You’re going to want to dust off that old acoustic guitar in the attic and wind it up with new strings. Get ready to fingerstyle.
You can play all the parts of a band on one simple acoustic guitar. That includes drums, bass, keys and even vocals. Not by layering them or by looping them, but it is possible to fluently play all of those elements together simultaneously. It’s called fingerstyle guitar.
Strumming is what acoustic guitars are most popular for. From anywhere between solo vocal sessions to hardcore electronic music, they can accompany almost any sort of musical arrangement. Be that as it may, the hollow bodied, wooden instrument can do much more than just that.
You don’t need to exert your wildest imagination to figure out how and what more the acoustic guitar can do. For instance, fingerpick a chord from its root note, but keep changing the higher notes. And there you have it – a bass riff, a chord and a melody line. Those are the three core elements of playing fingerstyle guitar. Add a couple of percussive strikes and pinch harmonics to the mix and your arrangement would sound a whole lot richer.
With plenty of practice and gradual progress, here are 3 amazing things you can do with fingerstyle guitar.
- Compose
You will be able to extensively compose intricate musical parts with fingerstyle guitar. Play single note melody lines and build them up with accompanying chords and bass notes. By following this rule, you can easily translate your guitar parts to other instruments.
- Cover
Fingerstyle guitar will teach you that there is no one way to cover a song. You can either play in a simple manner, or go all out and play as many sounds as you can. Arranging popular songs in this form of playing the acoustic guitar will familiarize you with how songs are composed. Subsequently, you will learn different ways of arranging guitar parts.
- Perform solo
The coolest thing about being able to fingerstyle guitar is that you can perform solo. No backing tracks, no band, none of that. And still, you can create beautiful soundscapes and heart pumping rhythms all by yourself. A one man band.
Summing up, fingerstyle guitar is an immensely versatile form of playing the guitar. All it requires is one instrument, and through it you can produce elaborate arrangements of musical pieces. A root note, a chord and a melody line are what comprises fingerstyle guitar. It is as simple as it sounds, as long as you diligently practice everyday. Check out how I play fingerstyle guitar at https://www.instagram.com/amoghbalaji
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