New Video Lesson Course Coming Soon: Fingerstyle Guitar 101

Coming soon! =)

For any guitarist who wants to begin playing fingerstyle in 2015...

This is a video lesson course with notation/tab PDFs so you can study at your own pace at home. 

Az Samad Fingerstyle Guitar Academy
Intro to Right Hand Technique

• Imagine playing a melody on guitar and then adding the bassline - and then the chords to it.

• Imagine making it sound as if there were two or more guitarists playing but instead when people look, it's only one person and a guitar!

• Imagine creating a sound that's like an orchestra on a single guitar!
This is the world of fingerstyle guitar.

Names like Tommy Emmanuel, Don Ross, Chet Atkins, Michael Hedges, Alex de Grassi, Thomas Leeb, Sungha Jung, Mike Dawes and more all play their own brand of fingerstyle guitar. What unites them is an understanding of the fundamentals. How to hold the guitar, how to make the kind of sounds that makes people cry and get into a trance when you play guitar.

In this course, you’ll learn 3 fingerstyle guitar pieces. These are intended to be short pieces tightly condensed with a lot of technical and musical information. Although you will be able to play these pieces after studying them in this course, the main goal is to actually understand the concepts behind them - to understand how I’m playing these pieces. The results you’ll get by really digging deep into the videos is that you’ll start to see what to practice and how to practice these techniques. Later on, you’ll be able to use the same techniques on songs you may already play or new ones with more conviction, better tone and stronger delivery.

There are 3 modules in this course. Each covers a particular approach of fingerstyle guitar playing. By understanding the strengths of each approach, you will be able to make a better decision on what technique you want to pursue further.

More info coming soon! =)

In the meantime, check out lesson packs available here: 
http://www.azsamad.com/lessonpacks 

Top 12 YouTube Fingerstyle Guitar Videos You Should Know

Because a Top 10 is too mainstream. LOL.

Here's a list of videos that are popular, known, influential or in some way I feel is a good introduction to vast jungle of fingerstyle guitar YouTube videos.

If you're a guitar teacher, this is a good list to introduce your students to in case they're not familiar with it.

If you're a total fingerstyle guitar geek, you've probably seen all these videos & will ask me why some videos are not included. The reason is because there's a lot of videos out there! =p

Share & comment away! =)

1. Drifting - Andy McKee

This is one of the videos that started it all off. Great lesson in playing in DADGAD, percussive playing & tapping.

2. Crazy (Gnarls Barkley) - Don Ross

Don Ross was one of my biggest influences when I started playing fingerstyle guitar. His album 'Passion Session' is still of my faves. Strongly recommended. 

3. Somebody I used to know (Gotye) - Mike Dawes

Mike Dawes covered this Gotye song and focused all his energy to get this crazy arrangement together. Epic fingerstyle guitar. 

4. Airtap - Erik Mongrain

This started a whole generation of lap-tapping guitarists. Great performance, super clean briliant playing. Love it.

5. Reality - Antoine Dufour

Antoine is a major influence to a whole new generation of players who know fingerstyle guitar via the CandyRat Youtube channel and record label. Very intricate playing and elegant textures.

6. Playing with Pink Noise - Kaki King 

This is the Kaki King song that most people know her for. Since this song, she has explored looping, different instruments and gotten even more textural and ambient. Great compositions and moods in her music. 

7. Time 2 - Ewan Dobson

 

Ewan Dobson is his own genre I think. And the look. Wow.

8. Passionflower - Jon Gomm

One of my favorite singer-songwriters/virtuoso fingerstyle guitarists. This song made him famous though my fave piece of his is his take on Radiohead's High and Dry. My dream is to tour with Jon.

9. Pirates of the Caribean - Sungha Jung

Most of my younger guitar students started playing because of Sungha. He's an inspiration to a whole generation because he showed them that it's possible for a kid to play like this. 

10. No Woman No Cry (Bob Marley) - Thomas Leeb

A huge influence to my playing after I met him back in 2003 when I attended Eric Roche's Residential Guitar Workshop in Devon, UK. Thomas is one of a kind. Also, check out Grooveyard (video link).

11. Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence - Kotaro Oshio

Kotaro's performance on this is a great introduction to his style which blends his Michael Hedges influences and his own sensibilities. Great touch and beautiful playing.

12. Billie Jean (Michael Jackson) - Adam Rafferty

Adam is all about groove and tone. A maestro and some of the most elegant fingerstyle groove pop guitar you'll hear.

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Thanks for checking this blog post!

It's part of the new material for version 2.0 of the Percussive Fingerstyle Guitar Course that I teach. The new version is in the works...

In the meantime, you can check out my other guitar & ukulele courses here: Az Samad Guitar & Fingerstyle Ukulele Lessons

Thank you! =)

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