Question:
I have worked through your Travis Picking book and am currently working on your Solo Fingerstyle book. They have both been really helpful and I feel like I have made a lot of progress. I have just one question - I would like to practice scales and arpeggios, and would like to do this in a way that would be useful for a fingerstyle player. Do you have any suggestions for right hand fingering?

Sincerely,
Melanie

Answer:
Thanks, Melanie. For scales and arpeggios I would suggest a couple of things for the right hand: 1) Practice alternating the index and middle fingers, as classical guitarists do; 2) practice alternating the thumb and index finger. Largely I play with technique #2. I watched John Renbourn up close and realized that he alternated thumb/index. He could switch from a fancy fingerpicking piece to lead blues guitar in an instant without changing his picking approach. What a great idea. It works well for me. It really is just the Travis Pick (aternating thumb-finger-thumb-finger), but miniaturized so that the thumb and finger often pick the same string consecutively.

Some really fast jazz fingerstylists prefer to alternate thumb and middle fingers on scales. They feel the tone produced by those two fingers balance each other better than T-I.

Good luck!

- Mark

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