Fingerstyle training: Outside In

This pattern sounds great in its own right and prepares your hands for other patterns.

You’ll see that the pattern uses all eighth notes, and that the second half of the bar is an exact repeat of the first half of the bar. It’s called outside in because your right hand is using the thumb,…

Fingerstyle Training: Pinch pattern

This is a very frequently used variation where the thumb and middle finger pick at the same time on beat 1. It introduces a new rhythm. Instead of all the notes being the same length, the first is double length: quarter note followed by eighth notes.

We can also play a variation where the last…

St James Infirmary Travis

If you have played the melody to St James Infirmary and added in the root notes for the chords, you’ll already have an arrangement that sounds good. One of the ways you can develop this further is to add in more bass notes on beats two and four in the bar. This is like combining…

St James Infirmary Chord Melody

In this training we will be working on creating effective arrangements from melodies.

It feels and sounds great to be able to sit down and play a complete instrumental arrangement with nothing but one instrument.

This is not the same as accompanying yourself singing, although that is fun and valuable too. Chord melody is when…