Learn to Fingerstyle Any Song – The Chords Haven Way

 

 

Besides how to ‘hear’ chords, the other question that I get alot is this: How do you fingerstyle any song that you hear?

 

Before I go on, here’s a disclaimer: while I can generally play any song that I hear using basic fingerstyle, I am really no expert.

 

But if you are still interested, here are my 5 tips to master fingerstyle playing.

 

#1 Practice your scales until you become ultra-familiar with the notes in each key and their positions on different sections of the fretboard.

 

Rationale: With a heightened sense of the notes in a particular key and more importantly their positions, playing the melody of a song becomes much easier since you can roughly ‘guess’ where the next few notes should be on the fretboard.

 

The 2 most important scales to master: C major and G major.

 

C Major Practice #1:

E|--------------------------------------0--1--3--
B|-----------------------------0--1--3-----------
G|-----------------------0--2--------------------
D|--------------0--2--3--------------------------
A|-----0--2--3----------------------------------- 
E|--3-------------------------------------------- 

E|--3--1--0-------------------------------------- 
B|-----------3--1--0----------------------------- 
G|--------------------2--0----------------------- 
D|--------------------------3--2--0-------------- 
A|-----------------------------------3--2--0----- 
E|--=-----------------------------------------3-- 

 

C Major Practice #2:

E|-----------------5--7--8--7--5----------------- 
B|--------5--6--8-----------------8--6--5-------- 
G|--5--7-----------------------------------7--5-- 
D|----------------------------------------------- 
A|----------------------------------------------- 
E|-----------------------------------------------

 

G Major Practice #1:

E|--------------------------------------0--2--3--
B|-----------------------------0--1--3----------- 
G|-----------------------0--2-------------------- 
D|--------------0--2--4-------------------------- 
A|-----0--2--3----------------------------------- 
E|--3-------------------------------------------- 

E|--3--2--0-------------------------------------- 
B|-----------3--1--0----------------------------- 
G|--------------------2--0----------------------- 
D|--------------------------4--2--0-------------- 
A|-----------------------------------3--2--0----- 
E|--------------------------------------------3-- 

G Major Practice #2:

E|----------------------------------------------- 
B|-----------------5--7--8--7--5----------------- 
G|--------4--5--7-----------------7--5--4-------- 
D|--5--7-----------------------------------7--5-- 
A|----------------------------------------------- 
E|----------------------------------------------- 

 

#2 Learn the alternate fingerings for chords.

 

Rationale: Very often, the melody of a song will traverse different sections of the fretboard. Hence, to play the accompaniment simultaneously, alternative chord fingerings such as the ones with fingerings higher up on the fretboard must be used.

 

Again, the most important chords are those found in the keys of C Major and G Major.

C E|---0---3---7---- B|---1---5---7---- G|---0---5---8---- D|---2---5---9---- A|---3---3---9---- E|---x---x---7----	F E|---1---5--- B|---1---6--- G|---2---5--- D|---3---7--- A|---3---8--- E|---1---x---
Am E|---0---5---5--- B|---1---5---5--- G|---2---5---5--- D|---2---7---x--- A|---0---7---0--- E|---x---5---x---	D E|---2---5--- B|---3---7--- G|---2---7--- D|---0---0--- A|---x---x--- E|---x---x---

 

#3 Practice right hand thumb-finger coordination using existing fingerstyle tabs.

 

Rationale: By learning to play different fingerstyle arrangements using existing tabs, you will be able to achieve thumb-finger coordination that is often needed for the melody and accompaniment to be played simultaneously.

 

Example: Johann Pachelbel - Canon

 

Tablature:

 

#4 Accentuate the melody

 

The no. 1 mistake that amateurs (like myself!) make when playing fingerstyle is to play the melody and rhythm with the same accent.

 

Unlike the piano, the guitar has everything cramped into the treble clef. Hence, the key to fingerstyle playing at a higher level is to introduce voicing or a hierarchy of voices.

 

Melody sits on top loud and with presence; bass is strong and supports the melody and the middle accompaniment in a nice and soft hum.

 

#5 Experiment with alternate tunings

 

Being the conservative guitarist, I hate to stray away from standard tunings. Like suddenly the all familiar landscape becomes changed.

 

But increasingly, I realized that alternate tunings can allow some songs to be played more easily.

 

A common one that I use whenever I do fingerstyle in the key of G is to drop the tuning of the 5th string to G (Drop G tuning?).

 

In this tuning, the root G bass becomes an open string and the C note is translated to the 5th fret which often allows easy access to the higher frets on the treble strings.

 

Example: 张惠妹 - 身后