7 Mistakes Beginner Fingerstyle Guitar Players Make

Have you ever wondered how to actually get good at fingerstyle guitar?

Many players try to learn but give up quickly when they feel like they aren’t making progress. Or they don’t have the “natural” talent required. But this can be easily fixed when you know how. And fingerstyle guitar can easily be one of the most rewarding ways to play – especially alone. 

It gives you easier access to be able to cover multiple parts at once on guitar. This is how legendary fingerpickers like Chet Atkins, Tommy Emmanuel, and Jerry Reed are all able to sound like a full band by themselves – without singing.

In this post, I want to share with you 7 mistakes beginner fingerstyle guitar players make, starting with…

1. Playing patterns that are way too complicated

I see this all the time. In fact, in Los Angeles where I live, there are very few fingerstyle players. There are more in Nashville for this style. But many times a guitar student will ask their instructor to teach them fingerstyle but they resort to making things up on the fly. 

The teacher will right away have their student playing patterns with multiple fingers in the fingerpicking hand, and trying to do way too many things at once. This is one of the main reasons students feel fingerstyle is just too complicated to learn. It is complicated if you try to play like a pro from day 1. Imagine a student who can’t play anything and you start by learning Jimi Hendrix’s “Voodoo Chile” on lesson one. 

The idea of having to train all their fingers on their fingerpicking hand, and pick notes is a recipe for disaster. I never do this with my students in my programs or back in the day in person. The results my methods got were, many students learned to play full fingerstyle arrangements and songs they loved pretty quickly. 

2. Doesn’t know what to do about nails vs no nails 

Do you ever wonder if you should use nails or no nails for fingerpicking guitar?

For many players, once their nails get anything longer than 2-3 mm. They start folding and tearing on pretty much anything they touch – let alone the guitar strings. One time I was playing a duo gig at a bar lounge with a great player. We were trading solos back and forth. We were going for it in the first set right away. 

Suddenly, in the middle of his solo, he had an “Oh crap moment”. He was playing fingerstyle, and digging in so hard, he broke a nail. On our set break he immediately pulled out this whole kit he had and was repairing his nail right there. He started pouring on his finger superglue and even some kind of weird sprinkly powder stuff. I had no idea what it was but.. My eyes were wide as saucers seeing him do this. I just remember thinking…WOW

But there are many things to consider, whether you are playing electric, acoustic, your style of music, the tone, and the list goes on. The point is, if you don’t have a system for this, then you’re stuck.

3. Think that fingerstyle is only for acoustic guitar or folksy campfire music

One of the biggest myths many guitar players believe about fingerstyle is that it’s only for playing acoustic campfire music. Or singer-songwriter styles like Paul Simon, and James Taylor. 

But some of the most epic electric guitar sounds of all time have been created with an electric guitar plugged into a cranked-up amp and played fingerstyle. Some examples are, Mark Knopfler playing “Sultans of Swing”, or blues musicians like Hubert Sumlin’s guitar sound on “Smokestack Lightnin” or “Killing Floor”.

If players like in a limited box like this, then they will never understand or experience the joy that can come from playing an electric guitar without a pick.

If you’re struggling with fingerstyle guitar grab my free fingerstyle pdf guide here right now:

4. Following lessons that aren’t step-by-step or don’t explain everything

I taught and played guitar for years before I really started wrapping my head around fingerstyle. It came first as a player. But then when I went to teach it I realized it’s (almost) like having to teach guitar TWICE. And what I mean by that is you not only have the fretting hand to understand, but you also have the fingerpicking hand. 

If you are using a standard flat pick, generally the instruction is not as involved for the strum hand as it is with playing fingerstyle. This is because with fingerstyle it’s like having 5 picks. It’s a lot more to keep track of and explain. Many times I post lessons on fingerstyle and if a student doesn’t have a TAB to follow along they immediately get lost. Or if they don’t have the fundamentals in place it’s game over. This usually results in negative comments on my videos.

Next up is… 

5. Thinking classical guitar is the answer

Here's some terrible advice players often get when they try to learn fingerstyle guitar:

===

 Learn classical guitar

===

It’s just dead wrong.

I know I’m trampling on “sacred ground” here, but hear me out. (Incidentally, I’m still a huge fan of Classical music. But if you want to learn fingerpicking like Mark Knopfler, Tommy Emmanuel, Merle Travis, this advice can mess you up.)

Here’s why… 

The biggest problem with this advice is wrist angle. You see, classical guitar is played with the fingerpicking hand in a completely different position. If you learn this way, it's not the correct way to play like the roots style fingerpickers like -- Mark Knopfler, Tommy Emmanuel, Merle Travis.

6. Thinking hybrid picking is the solution

For the first 20 years of my guitar journey, I used a standard flat pick. And I got pretty good with it. But as I started getting lured over to learning fingerstyle guitar I thought, “Well, I’ll just learn to play it with a pick.” 

I had heard about this style of playing called “hybrid picking”. Now, hybrid picking has its place. But if your idea is to try to play fingerstyle songs by Merle Travis, Chet Atkins, or many other fingerstyle legends in a hybrid style. This will lead you to a dead end. It’s just bad. And that’s all I’ll say about that.

7. Thinking that fingerstyle independence is about “natural” talent

One of the core tenets of fingerstyle guitar is developing independence in your fingerpicking hand. This means training each digit to be able to move freely from the others. The majority of the time in life we grab with all our digits. But this doesn’t help with playing fingerstyle guitar. 

Fingerstyle guitar requires the honing of fine motor skills that can only be done through specific and articulate practice. And, I’ve never met anyone who was just born with the skill. It’s simply a matter of practicing right vs practicing wrong that makes all the difference.= 

***** 

Conclusion:

So there you have it! 

7 mistakes beginner fingerstyle guitar players make.  

If you’re struggling with fingerstyle guitar and you’d like to learn 5 powerful exercises guaranteed to whip your fingerpicking hand into shape in record time… then grab my free fingerstyle pdf guide here right now:

Jon MacLennan