Fingerpicking | Thumb Independence | Acoustic Guitar Lesson

This acoustic guitar fingerpicking lesson is to show you how to develop the important skill of thumb independence. It's a skill I get asked about very often, once you master it your guitar playing will change forever, it's a game changer. To be able to play a bass line with your thumb and a melody with your other fingers will open up a whole new world of playing to you. It is a difficult skill to master so please take your time and keep practising until it eventually clicks. I am using the song "Freight Train" for this tutorial, it's a stripped down version to keep things simple. The full tutorial is on my Patreon page with tabs, see the link below. Please hit the "LIKE" button and SUBSCRIBE to my channel. Don't forget to turn on "All Notifications" to keep up to date with my latest videos. Keep an eye out for my live Youtube performances, usually every second Friday at 6pm UK time. Above all, have fun, take your time and learn at your own pace. Enjoy!! Joe Murphy

[Brianfarrellmusic]

Cheers my man from Ireland 🇮🇪 Brian !! Need to get this sorted 😃

[tomdaoust]

Great demo. Very complete. Thanks for sharing.

[jamespowers]

A very clear example, and I've watched uncountable numbers of videos on this. I'm a case of it never clicking, even though I tried for decades to learn to play this style, frustrating a few teachers along the way. Just wired wrong, seems to be the consensus. Really like your teaching style.

[aureliobrighton]

To me this in essence is the friendlieness and comfort of playing an acoustic guitar ... and here you made it tangible .. it does not hurt the clip is breathing good spirit and patience . which I feel has been the foundation and fuel to achieve this little roll of rhythm and tones :)

[ibew]

Great lesson !! U have wonderful talent for teaching.
Thank you

[kenty]

So we'll done. I going take some time with this. Nice ending

[stevenhinton]

You do a great job teaching guitar my dad used to play this song brings back good memories

[Brianfarrellmusic]

Thanks again joe if you get time a simple version of windy and warm would be great a lot of people interested in this style cheers man!! Brian Ireland 🇮🇪

[pg]

Hi Joe, in the first section at end you say play the first and the sixth together but you actually play the 2nd on the first fret (c) and the sixth on the 3rd fret (g). Great lesson though. I have actually spent years trying to get my thumb independent, done lots of practice, easily 10, 00 hours. I can play and look and sound like my thumb is independent, but its not. My 2 cents worth. Thanks again for the lesson.

[dermotmurphy]

Brilliant lesson Joe.
Thanks a million 😊

[michaelinglis]

Man, i love that mismatched top! Dont get me wrong, a good book matched top is great but almost a little too common. I love that Martin decided to put out some guitars with some character. Was this intentional by Martin, meaning did they intentionally make a run of mismatched tops or was it just a happy accident? Surely that had to be intentional lol. I specifically picked my D10 (Sitka Spruce top and Sapele back and sides model) because the top had lots of grain lines that match up symmetrically on the lower bouts which gives the top a lot more character aesthetically. Its even better now than when i bought it since its darkened over the past few years. I personally find pale plain spruce tops with little to no grain lines unappealing. But as they say "to each his own" lol. Anyways i really do love that 00, and the lighter lower bout looks fantastic with the tortoise pick guard.

[barruzza]

I like your Martin. Why is it two different tones of wood? What model is the Martin that you play?

[jasper_north]

To everybody: start learning John Prine songs.

[rebeccaabraham]

Can just about manage this - very slowly - but when I learned to play, I learned to play the open G the other way… and the bits around the G chord are raising merry hell with my fingers! I guess ‘No pain, no gain!’….

[El_Pimpin_Shizz]

Chords -0:50

Thumb Picking Pattern- 1:53

Picking Pattern (Part 1) - 3:50

Picking Pattern (Part 2) - 7:31

Picking Pattern (Part 3) - 9:41

[tunalm]

You made this more difficult than necessary, you could picked easier chords to play and leave out the finger picking part unless this is for more advanced players and if it was you could have said that, I'm a beginner and there is no way I could do the thumb and finger pick at the same time . I could do the thumb part with just chords and no finger picking.