WORKSHOP
Right Hand
Fingerstyle Workshop
by Gayla Drake Paul
Need to shake things up? Take some time to learn the three essential
techniques that you need to have in your fingerstyle arsenal.
Windmill 1
Windmill 2
Windmill 3
Windmill 4
Once in a while someone will ask me, in total innocence, “What’s
your favorite fingerpicking pattern?” I don’t handle this one with
much grace, and I’m afraid to say that I usually raise one eyebrow
and say something like, “Picking pattern?”
The truth is, I
play whatever
string needs
to be played
with whatever
finger happens
to be available,
without limiting
myself to any
sort of “
pattern.” Patterns
are great when Example 1
you’re learning
– in fact, they’re essential – but once you get to a certain point in
your progression as a musician, you either stick with the patterns
you’ve learned or you break free and leap ahead.
Remember, you can know a million scales and every chord there
is, but if your right hand is weak, you’re never going to develop as
a player. I made this point to a friend of mine by sharing a guitar
once. He was playing the left hand while I played the right. He said,
“I’m playing the same chords I always play, but this guitar has never
sounded like this.
It’s all about the
right hand, isn’t
it?” Absolutely.
At any given time, I serve as the bass player, the rhythm player, the
lead player or the percussionist, and it’s often two or three of those
things at once. Although I don’t stick to any organized patterns,
there are some consistent techniques that I use to create a full and
active sound. This month we’ll take a look at three of the most common, versatile patterns, but you ultimately have to sit down with
your guitar and experiment.
Before we get
started, a brief
note about
fingernails:
you gotta have
them. Yes, it
looks funny to
have long, beau-
tifully sculpted nails on the right hand and short-clipped nails on the
left, but get over it and wear them proudly – it’s a badge of serious
coolness. The different practices and theories about how to get the
best nails are too numerous to explore here, but if there is interest
in a future column covering nail care and feeding, post a comment
to premierguitar.com and I’ll happily dig in.
The Claw
This technique is indispensable and effectively has two parts. First,
curve the right hand into a claw shape so your fingers line up with
