Fingers
A fingerpicking pack for the T386
Eight exercises in three weeks. You're a pick player with a jazz box, so this is built around hybrid picking (pick plus middle and ring) rather than classical technique; you get to keep the pick for the engine and the slip and still open up the guitar. Everything is over voicings you already know, and every fret is machine-checked. Neck pickup, tone at 5, guitar volume 7, amp clean, no compressor for the first week.
Right hand, once
- p is the thumb (or the pick, held between thumb and index), and it owns strings E, A and D.
- m middle owns the G string, a ring owns the B, and for the top E either a again or the little finger if you want to be ambitious.
- Rest the heel of the hand lightly behind the bridge; on the T386 that's also your feedback mute. Don't anchor a finger on the pickguard, it kills the ring.
- Fingers pluck toward the palm, not up and away. Thumb pushes down and through.
- Thumb steady is the whole game. If the bass wobbles nothing on top matters.
Week 1
1. Thumb alone
E, A, D strings only · quarter notes · 60 bpm · two minutes, then forget about it
E|--0---0---0---0--|--0---0---0---0--|
A|----0---0---0----|--------2--------| p p p p
then alternate E and A, then E and D, then E–A–D–A. thumb only. dead even.
The point — an independent, metronomic thumb is the thing that separates fingerpicking that sounds like music from fingerpicking that sounds like practice. Two minutes a day for the rest of your life.
Week 1
2. Roll over E and A
E (022100) → A (x02220) · p i m a, ascending · 70 bpm
E A
e|------------0---|------------0---|
B|----------0-----|----------2-----| p i m a
G|--------1-------|--------2-------|
D|----------------|----------------|
A|----------------|--0-------------|
E|--0-------------|----------------|
four notes per bar, one per beat. then double it: p i m a m i, six per bar
The point — the standard roll, on two chords you can play asleep, so all the attention goes to the right hand. The six-note version turns it into a waltz and that's when it starts to sound like something.
On the T386 — this is where you hear the neck pickup do its thing: the G string 1st fret G# should bloom, not honk. If it honks, tone to 4.
Week 1
3. Travis, minimal
E7 (020100) → A (x02220) · alternating bass, one treble note per beat · 60 bpm, then 80
E7 A
e|------0-------0-------|------0-------0-------|
B|----------0-------0---|----------2-------2---| treble on the off-beats: m and a
G|----------------------|----------------------|
D|------0-------0-------|----------------------| bass: p, on 1 2 3 4, always
A|--------------------- |--0-------0-----------|
E|--0-------0-----------|------2-------2-------|
count: 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &. bass on the numbers, treble on the ands. thumb never stops.
The point — Travis picking is just the thumb doing exercise 1 while the fingers add commentary. Two bass strings alternating, that's the engine of the whole style. Palm-mute the bass slightly and the treble jumps out.
Week 2
4. Hybrid double-stops
A Dorian 6ths, pick on the bass + m and a on the top · slow, slide into pairs · this is your Landau/Knopfler move
e|--5---7---8---10--12--13--|
B|--------------------------|
G|--4---6---7---9---11--12--| m plucks G, a plucks e, both at once. pick hits the open A on each beat first
A|--0---0---0---0---0---0---|
pick the A, then pluck the pair. A, pair, A, pair. slide each pair up from a fret below
The point — hybrid picking is the technique that lets you keep the pick and still play like a fingerstyle player. Pick takes the bass, fingers take the pair, and because they land at the same instant it sounds like three hands.
On the T386 — open A drone under moving 6ths is exactly what a semi does better than a Suhr. Let it ring the whole way up.
Week 2
5. The 6/9 arpeggio loop
A6/9 (x04420) → G6/9 (3x2200) → D6/9 (xx0200) → Em9 (022032) · p i m a m i, eighths · 80 bpm
A6/9 G6/9 D6/9 Em9
e|----------0---------|----------0---------|----------0---------|----------2---------|
B|--------2---2-------|--------0---0-------|--------0---0-------|--------3---3-------|
G|------4-------4-----|------2-------2-----|------2-------2-----|------0-------0-----|
D|----4-----------4---|--------------------|----0-----------0---|----2-----------2---|
A|--0-----------------|--------------------|--------------------|--------------------|
E|--------------------|--3-----------------|--------------------|--0-----------------|
on D6/9 the thumb takes the D string. on the others it takes the root. same six-note roll every bar
The point — the ambient-swell voicings from the Landau programme, but plucked instead of strummed. Once the roll is automatic, change the chord without stopping the hand. That's the whole trick of fingerstyle: the right hand is a loop, the left hand is the song.
Week 2
6. Bass line under a held chord
Am7 (x02010) → Cmaj7 (x32000) · thumb walks, fingers hold · 70 bpm · tone down to 3, jazz box
Am7 Cmaj7
e|--0-----------0-----------|--0-----------0-----------|
B|--1-----------1-----------|--0-----------0-----------| m and a pluck the pair on 1 and 3
G|--0-----------0-----------|--0-----------0-----------|
D|--------------------------|--------------------------|
A|--0-------2-------3-------|--3-------2-------0-------| thumb walks up to C, then walks back to A
E|--------------------------|--------------------------|
bass walks A B C on the A string, then C B A back. chord stays put on top.
The point — the beginning of playing bass and chords at once, which is what people mean when they say someone "sounds like two guitarists." Two chords, three bass notes. Expand later.
Week 3
7. Chord melody, four bars
Dmaj7 (xx0222) → C#m7 (x46454) → Bm7 (x24232) → E9 (0x0102) · melody on top, chord underneath · rubato, then in time at 60
Dmaj7 C#m7 Bm7 E9
e|--2-----5---|--4-----7---|--2-----5---|--2---0-----| melody: a plucks the top note, everything else plucked together underneath on beat 1
B|--2---------|--5---------|--3---------|--0---------|
G|--2---------|--4---------|--2---------|--1---------|
D|--0---------|--6---------|--4---------|--0---------|
A|------------|--4---------|--2---------|------------|
E|------------|------------|------------|--0---------|
pluck the chord on 1, then the second melody note alone on 3. the chord rings under the melody
The point — chord melody is chord on the downbeat, melody note on top, held. The second melody note in each bar (5, 7, 5, 0) is the sixth string-fret above the chord's top note; it's the same little move four times. Once it's in, improvise the second note.
On the T386 — this is the exercise the guitar was bought for. Neck pickup, tone at 3, volume at 6. If the chord doesn't sustain under the melody, raise the tone, not the volume.
Week 3
8. Drone and melody, A Dorian
Open A and E as a drone, melody on the top two strings · free time · this is the Tonelab ambient seat with fingers
e|------5-7-----5-----7-5-----|
B|--5-------8-------8-----7---| m and a alternate on the melody
G|----------------------------|
D|----------------------------|
A|--0-------0-------0-----0---| thumb drops the A every couple of beats, let it ring
E|--0-------------------------|
melody is A Dorian in the 5th–8th fret box. drone never stops. make up the rest.
The point — melody over a drone is where fingerpicking meets the ambient work, and it's the one exercise here you'll actually play for pleasure. Add the Venus and the Flint and it's a piece.
Three weeks, fifteen minutes
| Week | Do | Skip |
|---|
| 1 | 1 every day (2 min). 2 and 3 alternating days (10 min). Cascade from the shop set to finish. | Anything with a pick. Let the fingers get their calluses. |
| 2 | 1 (2 min). 4 and 5 (10 min). 6 once it's boring. | Compressor. Learn the guitar's own dynamics first. |
| 3 | 1 (2 min). 7 slowly, then 8 for as long as you like. Add the Cali76 back at low ratio and see what it does to the chord melody. | Tempo. None of week 3 is in time until it wants to be. |
After three weeks the right hand knows the roll, the thumb is honest, and 4 and 8 are things you can do in front of people. Then the next pack is Travis with moving bass and full chord melody on a tune.
All chord voicings checked against the chromatic index (open E A D G B E). Notation: p thumb/pick, i index, m middle, a ring.