When you’re just starting out with fingerpicking, it’s important to learn lots of easy fingerpicking patterns – and I do mean LOTS of fingerpicking patterns. It really is a case of the more the merrier!
Fingerpicking patterns are often used in songs (although not always consistently throughout the song) and are simply a huge part of learning to fingerpick. They will train your fingers and help you to build speed, strength and dexterity, plus they also sound great and you’ll be able to make lots of beautiful music with them.
So, in this post we’re going to cover 25 easy fingerpicking patterns that are perfect for you to learn if you’re just starting out. Even if you’re more advanced, they can be used as warm up drills or as the basis for your own compositions.
The patterns incrementally increase in difficulty, so be sure to start with the first one and gradually work your way through. Firstly though, let’s look at some fingerpicking must-knows.
The fingerpicking hand fingers
When fingerpicking we refer to the picking hand fingers as follows:Â
Thumb – (p)
Index – (i)
Middle – (m)
Ring – (a)
Which finger to use to play a note is denoted by these letters being written next to each note on the stave, like so:
Finger selection
As you work your way through each of the patterns, it’s important to use the correct fingers to play each of the strings. Failure to do so can quickly lead to bad picking habits that will likely be very hard to shake. So really pay attention to which finger you should use to play each of the strings.
For all of these patterns the fingerings should be as follows:
Thumb plays the 6th, 5th and 4th string.
Index plays the 3rd string.
Middle plays the 2nd string.
Ring plays the 1st string.
As you progress with fingerpicking, you’ll learn that this finger selection rule won’t always apply and in fact they’ll be many times when you change which finger you use to play a certain string. Nevertheless, it’s a great starting point and will really help you to develop good finger selection early on and help with better technique.
When to move onto the next fingerpicking pattern
The best approach is not to move onto the next pattern until you can play the current one accurately and from memory.
Speed isn’t so important, but if you did want to work with a metronome then by all means do! A good target tempo to aim for with each of these patterns is about 80bpm.
If you don’t want to use a metronome then just aim to play the patterns from memory at any tempo so long as you’re playing them with great accuracy.
Let’s learn the fingerpicking patterns!
First step is to learn each of the patterns on a C major chord. Later on, once you’ve mastered each pattern, we’ll then add some to chord progressions and play them on various other chords.
Pattern one:
This first pattern is a great one to get you started. It’s a forward (or ascending) pattern, meaning that you’re picking your way up the strings.
To play the pattern, pick the 5th string using your thumb (p), then the 3rd string using your index (i) finger, then the 2nd string using your middle (m) finger and finally the 1st string using your ring (a) finger. For this pattern you therefore pick p i m a.
Pattern two:
This fingerpicking pattern is more of a descending one. You start with your thumb (p) on the 5th string, then you play strings 1, 2 and 3 (a, m, i). This gives you the full fingerpicking pattern as p a m i.
Pattern three:
For pattern three, your thumb doesn’t change and we simply alter the order in which we pick the top three strings. Here the pattern is p a i m.
Pattern four:
Again, for this pattern we have just slightly altered the order of the top three strings. Now we’re playing p i a m.
Pattern five:
This pattern is in 6/8 time and is great for slow ballads, think Nothing Else Matters by Metallica, Everybody Hurts by R.E.M or Elvis’ Can’t Help Falling in Love. Although those songs were played with picks, they’re the exact same pattern.
Pattern six:
This one is simply a variation of the pervious pattern. As you can hear, just changing the order of the strings a little makes a huge difference to the sound and feel of it.
Pattern seven:
This pattern has a lovely roll going from the 3rd to the 1st string. It’s the same pattern that’s used in The Animal’s version of House of the Rising Sun.
Pattern eight:
Back to 4/4 time, and now your index, middle and ring fingers have to really work.
Pattern nine:
Again, here the order of the top three strings has just been rearranged. Remember that every new sequence of notes (patterns) helps to develop your strength, dexterity and independence in each of your fingers.
Pattern ten:
Now we’re moving up a gear and starting to advance the thumb. See how the thumb moves from the 5th to the 4th string.
Pattern eleven:
This pattern is exactly the same as the second pattern, with the only exception being the thumb moving from the 5th to the 4th string.
Pattern twelve
This one is a classic travis picking pattern and when you break it down it’s just four notes played p i p m.
Pattern thirteen
Here we have another travis picking pattern. It’s the same as the last pattern but inverted so here you’re picking p m p i.
Pattern fourteen
It’s time to start picking two strings simultaneously and so here on the first beat you’re picking the 5th and the 1st string together.
Pattern fifteen
Here’s a similar pattern to the last; however, this time you’re playing the 5th and 1st strings together on the 3rd beat of the bar.
Pattern sixteen
Here’s a lovely and relatively simple pattern with the thumb alternating between the 5th and 4th strings.
Pattern seventeen
This pattern is the same as the last but instead of playing the 3rd and 4th strings at the end, you play the 2nd and 1st.
Pattern eighteen
A little bit of a finger twister here but great fun to play.
Pattern nineteen
It’s time for another travis picking pattern that, hopefully, you won’t find too hard.
Pattern twenty
For this one we are simply adding in one extra note at the end.
Pattern twenty one
This is a great travis picking pattern and one that you may recognise from the song Dust in the Wind by Kansas.
Pattern twenty two
For the last few fingerpicking patterns you’ll have to alternate the bass across all three of the bottom strings. This is really challenging at first so take it very slow. There’s no rush!
Pattern twenty three
It takes time to develop an independent thumb, just remember that repetition is key. Keep practising over and over and over again until you get it.
Pattern twenty four
This pattern is like rubbing your tummy in circles and patting your head at the same time. It’s difficult initially and feels weird but you can totally do it!
Pattern twenty five
OK, last one! If you can play this pattern then you’re well on your way to cracking this fingerpicking business!
Putting the patterns into chord progressions
OK, now you’ve learnt 25 great fingerpicking patterns. That’s amazing – good job!
The best thing you can do now is to simply keep playing them all, over and over, until each one is comfortable.
Once you’re at that point, it’s time to start putting them into chord progressions. There are countless progressions that you could use but just start with basic open chord progressions to get you moving. You don’t want to be having to focus too much on your fretting hand, as you really just want to give all of your attention to your picking hand whilst you cement the patterns.
A great progression would be G – C – D but you could also try E – A – D or C – F – G or D – A – G.
All of these progressions have chords with root notes on the 6th, 5th and 4th string. This is great because it will train your thumb to move with the chords and help it to develop that all important independence.
Let’s start with pattern one and put it into a simple progression.
Fingerpicking pattern one over a basic chord progression
Pattern ten in a chord progression.
Let’s now try pattern ten in a progression. For the F chord, you can play a barre chord or you can wrap your thumb around the back of the neck and play the 1st fret on the 6th string with it. I generally prefer the thumb around the back method because then it’s free to play extensions to the chord should you want to later on.
Pattern 23 in a chord progression.
We’ll cover just one more pattern here but it’s important for you to carry on putting all the patterns into chord progressions on your own. It’s great practice but it also sounds good and you’re actually making music with them, which is pretty much the whole point!
On the A chord, or any chord with the root on the 5th string, the bass changes from strings 6-4-5-4 to 5-4-6-4 because you want to play the root note first. Therefore, on the D chord, or any chord with the root on the 4th string, it changes to strings 4-3-5-3. This is a little confusing but you get used to it in time.
Also on the D chord, all the fingers have moved up a string. Here you’re not playing the ring finger on the 1st string or the middle on the 2nd. You’re instead playing the middle finger on the 1st string and the index finger on the 2nd string.
You want to do this because that way you keep the same pattern going in your picking hand. If you continue to play the ring on the 1st string, middle on the 2nd string, ring on the 3rd string and so on, you will completely break the flow of what your fingers are doing. Again, it’s all just a case of practice.
Songs to learn
Now that you’ve learnt all of these fun fingerpicking patterns, why not learn some songs too? Here’s a list of some great ones for you to explore, all of which are made up of great fingerpicking patterns:
Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright (Bob Dylan)
Every Breath You Take (The Police)
Homeward Bound (Simon & Garfunkel)
Is There Anybody Out there? (Pink Floyd)
Naked As We Came (Iron & Wine)
There’s hundreds more songs to chose from here.
If you enjoyed learning all of these fingerpicking patterns and you’d like to learn more, then why not sign up to my course 101 of the Best Fingerpicking Patterns of All Time? This course builds on everything that we’ve covered here and will be sure to help you develop perfect technique and truly master fingerpicking.
Conclusion
When first getting into fingerpicking, learn fingerpicking patterns. Lots and lots of fingerpicking patterns!
As you learn all of these exciting and new patterns, be sure from the very get go that you’re playing them with good finger selection – i.e. playing each string with the appropriate finger.
Learn every new pattern to the point where you can play it accurately and from memory. This means playing the patterns in time, it doesn’t mean that you have to play them fast.
If you are using a metronome and want a target tempo for the patterns, then roughly 80bpm is a good speed.
Once you’ve gotten a pattern down, then put it into a chord progression using simple open position chords..
Learn more and more patterns and repeat the exact same process and watch yourself get better and better at fingerpicking. It’s that simple!
One last thing – don’t forget to have fun and enjoy it!
Author: Chris Murrin
Chris Murrin is a British guitar teacher who has dedicated his adult life to helping students master the guitar. A few years ago, in 2018, he founded Six String Fingerpicking so that he could help experienced and budding guitarists the world over to realise their fingerpicking goals.