Learn This Awesome Fingerpicking Blues Technique For Your Guitar Playing

Blues Fingerpicking Youtube Video

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, fingerpicking is a must for any acoustic guitar player out there. The possibilities are endless when you have even just basic fingerpicking skills.

Today, I am going to show you how to fingerpick through a 12 bar blues playing both the lead and rhythm parts at the same time! There will be no need for anyone else to play along with you to sound complete.

The great news is this approach is not hard to do at all. Basic playing skills will see you master this technique with just a little work.

So what is this technique I am referring to?

Simply put, the fingers of your picking hand are going to be plucking riffs and melodies on the higher strings of your guitar, while the thumb of the same hand will constantly pluck a lower string, generally an open string but not always.

This technique is as simple as it is impressive to those who hear you play. If you are not clear what I am talking about, not to worry.

Below you will find a step by step approach to mastering this blues fingerpicking technique so you can effortlessly play through chorus after chorus of a 12 bar blues, sounding full and complete all on your own!

Fingerpicking Blues Drills

For the purpose of developing this technique, we will be using both pentatonic patterns 1 and 2 in the key of Em. More specifically the top 4 strings of each of these patterns, as follows:

Hybrid Pentatonic Scale Pattern

First up, we are going to play the low open E string of our guitar, along with each note of the scale in a quarter note rhythm (ie. on the beat) like so:

Open E String Quarter Note Example

Once you have the above exercise down, we are going to separate the fingers from the thumb by having them play different rhythms.

Your thumb will pluck the low open E string in a swinging eighth note rhythm, while your fingers continue to play the pentatonic scale pattern in a quarter note rhythm, like this:

Open E String Eighth Note Example

Don’t forget to watch the video that accompanies this article for more details, and to see this technique in action. In the video you will hear that I am palm muting the low open E string to create more contrast between the bass and the riffs, or if you like, the accompaniment and melody parts.

This exercise is a little more challenging to do than the first one, but is a great exercise in getting your fingers to work independently from your thumb. Be patient, you will get it soon enough, as long as you take it slowly.

Once you have these basic drills down, and have developed the ability to have your thumb work independently of your fingers, you will find what follows next, easy to do!

Creating Fingerpicking Blues Riffs

Fingerpicking Blues Riff 1:

The next step requires that we have a riff of some sort. Using our hybrid pentatonic pattern, here is a typical call and response riff we will be using:

Em Riff 1

Once you have this riff down in isolation, you will then add the plucking of the low open E string in an eight note rhythm like this:

Em Riff 1 With Droning E Open String

Hear how something so simple as a low open E string can make your riff sound whole and complete!

Seeing as though the first chord of a blues in E is an E7, the low open E string in this case is implying an E7 chord.

The next chord in our E blues, the IV chord, is A7.

It could not be simpler to cover this chord, as all you need to do is play the exact same riff, only with your thumb plucking the open 5th/A string to imply an A7 chord:

Em Riff 1 With Droning A Open String

With both the E7 and A7 chord covered, we can now fingerpick our way through the first 8 bars of a 12 bar blues, like so:

E Blues Vamp With Riff 1

In the example above, I am using the same riff throughout.

Fingerpicking Blues Riff 2:

Let’s go through this process again, only with another blues riff to really reinforce this approach. Here is the riff we will use:

Em Riff 2

As was the case before, we simply play the riff while plucking a swinging eighth note rhythm on the low E string:

Em Riff 2 With Droning E Open String

Next, do the same only plucking the 5th/A string to imply the A7 chord:

Em Riff 2 With Droning A Open String

Finally, arrange the riff across the first 8 bars of a 12 bar blues in E, remembering to imply the chords by constantly plucking the appropriate lower open string in an eighth note rhythm:

E Blues Vamp With Riff 2

The V Chord (B7)

To complete our 12 bar blues in E, we need to deal with the B7 chord. Unlike the E7 and A7 chords, we don’t have an open B string to pluck in the bass for our B7 chord. Ok, so we do have an open B string, but it is in the wrong octave to be of any use to us.

This is fine though, as the lower note you pluck does not necessarily have to be an open string. For the B7 chord we will form the standard open shape, plucking the root note at the 2nd fret on the 5th string, while playing a riff of some sort on top, like this:

B7 Blues Riff

We now have all we need to fingerpick our way through an entire chorus of a 12 bar blues in E. I will do exactly that now to show you how it all sounds together:

12 Bar Blues In E Arrangement

In the example above, I am using a combination of the riffs we used earlier.

Listen to how cool and complete everything sounds by simply plucking a single note in the bass to accompany the riffs and melodies you play on the higher strings.

To add some interest, I also included a few bass note connections between the chord changes.

Take this simple approach I have shown you here today and create your own blues riffs to arrange and play through a 12 bar blues in E.

The key is to always apply the things you learn. The rewards will be great as you develop the ability to play through chorus after chorus of a blues playing both the melody and accompaniment parts.

Further develop your blues guitar fingerpicking technique with this free ebook/audio. I will not only show you a variety of ways to fingerpick your way though a blues, but also how to put it altogether to create your own awesome arrangements!