Play your First Fingerstyle Song (supercharged!)

The Study Guide for this course has been replaced and updated! Please go to http://fingerpickingwithbob.com , sign in and get started!!! Watch the video above for more details- happy pickin’ !! bob

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48 Comments

  1. I have been picking Dobro since 1980 but am interested in Fingerpicking Guitar. Thanks a Lot.

    • Robert Harris

      Hey Robert, great to hear from you. The fingerpicking is going to be easy for you since you are already doing it on Dobro. And I’m thinking just take the two metal picks off and use the thumb pick (you probably already figured that one out). We are probably into the same music (bluegrass).. Keep me posted Robert!
      bob

  2. Scott Twardoski

    My 10 year old son just got his first guitar and is very frustrated because his left hand (he is left handed) is small and is having problems placing his fingers in the correct places on the neck/frets etc.

    • Robert Harris

      Hey Scott, thank you and your son for taking the lessons with me- but I am sorry for the frustration. Let’s see if we can make things easier for him.
      There’s two reasons why your son is experiencing problems with his reach, and the first one (and most likely solution) is holding the guitar properly. Here’s a video that I recommend that will help a lot with the reach. https://youtu.be/0eNtyn783cc . It’s important to make sure he is positioned using all the steps (rules). Even not doing one of them could hinder his reach.

      The second thing could be the guitar itself that might be too big of a size and/or just hard to play. But the proper position will make a world of difference. I will add that it’s even more important to have the good technique
      with smaller hands.
      Please let me know if this helps- it does take some time to get used to it so just make sure he is in position every time he plays. Later on once he starts being able to play, his fingers will automatically arch and he can “ease up” on the rules (or not).. This is the proper way to play the guitar. Wishing you both a great weekend!
      bob

  3. Just the speed I need to start learning

    • Robert Harris

      Hey George,
      great to hear from you and sorry for the delay (I’ve been sick).
      I’m glad to hear that the lessons are helping (and at a good speed!).
      Wishing you a happy guitar week and thanks again!
      bob

  4. Jonathan Booth

    im a beginner and i really want to learn

    • Robert Harris

      Hi Jonathan, thank you for taking the lessons here and you are in the right place. This is the easiest and best place to start for you. I hope you also got the free PDF study guide (it has more videos and lessons that are not shown here).
      Wishing you good luck on your guitar, and if you need any help, please let me know.
      bob

  5. Finger picking made easy- what a concept! This is going to be fun!!!

    • Robert Harris

      Hey Al,
      glad you found my website!
      Yes, you’ll have to let me know how it goes… tried my best to make this easy as possible.
      There’s also a free study guide that goes with all this..
      Wishing you a Great Christmas and New Year.! bob

  6. Hi Robert!
    So I got a Gituare for Christmas, and I don’t have experience with it.
    But, I do have experience with a Ukulele.
    So I would like to learn step for step some cool songs, with finger picking, and strumming songs.
    It would be nice, because I’m not thinking about doing lessons…
    So this is perfect for me to learn at home, and teaching myself, with you’re guidends😎🧘😁

  7. Hey Robert!
    I got a gituare for Christmas, and I don’t have experience.
    But I do have experience with a Ukulele.
    So, i would like to learn fingerpicking and strumming songs.
    I’m not thinking about doing lessons, so this is great for me to teach myself with you’re guidends.😎🧘😁
    Thanks a lot

    • Robert Harris

      Hi Annabel, great to hear from you and Happy New Year. What a nice gift for Christmas!!!
      With you already playing the Ukulele you are going to have a much easier time than someone who never played music before.
      The neck size of the guitar may seem difficult at first, and holding the guitar is important to form clear notes.
      Let me know any time if you need some guitar help or have a question. I do recommend getting the free study guide
      as well. If you can’t locate the signup page, let me know and I will help with that.
      bob

  8. Hey Robert!
    So looked everywhere, but I can’t find the ‘ study guide ‘
    So… if you could help me finding it.
    It would be very kind…
    Because now in Holland it’s still holiday, and it’s a good time to learn the guitar, where I don’t have to do anything.
    Thank you 🙏

    Annabel

  9. Hi Bob,
    Happy New Year! Thanks for taking your time teaching for beginners like me. You make the lessons easy to understand and I don’t have to keep pausing so much. Lol.

    • Robert Harris

      Hi Cottanman, great to hear from you and happy new year to you too!! When I get my new website done the lessons are going to go even slower (ha ha!!).. I’m glad it’s all going well and wishing you continued success!!
      Keep me posted and thank you again!!

  10. Hey!!!
    So I’ve been searching up on YouTube for some easy guitar songs…
    And it’s doing quite good, only I have one problem…
    Wen a make a tune, then some times I hear this buzzing sound coming from the strings.
    And I know that it is because I’m slightly touching a other string, whilst I’m pressing on a string…
    But that’s more difficult wenn you have smaller fingers and hands.
    Sometimes I’m also having trouble with reaching some string’s whilst I’m pressing on other one’s
    But that’s something else…
    So is there something I can do about these things?
    And I’m still wondering , how to get that free study guide…😑🤭
    So if someone has an answer to that😇😎🤣🤣👍

    Thank you allot!

    Annabel

    • Robert Harris

      Hi Annabel,
      I just emailed you a video that you should watch to solve all of your right hand problems. I did send you the study guide on January 5th but it looks like you didn’t open my email.
      I just re-sent it again. The email is from Acousticguitarvideos@gmail.com
      Please let me know that you received it. !!
      happy guitar!! bob

  11. Lonnie Linde

    Hi Bob, Looking forward to doing some fingerstyle with your lessons. I have tried some others and a lot of other people go too quickly and are not very clear what is going on. But your video’s, from what I’ve seen, start out very clearly and take time for us newbie’s. Great! Thanks for that.

    Sincerely,
    Lonnie Linde

    • Robert Harris

      Hi Lonnie, great to hear from you and thank you for taking the lessons with me. I’m so happy that the lessons are helpful and going at the right speed for you!! We cover so much information so don’t ever feel like you are going to slow (I’m always telling everyone to slow down!). Wishing you happy guitar 2023 and thanks again!
      bob

  12. Samuel Isaza

    Hello Robert, I am learning to play the acoustic guitar. I know nothing about playing and you have made easier for me. Thank you.

    • Robert Harris

      Hi Samuel, Great to hear from you and ‘m glad the lessons are helping!
      Wishing you lots of music out of your guitar in 2023 and beyond!

  13. Yves Auprix

    Great approach

  14. Hi, For the last year I’ve trying to learn to play guitar. I will be a young 64 year old in just a couple days. I don’t believe age has any drawbacks, hope you agree. It’s taken me a longer time than I think it should to have learned some chords ( I do NOT like F chords), smiling. My movements from chord to chord is not smooth. However, I’m starting to trust my fingers, by looking less at my chord shapes. I am boring myself by just knowing chords and not understanding how to use them with my right strumming hand. So I’m at a place where I need to bring things together or I’m going to crash. Note, I don’t enjoy just strumming everything to death. I like to learn fingerpicking styles, I hear them as a more fulfilling and richer sounding way to play. I’ve only watched a few of you videos and I found I could follow you. So I’m hoping to learn more.
    Please forgive me if my message jumps around or makes no sense, I have a cold, cold medications make my a very spacey. If you can relate to what I’m saying smile with me, please. Thanks!

    • Robert Harris

      Hey Rodney, great to hear from you and thank you for taking the lessons here. You are not old at all (I am a year behind you!!). Consider both of us fine wines rather than a cheap sports drink full of sugar.
      Yea, it takes everyone longer to learn the chords as this is always the most difficult part for beginners. My goal and the way my system works is to introduce chords slowly, starting out with one and two fingered chords. But with strumming, this is not possible as you have to form full chords since you are strumming through most all the strings. But with fingerpicking, we can choose the strings to pluck and omit the notes that are not part of the chord.. Then slowly from one course to the next we start to learn the full chords which will be much easier when you have some playing time and experience on the guitar.

      I’m here to help so if you run into any snags on the guitar, please let me know.
      One last thing… I’m spaced out a majority of the time and not taking any meds…. (what is my excuse?) so here’s to a big smile on my face…!!
      Have a great guitar week Rodney… keep me posted!!
      bob

  15. Ray Gosselin

    Hi Bob this is Great and i like the way you teach and the play along video
    Send stuff my way
    Regards

    • Robert Harris

      Hey Ray, thanks for taking the lessons here. There’s a better version of this with a free PDF study guide I highly recommend. I’ll send it to you if you can email me at acousticguitarvideos@gmail.com.
      Wishing you the best on your guitar and a great week!!
      bob

  16. Nice to find this, dedided my father in laws guitar needed some use but for that i need to learn how to play and your lessons are a great completment to the in person ones I am taking!

    • Robert Harris

      Hey Daniel, sorry for the delay as my notifications are not getting emailed to me anymore. I’m glad to hear that the lessons are helping.. Hope you are having some good progress as well. If you need any help, please let me know. Wishing you all the best and a great weekend!!
      bob

  17. Denis Taillefer

    Hey Bob, I Just started watching your videos and they are great.
    Looking forward to learning how to play.

    • Robert Harris

      Hey Denis, sorry for the delay as I’m just seeing your message now. Glad you are playing and if you need any help, just let me know. I’m slowly putting all my courses in modular form on a new website and will let everyone know when it’s ready. Much easier to follow along. Wishing you a great weekend!!

  18. Jørgen T

    Thanks!

  19. just trying to learn something new

    • Robert Harris

      Hi Reece, thank you for taking the lesson here and sorry for the delay. I just updated the video here as the Study Guide has been moved to another location. Hopefully you will see the new video above but if not, just hit the refresh button. Wishing you good fingerpicking!! bob

  20. Lani Harris

    Looking forward to receiving your study guide and building on my finger picking skills

    • Robert Harris

      Hi Lani, just in case you didn’t get the study guide, please watch the new video above.. as the study guide is now on my new website (fingerpickingwithbob.com) .
      I also sent you an email too..
      Wishing you all the best on your guitar!!!
      bob

  21. Hi, I’m a complete beginner to the guitar and tried various apps and YouTube channels but none teaches it in such a calm and easy to understand like you do. Anyway, I was told to get the guide book here? Don’t even know if you still operate this site or not, if not then it’s okay.
    P/s: I aim to someday being able to play Endure and Survive (the main theme of the game The Last of Us). If you see this, I’d love to see you give the song a shot as well on the YouTube. Lots of love.

    • Robert Harris

      Hi Zanos, thank you for the kind words and very sorry for the long delay. I seem to not be getting any email notifications when people comment here. If you see this message, please watch the new video above, as the study guide course has moved… I will also email you!
      Hopefully this course will move you closer to playing Endure and Survive (if that’s a fingerstyle song).
      Wishing you all the best and thanks again!!
      bob

  22. Hey, I scouted the YouTube space and couldn’t really find a teacher as great as you on this subject, finger-picking guide seem pretty rare and often only comprehensible for trained guitar that know how to play guitar with a pick already. Really appreciate your work and really looking forward to seeing your guide book. Great health to you!
    P/s: My ultimate goal is to play the song: Endure and Survive from the game: The last of us. I’d love to see you play it on the channel.

    • Robert Harris

      Hi again Zanos, I am a victim of technology- so sorry for not responding quicker. I just emailed you! Trying to send you the course!
      My email address is acousticguitarvideos@gmail.com … Wishing you a happy guitar week and great excellent health to you too!!
      bob

  23. Jay Memmelaar

    Looking forward to learning a lot more.

    • Robert Harris

      Hi Jay, sorry for the delay! I just replaced the old video above with an updated one. Course is being moved to my new website.
      This will be where all my courses will be at in the near future. Hope you will visit!
      All the best and looking forward to helping you!!
      bob

  24. Just bought a new acoustic Dream Maker. Hope I’ll have a great journey.

    • Robert Harris

      Hi Malvern, Very exciting… there’s nothing better than a new guitar… I am wishing you well!!! Please let me know if you need any help!!
      bob

  25. Brian Diver

    Hi Bob, Thanks for putting up this beginner fingerstyle course. I have loved listening to fingerstyle guitar for years. I just retired a year ago and found an old Stella small guitar (probably from the 50’s or earlier) that was in my grandmothers basement when I was a small child. It sounds way out of tune but I ordered a tuner and will practice on it until I can get a nicer beginner guitar. I’m looking forward to working on your course. Thanks for helping all of us. Now I need to get that study guide.

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