Should I start over and relearn?


cap B
Registered User
Joined: 08/28/17
Posts: 2
cap B
Registered User
Joined: 08/28/17
Posts: 2
08/30/2017 12:54 pm

Hello everyone, I'm new here.

I have a couple of question before getting in to this.

My goal is to learn playing country and folk -music, mainly I would like to learn fingerpicking. I will only play on acoustic guitar.

I have played a bit in the past and when I started out I was tought to pick with my right hand in a way that the thumb takes care of the two top strings and then one of the remaining four fingers for each of the other strings, so that all fingers were used. My hand is now pretty comfortable with this. But when looking at some of the videos here, I see that they teach differently. So my question is: Should I start over and relearn in that way instead, or is my way ok and I can stick with it and still take the courses?

I also wonder about playing with a pick. As I never felt comfortable with it I never used one. Would it be wise to skip it all together and just strum and pick with my fingers instead?


# 1
ChristopherSchlegel
Guitar Tricks Instructor
Joined: 08/09/05
Posts: 8,328
ChristopherSchlegel
Guitar Tricks Instructor
Joined: 08/09/05
Posts: 8,328
08/30/2017 2:28 pm

Hey & welcome to GT!

Originally Posted by: cap B

My goal is to learn playing country and folk -music, mainly I would like to learn fingerpicking. I will only play on acoustic guitar.[/quote]

It's great that you have a clearly defined goal. Your best path is to work through the Guitar Fundamentals 1 & 2 courses for a review & to make sure you've got the best foundation. Then start working on learning songs that fit your favorite genre along with the Country Style courses.

Originally Posted by: cap B

So my question is: Should I start over and relearn in that way instead, or is my way ok and I can stick with it and still take the courses?

[p]You can still take the courses & stick with your way of playing. Most acoustic guitar playing works that way (thumb on bass strings, other fingers on higher strings). But, there will always be slight differences. I think you'll be fine overall.

However, consider that when a certain technique, skill or idea requires that you adjust, it's always a graet idea to learn a new way to do things. In the end it's valuable to have more tools available to you.

[quote=cap B]

I also wonder about playing with a pick. As I never felt comfortable with it I never used one. Would it be wise to skip it all together and just strum and pick with my fingers instead?

I encourage you to at least try working with a pick. It's not necessary to master it, or do every pick based lesson. You can certainly adjust most of the lessons to do with your fingers instead of a pick. But again, if you have more tools & techniques available to you, then your playing has more musical options.

Hope this helps! Please ask more if necessary. Best of success & have fun!


Christopher Schlegel
Guitar Tricks Instructor

Christopher Schlegel Lesson Directory
# 2
cap B
Registered User
Joined: 08/28/17
Posts: 2
cap B
Registered User
Joined: 08/28/17
Posts: 2
08/31/2017 11:03 am

Thanks for the reply.

Good to hear that I don't need to drop my way of playing completely. And I think you are right - the best thing to do might be to both keep my way of playing and to learn new ways.


# 3

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