraser. Continue reading Rhythm Exercise – Eighth Note Strumming Patterns

5 Intermediate Fingerpicking Patterns

When learning how to play fingerstyle guitar, one of the biggest roadblocks many of us face is moving beyond basic fingerpicking patterns as you progress into the intermediate study of the genre. In this lesson you will learn how to play 5 intermediate level fingerpicking patterns that you can use to build your technique, as well as add variety to your songwriting and performance in a fingerstyle situation. Continue reading 5 Intermediate Fingerpicking Patterns

Open String Guitar Fingerpicking Patterns

When working out fingerpicking patterns on the guitar, we often explore common right-hand groupings over our favourite chord shapes, and then take them to chord progressions and songs from there. While working fingerpicking patterns over chord shapes can be effective for developing hand coordination and growing your musical vocabulary, you can also explore open string fingerpicking patterns in order to bring new textures and sounds to your guitar playing. Continue reading Open String Guitar Fingerpicking Patterns

How to Read PIMA Symbols on Guitar

When learning how to play Acoustic and Fingerstyle Guitar, one of the first things that you can run into when playing songs are the PIMA symbols. These four letters, P-I-M-A, come from the classical guitar world, and are used to indicate which finger plays which note in your picking hand. Continue reading How to Read PIMA Symbols on Guitar

Easy Acoustic Blues Pattern For Guitar

Because the blues is such a staple of the modern guitarist’s repertoire, and it has been used as the basis for countless fingerstyle and acoustic guitar songs, having an understanding of the blues form, and a few acoustic guitar patterns under your fingers, can go a long when in your development as an acoustic guitarist. Continue reading Easy Acoustic Blues Pattern For Guitar

Odd Grouping Fingerpicking Pattern For Acoustic Guitar

When learning how to play acoustic guitar fingerpicking patterns, many players dig into common groupings of 2, 4 and 8 notes that use both 8th and quarter notes in their construction. While these patterns are essential learning for any fingerstyle player, and can be used to play and write countless interesting songs on the acoustic guitar, sometimes we want a fingerpicking pattern that moves beyond the standard time and note groupings. Continue reading Odd Grouping Fingerpicking Pattern For Acoustic Guitar