Practice Position

Lesson 12/71 | Study Time: 5 Min

Course: Beginner Fingerpicking Guitar

Practice Position

Practice fingerpicking guitar styles by sitting with your right leg crossed or by using a footstool, as shown below. The guitar should be close to your body in an upright position with the neck pointing slightly upwards.

Left Hand Position

The left hand fingers are numbered as such:

Left Hand Placement

Photo A: Correct

Your fingers should be on their tips and placed just behind the frets (not on top of them).

Be careful not to allow the thumb to hang too far over the top of the neck (Photo B), or to let it run parallel along the back of the neck (Photo C).

Photo B: Incorrect

Photo C: Incorrect

Right Arm Position

The correct position for your right arm is shown below. Notice that your forearm rests on the upper edge of the guitar, just below the elbow. Be careful not to have your elbow hanging over the face of the guitar, or your right hand too far along the fretboard.

Correct

Incorrect

Right Hand Position

Rest the forearm on the upper edge of the guitar.
The right hand is at 90 degrees to the strings.
The thumb is parallel with the strings and clear of the other fingers.
Pick the strings over the sound hole for the best sound.
Do not rest any part of your hand or fingers on the guitar body.

Front View

Side View

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Class Sessions

1- INTRODUCTION 2- Sharps and Flats 3- Three Four Time Signature 4- Picking Notes Together 5- More About Major Scales 6- The Major Scale 7- Scale Tone Chords 8- Fingerpicking Pattern 1 9- Fingerpicking Pattern 5 10- Minor Keys and Scales 11- LESSON TWELVE 12- Chords 13- Simple and Compound Time 14- Add Nine Chords 15- Fingerpicking 16- Right Thumb and Fingers Together 17- The Hammer-On 18- Blues Fingerpicking 19- The Shuffle Bass 20- Slash Chords 21- Adding Scale Tones to Chords 22- Natural Minor Scale 23- Clawhammer Style 24- Major Key Chord Pattern 25- The Pull-Off 26- Keys and Key Signatures 27- Twelve Bar Blues Progression 28- Adding Extra Bass Notes 29- Using the Compact Discs 30- Right Hand Finger Names 31- C Major Scale in Open Position 32- Alternating Bass Notes 33- The Chromatic Scale 34- C Major Chord 35- Picking with Your Right Hand Fingers 36- The Harmonic Minor Scale 37- Chord Chart 38- Fingering Numbers in Traditional Notation 39- Dropped D Tuning 40- Constant Bass Style 41- Transposing 42- Electronic Tuning 43- Putting it All Together 44- Sharp Key Signatures 45- Key of C Major 46- Bass Runs 47- The Slide 48- Harmonic Minor Scale Tone Chords 49- Tuning Your Guitar 50- Moveable Chord Shapes 51- Picking with Your Thumb 52- Fingerpicking Accompaniment 53- Flat Key Signatures 54- The Melodic Minor Scale 55- Primary Chords 56- Arpeggios 57- Melodic Minor Scale Tone Chords 58- Constant Bass and Melody 59- Harmonizing Melodies 60- Acoustic Guitars 61- Chord Progressions 62- Minor Key Scale Tone Triads 63- Strings 64- Common Progressions 65- Minor Arpeggios 66- Augmented and Diminished Chords 67- How to Read Music 68- Chord Diagrams 69- Music Notation 70- Note and Rest Values 71- Practice Position

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Practice Position