With Beginning Fingerstyle Guitar, John Miller has written a book designed to provide newcomers to this style, whether first-time guitarists or guitarists who have previously only played with a pick, the techniques needed to develop a solid foundation for playing fingerstyle. The book uses songs for teaching, presenting multiple ways of playing a song, starting simply and building gradually in terms of technical difficulty. And the exercises are designed to build skills in a wide range of fingerstyle skills: strumming, thumb-lead playing, pattern picking, and melody arrangements with the thumb playing alternating bass.

What specific features does the book offer for the beginning fingerstyle guitarist?
• Over fifty exercises, for playing through the songs, all notated in both standard notation and TAB (tablature);
• Links to sound samples for all of the exercises, with each exercise played at a slow tempo, for starting out, and a target tempo, with all of the exercises counted in, so that you can play along with them.
• Chord diagrams are provided for each song with the fingerings indicated that you will need to play the exercises.
• Playing tips precede each exercise, offering guidance on how to play the exercises with the greatest ease and efficiency in both the picking and the fretting hands.
• A special section on playing Blues at the end of the book.

In addition, Beginning Fingerstyle Guitar offers guidance on the following areas:
• A thorough explanation of how guitar tablature (TAB) works;
• How to develop a practice regimen and stick to it, and how to practice most effectively;
• How to work on developing your tone on the guitar and getting the sound out of it that you want to hear;
• Foundational music information, including an appendix on the structure of the major scale and an essay on how to transpose a chord progression;
• A discussion of capos, how they work, what they enable you to do, and how they can be used in playing situations with multiple guitarists.

Level 1 • 96 pages • Direct download link to audio files

Review: I just want to say: what a wonderful book you wrote! Beginning Fingerstyle Guitar is a fantastic book to start with. My students love it already. – Robbert ven der Vleute