Conclusion

In this post, I will conclude my thoughts of fingerstyle guitar. 

Realistically, to be a good fingerstyle guitarist, you need to be at either intermediate or advanced level.You should have a detailed knowledge of the different chords, and be comfortable changing between them and adding in additional notes to spice up the sound. You should also be comfortable with basic legato techniques such as hammer-ons and pull-offs. I am an absolute beginner, I would choose a course which covers these basics is vital to learning fingerstyle. To be a good fingerstyle guitarist is my dream. 

Out of the options for fingerstyle guitar lessons, I would strongly recommend JamPlay (please see cool programs post for more detail). It offers 99 lessons on fingerstyle, split over five different series. All of the key topics are covered in ample detail, and the course is taught by professionals. The video quality is superb, and they use close-ups and split screens to ensure you can always see what’s happening. 

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Fingerstyle Guitar Tab & Notation

Today I will recommend some useful websites of guitar tab and notation.

Songsterr 
This websites offers three levels of tab: beginner, intermediate and advanced. You can also search the song that you prefer to practice. I screen capture my favorite song Twilight by famous fingerstyle guitarist Kotaro Oshio as an example. You can either play the song to check your improvement or read the tab in text view. This website is helpful and powerful for fingerstyle guitar players.  

GuitarNick
In this website, you can find "The goal of this new website is to provide free online guitar lessons and to help people learn how to play" here. It has four styles: Thumbpicking, Fingerstle, Flatpicking and Electric. It also has a learning section for beginners. Under the fingerstyle, it has "100 fingerstyle lessons for beginners", "20 warm up exercises", "Ghost notes lessons", "classical guitar" and etc. 

I love this website because it gives you the tabs alone with online tutorials. Take Ghost Notes Lesson 6 as an example. I would strongly recommend this website. 

Best Acoustic Fingerstyle Guitar Channels on YouTube

There is a majority of amazing fingerstyle guitarists on YouTube. They are impressive, and inspired early stage fingerstyle guitar learners to achieve their goals.

1. Tommy Emmanuel, c.g.p. – The amazing and ever-present Tommy Emmanuel has a top notch YouTube channel with lots of great performances, interviews and more.

Website:  www.tommyemmanuel.comYouTube Channel:  www.youtube.com/user/TommyEmmanuelTV

2. Ulli Bögershausen – A German solo fingerstyle guitarist with concert chops and a great series of videos on fingerstyle technique.

Website:  www.ullibogerhausen.deYouTube Channel:  www.youtube.com/user/Boegershausen

3. Kelly Valleau – Kelly has a bunch of fingerstyle training material available on his website with instructional videos and tabs.

Website:  www.kellyvalleau.comYouTube Channel:  www.youtube.com/user/KellyValleau

4. Gareth Evans – A great fingerstyle guitarist dedicated to providing lessons and education.

Website:  www.goliathguitartutorials.comYouTube Channel:  www.youtube.com/user/G0liath1012

5. Sungha Jung – 18 yr old South Korean guitar prodigy.

Website:  www.sunghajung.com
YouTube Channel:  www.youtube.com/user/jwcfree

Reference:

Paliotto, J. "Best acoustic fingerstyle guitar channels on YouTube". The Guitar Journal. Retrieved from: http://www.theguitarjournal.com/best-acoustic-fingerstyle-guitar-channels-youtube-part-ii/

Cool Programs for Fingerstyle Guitar Learning

Guitar lesson online could also be a great way to learn.

• JamPlay 

          JamPlay offers a full range of lessons. According to Jim Pharis, JimPlay could be considered an online guitar school. There are 3 different levels of lessons: brand new player, geared toward styles (fingerstyle, jazz, blues and etc.) and teaches specific songs. This program has several instructors, such as well known fingerstyle teachers like Mary Flower and Kaki King. It is a very cost effective way to learn fingerstyle guitar. 

• Guitar Alliance

          This is an instructional website that offers a full selection of guitar lessons online. The lessons are broken down into a free set of lessons. You can choose Fingerstle section if you would like. There are several lessons in this series, starting at the most basic level. It also includes the history of Fingerstyle Guitar and some basic exercises. This is a good training program for players to improve their playing. 

• GuitarBots

         This game is the future of music education. GuitarBots works with real guitars. You will learn chords, notes, melodies, rhythms and real songs from here. It is fun and useful for those who are in early stages of being a beginner guitarist. After you finish one song, you could get the feedback immediately. The game could also test your skill, so you can play your song to fit your level. 

Best Websites for Fingerstyle Learning

Adam Rafferty

If you like funky fingerstyle guitar, go ahead and explore more in the Adam Rafferty's website. He is a funky fingerstyle guitar player born and currently spending his time on the road playing concerts. On his website, he offers free lessons, tour, interesting blogs. 

http://www.adamrafferty.com/

Eric Lugosch - Fingerstyle Academy
This is one of the best sites I have discovered. It includes music, slow recording, fast recording and history of the song, and includes easy, medium and hard example songs. 

http://www.ericlugosch.com/lessonhome.html

Jim Pharis - Learn Fingerstyle Guitar

If this is your first time to learn fingerstyle guitar, please visit this website by Jim Pharis. I think he was born a fingerpicker. In his website, you can easily find the lessons for beginner, books, DVDs, and some recommend cool links. 

http://www.learn-fingerstyle-guitar.com/

Acoustic Styles

Let's discover different amazing acoustic styles today!

Folk Baroque
A distinctive style to emerge from Britain in the early 1960s, which combined elements of American folk, blues, jazz and ragtime with British traditional music, was what became known as 'folk baroque'. 

"New-Age" Fingerstyle
In 1976, William Ackerman started Windham Hill Records, which carried on the Takoma tradition of original compositions on solo steel string guitar. However, instead of the folk and blues oriented music of Takoma, including Fahey's American primitive guitar, the early Windham Hill artists (and others influenced by them) abandoned the steady alternating or monotonic bass in favor of sweet flowing arpeggios and flamenco-inspired percussive techniques. This music was generally pacific, accessible and expressionistic. 

Percussive Fingerstyle
"Percussive picking" is an emerging term for a style incorporating sharp attacks on the strings, as well as hitting the strings and guitar top with the hand for percussive effect. Flamenco guitarists have been using these techniques for years but the greater resistance of steel strings made a similar approach difficult in fingerstyle until the use of pickups on acoustic guitars became common in the early 1970s.

Funky Fingerstyle
"Funky Fingerstyle" emerged in the mid 2000s as a style in which the sounds of a full funk or R&B ensemble are emulated on one guitar. Uncommon sounds are being discovered thanks to the technical possibilities of various pickups, mics and octave division effects pedals.

African Fingerstyle
The 6 string guitar was brought to Africa by traders and missionaries (although there are indigenous guitar-like instruments such as the ngoni). Its uptake varies considerably between regions, and there is therefore no single African acoustic guitar style. In some cases, the styles and techniques of other instruments have been applied to the guitar; for instance, a technique where the strings are plucked with the thumb and one finger imitates the two-thumbed plucking of the kora andmbira.

So, which one is your favorite style? 

Sources cited from Wikipedia. 

Famous Acoustic Fingerstyle Guitarists

Let's meet some well-known acoustic fingerstyle guitarists!

William Thomas "Tommy" Emmanuel AM (born 31 May 1955) is an Australian virtuoso guitarist and occasional singer, and songwriter best known for his complex fingerstyle technique, energetic performances and the use of percussive effects on the guitar. Although originally a session player in many a band, in recent years, Emmanuel has carved out his own style as a solo artist, releasing award winning albums and singles. 

Kotaro Oshio (押尾 コータロー Oshio Kōtarō, real name: 押尾 光太郎) is an acoustic guitarist from Japan. Born inOsaka Prefecture, on February 1, 1968, he is best known for his work on the steel string guitar. Oshio's music is classified within various categories including pop, new age, and jazz. Oshio's musical technique includes fingerpicking, tap harmonics, and a unique strumming style referred to as a "nail attack" in which he slaps the strings with the nails of his middle and ring fingers which is inspired by Michael Hedges. 

Donald James Ross, or Don Ross, (born November 19, 1960) is aCanadian fingerstyle guitarist. He is the only person to twice win the U.S. National Fingerstyle Guitar Championship (1988 and 1996). His album Huron Street reached the top ten on the Billboard new age chart.

(Resources cited from Wikipedia). 

Welcome to Guitar World!

Hello! Welcome to my blog!

Are you a big fan of guitar? In this blog, I would like to share realization and communication of "Fingerstyle" guitar with you. 

What is Fingerstyle guitar? Basically it is playing the guitar by plucking the strings directly with the fingertips, fingernails, or picks attached to fingers. Sounds cool, right?

Right behind the guitar is the human mind and spirit. Things that happen in the soul realm of things are connected to the music, to the life you live. 

Let's enjoy the true beauty of fingerstyle guitar.