Hello Jack...and Fingerstyle Tab Club members! Here's a recent guitar-event video our oldest son made with his drone, while visiting from Germany. The backing track is a Spanish-flavored piece I played that evening in the scenic blue-ridged mountains of North Carolina. Outdoors...firepit...amazing guitarists & song-writers; life is good! Cheers - Mark

If you've ever looked at classical or fingerstyle guitar music, you may have come across the letters P, I, M and A. These letters are simply shorthand for the fingers on your picking hand: - P = Thumb - I = Index finger - M = Middle finger - A = Ring finger The letters come from the Spanish names for each finger, which is why the thumb is P rather than T. Even if you don't use PIMA notation, it's worth knowing because you'll often see it in books, online lessons and other fingerstyle resources. As a general guide: 🎸 Thumb (P) plays the E, A and D strings (the bass strings). 🎸 Index (I) usually plays the G string. 🎸 Middle (M) usually plays the B string. 🎸 Ring (A) usually plays the high E string. There are exceptions, but this is the foundation that almost all fingerstyle guitar is built on. Once each finger has its own "home" string, your picking hand becomes much more relaxed and consistent. If you're new to fingerstyle, feel free to ask any beginner questions in the comments. There are no silly questions, and if there's enough interest, I'll keep posting little tips like this to help everyone get started. Jack 🎸

Ode to Joy "short" playing Jack's brilliantly arranged fingerstyle tab. Cheers - Mark https://youtube.com/shorts/Wp2rwm8ALbc?si=BtHiH5DGL50mBqne

"Nowhere Man" (The Beatles) fingerstyle guitar effort with Jack's brilliant tab. Still a work in progress...great "Travis picking" thumb pattern to accompany the melody. Cheers - Mark https://youtu.be/sp1fiGXhDnk

Hey everyone, If you also follow my YouTube channel, you may have seen that from time to time I feature guest guitarists playing my arrangements. Today I'd like to introduce Mark Ellington. Mark is an excellent fingerstyle and classical guitarist from East Cobb, Georgia, and he's done a fantastic job with several of my arrangements. If you're in that part of the world, I believe he's recently started performing live as well, so keep an eye out for him. Mark also has his own YouTube channel, so if you enjoy his playing, please consider heading over and giving him a subscribe. It's always great when we can support fellow musicians and help each other grow. One of the things I love most about this community is seeing different players bring their own style and personality to the same arrangement, and Mark's performances are a great example of that. Thanks again, Mark, for sharing your music with us! And if anyone else would like to be featured as a guest guitarist, just let me know. I'd love to showcase more members of the community and share your videos with the group. Give Mark's video a watch and let him know what you think in the comments below. 🎶 — Jack