Pattern picking, is a type of accompaniment style. This method is also called fingerpicking accompaniment style. To play this, you hold a chord and then play the strings with your fingers (instead of a guitar pick) in a specific order and then repeat that order until the next chord. It’s easiest to divide these patterns into three categories; 4-string, 5-string, and 6-string chords.
In order to play fingerstyle accompaniment patterns, you also need to know how to name your right hand fingers. I use the traditional Spanish naming which is a common practice for most guitar music:
- p: thumb, the Spanish name is pulgar
- i: index finger, indicio
- m: middle finger, medio
- a: third finger or ring finger, anular
First Song
We’re Going To Be Friends – The White Stripes
For example, our first song is “We’re Going To Be Friends” by the White Stripes. You play 4 chords in this song. G is a 6 string chord, C and A are 5 string chords, and D is a 4 string chord. I use this song as my first song because both the chords and picking pattern are easy. As with all of my songs, this one is not the exact version. I use this song to teach the concept of picking patterns. If you want to play the exact version of any of these songs, I’d recommend songsterr.
The first chord is G which is a six string chord. To play the pattern, you first play the 6th string with your thumb (p), then the second string with your middle finger (m), back to the 6th string with your thumb (p) and then the third string with your index finger (i). This pattern is played as eighth notes, so you have to play it twice to fill up an entire measure.
Below are the patterns for the 5th and 4th string chords as well:
Second Song
Landslide – Fleetwood Mac (Stevie Nicks)
This song uses a pattern that alternates the bass note. I make sure that my students have learned how to play alternating bass before I teach this song as it seems to really help them get this pattern down right (be sure to check out my post on alternating bass if you haven’t done so already).
This song only uses 5 string and 6 string chords. Here are the patterns for both:
This song also starts to introduce my students to chords over bass notes (also known as slash chords). A chord with an added bass read like this: G/B or D/F#. Here is a good explanation:
Also, make sure you put that capo on the 3rd fret for this song!
Third Song
Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) – Green Day
This song was played over and over for slide shows and assemblies my senior year in high school and I’m guessing my school wasn’t the only one to do that. I’m pretty sure that’s one of the reasons why it’s still such a recognizable song. This song uses both an alternating bass fingerpicking pattern, and a couple of different rhythms that combine quarter notes (1 beat) with eighth notes (half a beat). The first beat is a quarter note, so it needs to be held longer than any of the songs in the past. After that, you have another quarter notes that are two eighth notes tied together. The tie goes over the 3rd beat of the measure so make sure to let that 2nd string hold and ring through the third beat!
This song also switches back and forth from fingerpicking to strumming. When you get to the strumming, the pattern plays just the bass note of each chord and then uses the same rhythm and chords that are used for fingerpicking:
Fourth Song
Dust In The Wind – Kansas
This song uses a version of the Travis Fingerpicking style. It also uses loads of chords over bass notes. I play a lot of gigs as a solo fingerstyle guitarist and people often don’t react to my more technically difficult songs. However, as soon as I play “Dust in the Wind”, I’ll get people coming up to me or noticeably watching. Funny how it’s often the easier songs people love to listen to.
