Learning fingerstyle by ear?

Question

I love Chet Atkins and Tommy Emmanuel, and I have learned one Chet song by ear. Yakety Axe! But I struggle to learn these songs, and I struggle with the technique more than I should considering I have been playing guitar for several years. I play a lot of lead, especially in church, but struggle with the alternating bass fingerpicking. ANY ADVISE IS WELCOME!

Answer 1

I know exactly what you mean. I've never felt comfortable playing finger style on the guitar, it's almost as though I needed to learn the basics of what fingers need to doing what first. Recently I taught myself to play the piano by ear and that same - what finger should be doing what - thing got in my way again until I looked through a book on playing the piano that provided some simple rules and techniques for how to to place and move your fingers along the keyboard so they don't get tangled up. So, I just looked to see if there are any books on technique for finger style guitar and there are many. So, what I suggest you do, is go to a book store that sells books on playing the guitar and look through some of the finger style guitar books to see if you can find one that has the right finger style technique to help you.



We humans have an amazing incredible mind that is capable of learning the exact pitch of every note on the guitar neck and which will associate those notes with frets and fingers and I'm certain that it can also easily associate and remember the associations for fingers and strings as well. From my piano playing experience however, I can tell you that you do not want to confuse your mind by giving it too many similar situation to keep track of. Having the right technique for placing and using the right fingers makes it a whole lot easier to learn a melody with all it's associations to the point where it becomes a habit and you can then actually play it perfectly without even thinking about it.



Have you ever heard of Maslow's hierarchy of learning? Dr. Abraham Maslow concluded that there are only four levels of learning. He described them this way. Level one he calls the unconscious incompetent. That is when we don't even know that there is something (like a technique in fingering) that we don't know. Level two he calls the conscious incompetent. That is where you are now. You are beginning to realize that there must be a better technique for playing finger style guitar that will help you. Level three he calls the conscious competent that is where you are learning a new song or a new technique and the only way you can get it perfect is to concentrate on it with you conscious mind. Level four is called the unconscious competent. That is when we know something so well, we have practiced to so much, that it has been committed to our subconscious mines and so, we no longer need to think about it, we can actually do it without concentrating on it at all. All of us drive our automobiles this way. All accomplished guitar players play our guitars this way as well. The really interesting thing is that we can transcend from level one to level four very quickly. It's getting to level one that is very often the only real trick. Don't ever get to point in your life where you begin to think you know everything there is to know about the guitar or anything else for that matter. Once you start to believe that you know, you will stop learning for sure. I wish you great success!

Answer 2

If you wish to learn to enjoy the guitar from your house but like you were with a instructor by your area then your ideal on the web course is the Jamorama online program for guitar from here https://tr.im/mqv8s . 

Jamorama simply attempt to re-create a situation in that you simply would have a teacher, or are enjoying in a band.

They provide you with Jam tracks (to mimic the band), ideas and common mistakes (that your guitar instructor could have pointed out while training you).

Every thing in it's in order that you can have an identical knowledge to having a teacher.

Answer 3

Playing guitar has enriched my life, and I want to help you get that same feeling by going through these guitar lessons https://tr.im/RIi1z



By the end of some lessons, you’ll be able to strum and know enough chords to play a few of your favorite songs, which will be a lot of motivation for you.

Answer 4

1

Answer 5

>>(Please don't be an *** and give me the whole "don't use tabs, learn by ear" bs.<< Don't use tabs - learn to read sheet music. Tabs are for people who want to pretend to play the guitar. >> And please, no capo, as I don't have one.<< Seriously? They only cost $20.