“Fingerpicking Etude no. 27: Thumb Control” – Rock Class 101

Below is the lesson for Fingerpicking Etude no. 27: “Thumb Control”.

Helpful Tips

This beginner-friendly etude is played entirely with the thumb. This piece will help you develop dexterity and accuracy when picking or strumming.

This piece was written as an introduction to playing chord melodies. This style of playing is challenging, because it requires your right hand to play non-repetitive patterns. Hmm… What does that mean?

Think of the island strum (D DU UDU). When you perform a song using that strum pattern, every measure is uniform. Your right hand does the same rhythm and strum pattern bar after bar after bar after… You get it.

With this etude, every measure is different. Sometimes you play a single note on string 1, 2, or 3. Sometimes you strum all 4 strings, 3 strings, or ONLY 2 strings. And that’s what makes this style of playing sound so interesting. It brings variety and spice to the table!

Part 1 – Performance & Free Lesson


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