One thing I often notice with beginner fingerstyle guitar players is that their picking fingers move much further away from the strings than they need to. After plucking a string, the fingers sometimes straighten out or move several centimetres away from the guitar before returning to play the next note. It might not seem like a big deal, but all that extra movement can make your playing less efficient, particularly when you're trying to increase your speed or play more complicated patterns. Here's something to try next time you practise. Choose a simple arpeggio pattern using your thumb, index, middle and ring fingers. Play it slowly and pay attention to what your picking fingers are doing. - Are your fingers moving a long way from the strings after each note? - Is there any unnecessary tension in your hand? - Can you make the same pattern work with smaller, more relaxed movements? The aim isn't to keep your fingers completely still or force them into position. Just try to avoid unnecessary movement and allow your fingers to return naturally towards the strings. A useful little exercise: Play the same pattern for one minute, concentrating entirely on keeping your movements small and relaxed rather than worrying about speed. You might find that the pattern starts to feel easier and more controlled. It's a small adjustment, but one that can make a real difference as your fingerstyle playing develops. Something I'm curious about: When you're practising, do you pay much attention to your picking hand, or are you usually concentrating on what your fretting hand is doing? Speak soon Jack

Hey everyone, One of the biggest challenges with fingerstyle guitar is getting your fingers to work independently, especially your little finger. Unlike regular guitar playing, fingerstyle often requires us to do several things at once. We're holding down chords, keeping our picking patterns going and sometimes trying to use our little finger to reach for extra notes. And getting that little finger to cooperate can be surprisingly difficult. That's exactly what today's video lesson is designed to help with. I've put together a beautiful little fingerstyle arpeggio using just three simple chords. As we play through the progression, we'll use our little finger to add extra notes outside the basic chord shapes. It's a lovely-sounding exercise that will help improve your finger independence, coordination and overall control. 🎸 Want to Take Your Fingerstyle Playing Further? You can learn this exercise by watching the video, but if you want to practise it properly and really work on your technique, having the downloadable PDF tabs in front of you makes a big difference. Inside the Fingerstyle Guitar School, you'll get the PDFs for this exercise, along with: ✅ Over 1,000 fingerstyle exercises to improve your technique ✅ More than 400 fingerstyle guitar tabs ✅ Step-by-step video courses for beginners and improving players ✅ Three new guitar classes every week ✅ New tabs and lessons added regularly You can try the Fingerstyle Guitar School free for 7 days, giving you access to the full library of lessons, exercises and tabs. 👉 Start your 7-day free trial here:https://www.skool.com/fingerstyle-guitar-school Have a watch of the lesson and give the exercise a go. I'd be interested to hear how you get on with it. Thanks, Jack

Hey everyone! I know it's only the beginning of November, and some of you probably don't want to hear Christmas music just yet! But here's the thing... If you want to be playing your favourite Christmas songs by Christmas Day, now is the perfect time to start learning them! 🎸 And I've put together a brand-new collection to help you do exactly that. 🎄 40 Christmas Classics – Something for Everyone! My new Christmas Fingerstyle Guitar Collection features 40 festive favourites, including: 🎵 White Christmas 🎵 Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas 🎵 Jingle Bell Rock 🎵 Last Christmas 🎵 Fairytale of New York 🎵 Silent Night 🎵 O Holy Night 🎵 Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree 🎵 All I Want for Christmas Is You 🎵 Carol of the Bells Plus another 30 Christmas favourites, covering everything from traditional carols to modern classics. 🎸 Every Song Comes in THREE Difficulty Levels This is what makes the collection particularly useful. Rather than giving you one arrangement that might be too difficult, I've created three versions of every song. 🟢 Very Easy – For Complete Beginners Simple, single-note melodies that let you start playing recognisable Christmas songs without worrying about complicated fingerpicking patterns. 🟡 Easy – For Improving Guitarists These arrangements introduce bass notes and harmony, helping you develop your coordination while keeping the music manageable. 🔴 Full – For More Confident Fingerstyle Players Complete solo fingerstyle arrangements that combine melody, bass and harmony for a richer, more developed sound. The real benefit is that you can grow with each song. Start with the Very Easy version, move on to Easy when you're comfortable, and gradually work towards the Full arrangement. So you're not just learning Christmas songs. You're building your fingerstyle skills along the way! 🎁 120 Fingerstyle Tabs for Just $27! With 40 songs at three difficulty levels, you're getting 120 individual arrangements.

I joined to get access to the Christmas library offered on social media. How do I get that?