Guitar Tricks Online Guitar Lessons

Playing Single Notes

 

Now that we've explored how to use the pick for strumming, let's try playing some single notes. Let's start out by using the melody you learned on the low E-string in the very first tutorial we did. It went open E, 3rd fret, 2nd fret, 1st fret and we picked it with whichever right hand finger was up for the task.

Now try playing it with your pick instead. First you might hit the surrounding strings with your picking motion. There are a couple different ways to avoid that.

The first one is to adjust your picking angle so that instead of completely vertically up and down. Another option is to have your pick glide through the E-string and then land and rest on the A-string.

Or maybe you have some other solution right now, which is fine too. And don't worry if you can't get the melody super clean right now! That kind of control comes naturally along the way.

I'll count us in with the usual 1-2-3-4 and then we'll play the melody 4 times together before we end on the open E-string.

Anders Mouridsen
Instructor Anders Mouridsen
Tutorial:
Playing With Fingers or Pick
Styles:
Any Style
Difficulty:
print notation download lesson open guitar tuner
Playing Single Notes song notation

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Questions & Answers

6 months ago
Greetings, Where should I be placing the thumb of the left hand on the neck of the guitar - both length wise along the fretboard, as well as in the direction perpendicular to the fretboard behind the neck. For this melody that uses frets 3, 2, 1 and open string - I'm guessing that along the length of the fretboard - the thumb should be behind the second fret. In the direction perpendicular to the fretboard - the first knuckle of the thumb should be in the center of the neck? This might be connected to developing good habits from the beginning - hence the question. Thanks!
Mike Olekshy 5 months ago

Hello - thanks so much for your question! Where you've described is a great place to start with thumb placement, but since every hand is different, you might want to experiment to see if you can make things feel more comfortable. There is no strict rule for thumb placement - you'll find as you aquire skills on the fretboard, your thumb might end up in different positions based on what you're trying to play. But yes, start off with the thumb in the position you've described!

10 months ago
Hello, when I let go of the side of the guitar neck while playing the notes, I get a second note (probably a kind of pull off). It then sounds really unclean. What can I do about it? Thanks for your help.
Mike Olekshy 10 months ago

Hello - thanks for your question! You can use some muting techniques to clean up the sound after letting go of the note. One thing to try is to lift your finger off the fret, but not the string, so that the string does not ring out. Also you can put the side of your picking hand (or the bottom of your palm) on the strings right as your taking your fretting finger off the fretboard to silence the strings.