Thumb independence basics
Welcome to the heart of fingerstyle guitar playing!
Table of contents
It's all about thumb independence
The basis of fingerstyle guitar playing, and the reason fingerstyle guitar sounds the way it does, is that the guitarist plays the melody and the bass simultaneously. People often say that it sounds like several guitars are playing at the same time. The difficulty with this type of guitar playing is that you only have one hand - the picking hand - available to play bass and melody. On the piano, for example, it's much easier - you usually play the bass with your left hand, while the melody is played with your right hand.
So how do you play bass and melody with one hand at the same time?
This is where thumb independence comes in. The goal of thumb independence is to completely automate the thumb through practice. Once you have achieved this, you will no longer need to focus on your thumb and can concentrate on playing the melody.
How long does it take to achieve thumb independence?
That depends. The question is also what exactly does it mean to achieve thumb independence? In the beginning it takes a long time before you can play even very simple pieces. Eventually the process becomes faster and faster. The final stage is the ability to improvise in this style, but you don't need this skill before you can play fingerstyle pieces. In any case, don't get discouraged too quickly and invest the necessary time and patience to get better step by step.
Palm muting
Palm muting is a right hand technique that involves slightly dampening the bass strings with the side of your picking hand to produce a more muted, punchier bass sound. This technique is used not only in fingerstyle, but also in many other styles of playing.
You should give it a try if you like the sound. There are genres where this technique is used extensively (e.g. Delta Blues) and other genres where this technique is rarely used (e.g. Folk Blues).
Other things to keep in mind
‣ If you are just starting out, you should play very slowly. As long as you do not play flawlessly, you are playing too fast.
‣ Always use a metronome and always tap your foot to the beat.
‣ Check out my recommendations for a good picking hand position.
‣ Check out my recommendations on how to pick strings.
‣ The first bass note of a bar should always be the root note of the chord you are in, anything else will sound strange. If you play an E major chord, the first bass note should be E.
See also
I grouped the upcoming thumb independence exercises into four sections:
Within these sections the level of difficulty increases from easy to advanced. I would recommend that you work through the sections chronologically, but you can of course skip sections and come back later if you want. I wish you lots of fun and patience in learning this beautiful guitar playing technique!
Videos
