[-Murf-]

I've been practicing the normal beginner finger picking practice routines - Thumb on 6,5,4 and Index, Middle, Ring on 3,2,1 (arpeggio style).

I've ordered the "Celtic Guitar" by Guitarist Glenn Weiser. I read this is a music book and not a "How to", hence my questions. While waiting for the book to arrive, I looked at some of the free example tab on his site and have a couple "How to" questions.

Here are the examples I'm looking at:

Example 1: Im not allowed to post URLs yet, but look on
www celticguitarmusic com / celpaddy.htm
(put "." in spaces where appropriate).

Example 2: www celticguitarmusic com / wind.htm

Question 1:
On example 1, you see 2 notes, one over the other, so I assume you play both of these the same time. It will be like the 3rd fret of the 6th string and an open 3rd string. Do you play these by doing a "pinching" motion with thumb on the 6th string and index on the 3rd string? What is the proper technique for these multi-notes?

On example 2, you can see they play the open 6th string, the 2nd fret of 3rd string, and the 4th fret of the 4th string at the same time. Normal you would use thumb on 4th string, but in this case I guess you thumb the 6th and use index and middle to pluck the 4th and 3rd strings - all in the same motion/time. A little different than the "pinch" technique. What's the proper technique for this?

Question 2:
On the examples I've given, I struggle to know which fingers on hold down on the strings. They don't tell you chord patterns to hold so it is slow trying to figure what fingers to use where and which ones minimizes left handed finger movement and can be held the longest. Any advice on how to tell the best or most efficient left hand fingering on things like this?

Thanks.

[chuckswood2001]

nothing is set in stone, not even the thumb 6-5-4 and so on, everything changes according to the song, as to which finger to use for which string, do what feels good to u, as for which left hand fingers to use, do the same what ever feels go to u, i had a song i was trying to learn and after fighting with which fingers to use where i found the fingering was part of a cord, made it a whole lot easier, now i always look to see if the fingering is part of a cord before i start to play it, u'll learn as u go along, and it becomes easier for u


Chuck

[Fretsource]

Originally Posted by -Murf-

Question 1:
On example 1, you see 2 notes, one over the other, so I assume you play both of these the same time. It will be like the 3rd fret of the 6th string and an open 3rd string. Do you play these by doing a "pinching" motion with thumb on the 6th string and index on the 3rd string? What is the proper technique for these multi-notes?

On example 2, you can see they play the open 6th string, the 2nd fret of 3rd string, and the 4th fret of the 4th string at the same time. Normal you would use thumb on 4th string, but in this case I guess you thumb the 6th and use index and middle to pluck the 4th and 3rd strings - all in the same motion/time. A little different than the "pinch" technique. What's the proper technique for this?

Yes - that's right. That's how you play them.

Question 2:
On the examples I've given, I struggle to know which fingers on hold down on the strings. They don't tell you chord patterns to hold so it is slow trying to figure what fingers to use where and which ones minimizes left handed finger movement and can be held the longest. Any advice on how to tell the best or most efficient left hand fingering on things like this?

Thanks.

Actually, they do tell you. Look at the equivalent notes on the music staff above the tab. Those numbers next to the notes are fret hand fingers (1 = index, 2 = middle, etc.)

[-Murf-]

Originally Posted by Fretsource

Yes - that's right. That's how you play them.



Actually, they do tell you. Look at the equivalent notes on the music staff above the tab. Those numbers next to the notes are fret hand fingers (1 = index, 2 = middle, etc.)

Ahh, I see the numbers. Thanks for the info FretSource!
I appreciate it.