Fingerpicking Blues Guitar

Fingerpicking blues guitar is quite different from the other blues guitar techniques discussed elsewhere on this site. It is usually played on acoustic guitar and is more of a single performer style rather than a band style. With fingerstyle blues you are trying to do two things at once. The guitar can be acting as the rhythm, the bass and or the melody all at the same time, or at least, the overall sound of fingerpicked blues guitar gives the listener that impression.

The technique isn't always as difficult to play is it might sound. Sure, some pieces can be very difficult but the style itself isn't completely beyond the capabilities of guitarists at the beginner / intermediate stage. As long as you can play the common chords with reasonable fluency then learning to fingerpick blues guitar shouldn't be too difficult. It's certainly one of the most rewarding styles, and if you want to impress your friends, then... well!

Unfortunately there's not an abundance of teaching material available for learning fingerstyle blues. There are a few good books that have Tabs and an accompanying CD if you have the patience to learn this way. The better option is to check out Jim Bruce's Fingerpicking blues course. In my opinion it's the best thing out there if you want to learn this style.

His method is a collection of 23 fingerstyle blues songs that not only come complete with all the Tabs ready to print out but more importantly every song is shown on video, slowed down in small sections at a time with split screen showing you what to do with the right and left hands. It's available for instant download and offers a full money back guarantee. I doubt you'll find anything better than this but be warned, you will need broadband to download the videos which aren't small. You can check out Jim's Fingerpicking Blues here.

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