Gary Turner - Progressive Guitar Method - Fingerpicking

The Progressive Guitar Method is a series of books designed to take the guitar student from a beginner level through to a professional standard of playing. All books are carefully graded, lesson-by-lesson methods which assume no prior knowledge on your behalf. Within the series all styles and techniques of guitar playing are covered, including reading music, playing chords and rhythms, lead guitar and fingerpicking patterns.

Progressive Guitar Method: Fingerpicking Guitar assumes that you have a basic knowledge of guitar. You will need to know the notes on the first 3 frets of all 6 strings (the open position), basic timing, chords and key signatures.

All this information is contained in the book Progressive Guitar Method: Book 1 . We recommend studying this book as it contains information that all guitarists should know.

Progressive Guitar Method: Fingerpicking Guitar will introduce you to right hand fingerpicking patterns that can be applied to any chord, chord progression or song. Playing chord shapes with these patterns will allow you to provide accompaniment for any song. After completing this book you will have a solid understanding of fingerpicking and may wish to study more advanced fingerpicking styles such as Ragtime, Classical and Flamenco. See Progressive Classical Guitar Method , Progressive Fingerpicking Guitar Licks and Progressive Fingerpicking Guitar Solos .

Approach to Practice

It is important to have a correct approach to practice. You will benefit more from several short practices (e.g., 15-30 minutes per day) than one or two long sessions per week. This is especially so in the early stages, because of the basic nature of the material being studied.

In a practice session you should divide your time evenly between the study of new material and the revision of past work. It is a common mistake for semi-advanced students to practice only the pieces they can already play well. Although this is more enjoyable, it is not a very satisfactory method of practice. You should also try to correct mistakes and experiment with new ideas. It is the authors belief that an experienced teacher will be an invaluable aid to your progress.

Other titles in this series

There is now a whole series of Progressive Guitar Method Books which covers all aspeccts of guitar playing. While you are studying this book, you will find Guitar Method: Theory particularly useful. Here is the rest of the Guitar Method series, along with a brief description of each title.

Guitar Method Book 1

A comprehensive, lesson by lesson introduction to the guitar, covering notes on all 6 strings, reading music, picking technique, basic music theory and incorporating well known traditional pop/rock, folk and blues songs.

Progressive Guitar Method Supplement

A collection of over 70 well known songs with chord symbols which can be used along or in conjunction with Progressive Guitar Method Book 1. Contains 8 more lessons on major scales, keys, triplets, 6/8 time, 16th notes, syncopation and swing rhythms.

Guitar Method Rhythm

Introduces all the important open chord shapes for major, minor, seventh, sixth, major seventh, minor seventh, suspended, diminished and augmented chords. Learn to play over 50 chord progressions, including 12 Bar Blues and Turnaround progressions.

Guitar Method Lead