# Pieces for fingerstyles



## mawmow (Nov 14, 2017)

Besides the "House of the Rising Sun"'s basic arpeggios, I had stumbled on a booklet of arpeggio models and I then found interesting to test these on songs I had in many fakebooks. That is how I came to fingerstyle. But after ten years on my journey to play decently, after buying many tab songbooks (Fingerpicking... series), I began to write my own arrangements of pieces I hear or take here and there, like Chaplin's Smile or The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down (after Joan Baez).

I am curious to know which pieces you guys like to play fingerstyle...


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## bw66 (Dec 17, 2009)

Great thread! I'll be following along looking for ideas. 

I play a bunch of stuff from Happy Traum's book, "Traditional and Contemporary Fingerpicking Styles for Guitar". Also a number of Pete Huttlinger songs and arrangements - his estate used to have "Tune Tuesday" where you could download a tune transcription for free. Bob Evans has some nice transcriptions on his site - I play "Dune" and "Tip of the Tongue". I also play some stuff from the now defunct "Fingerstyle Guitar" magazine. Lately I've been looking at some RCM repertoire - the mid-grades are pretty accessible to me and fill out an instrumental set list quite nicely.


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## mawmow (Nov 14, 2017)

Thanks @bw66 !

I made my fingerstyle classes with Happy Traum's Homespun videos (and Fred Sokolow), Stefan Grossman's masterclasses' songbooks and videos and a series of tab books with names beginning with "Fingerpicking..." and other songbooks "...for Classical Guitar": These all contained tab arrangements of reknowned pieces.

I long to read other suggestions...


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## Doug Gifford (Jun 8, 2019)

I _only_ fingerpick. I don't know why. Just stubborn that way.


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## mawmow (Nov 14, 2017)

Doug Gifford said:


> I _only_ fingerpick. I don't know why. Just stubborn that way.


Nice !
Is that the only piece you play ? 
I hope not ! 
Any other nice piece to suggest ?


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## Doug Gifford (Jun 8, 2019)

mawmow said:


> Nice !
> Is that the only piece you play ?
> I hope not !
> Any other nice piece to suggest ?


Ha! I used to play lots of songs on guitar. I played more guitar when I recorded this. My general playing cliches are alternating bass using the fleshy bit just below the thumbnail (which used to have a callous) with the index getting the offbeat and the next two fingers catching bits of melody and chords. Sort of a lazy Travis style.


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## Dorian2 (Jun 9, 2015)

Two of my favs are Dee, Randy Rhoads, and Dust in the Wind, Kansas.


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## Doug Gifford (Jun 8, 2019)

This was a big influence of my playing, I suspect:


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## mawmow (Nov 14, 2017)

To add some stuff, here is the list of pieces I would play some from almost everyday :

Most are from tab books "Fingerpicking..."
(Note : Some pieces clearly appear to be in the wrong book)

*Acoustic : Behind Blue Eyes, The Boxer, Dust in the Wind, In my Life, Tears in Heaven, Time in a Bottle and You've Got a Friend

*Pop: Can You Feel the Love Tonight, Every Breath You Take, My Heart Will Go On, Piano Man, We've Only Just Begun, Wonderful Tonight

*Ballads: (Everything I Do) I Do It For You, Fields of Gold, Have I Told You Lately, Your Song

*Country: Always on my Mind, Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain, By the Time I Get to Phoenix, Crazy, Have I Told You Lately that I Love You

*Celtic Folk: The Ash Grove, Carrickfergus, Danny Boy, Scarborough Fair, Si Bheag, Si Mhor, The Skye Boat Song, Tarboulton Reel, Wild Mountain Thyme

*Acoustic Rock : Angie, Bridge Over Troubled Water, More Than Words

*Blues: Baby Please Don't Go How Long, How Long Blues, Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out

*Standards: Can't Help Falling in Love, Georgia on my Mind, In a Sentimental Mood, Misty, Moon River, Unchained Melody, The Way We Were, What a Wonderful World

*Enya: Fairytale, Lothlorien

And some other notable pieces : A Whiter Shade of Pale, At Last, Summertime, Windy and Warm, Something, Anji/Davey Graham

As well as many others from Stefan Grossman's Workshops tab books, "50 Easy Irish Favorite for Classical Guitar" and "The Beatles for Classsical Guitar".


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## mawmow (Nov 14, 2017)

Not much acoustic fingerstyle players here I guess... 

I am getting quite fed up with all the pieces I played for the last few years. I now crave for my future man cave where I would write my own tabs of pieces I wished I could play sight reading staffs...


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## brucew (Dec 30, 2017)

I play mostly 20's stuff, early country blues. Try to learn a new one every week. This coming week it's most likely Elizabeth Cotton's Shake Sugaree, still debating between it and Willie Brown's Mississippi Blues; suspect the latter will take me a couple weeks.
I mostly sort them by ear from original recordings on youtube(play by ear, learn by rote, sort out a couple bars, once comfortable, a couple more). 
Some very good one's you can find someone doing a cover of it and get lot's of tips from it. Mississippi Blues I'll learn from watching Peter Keane play it.

edit: Okay, I learned the intro and start of m. blues, that initial chord's going to be a challenge as I have Dupuytren's contracture in my left hand 4th finger; I'll get it, but ain't gonna be quick. So took me no time to sort out Shake Sugaree (sort out, not play well), but meanwhile, lately been learning a bunch of Frank Hovington songs and came across this. So, ya, I'll learn Shake Sugaree because it's pretty, but tomorrow, this is on the menu.
So many songs, so little time. What a cool song! Where the hell was youtube when I was a kid.


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## mawmow (Nov 14, 2017)

Mississippi Blues : I like it as transcribed in Stefan Grossman's songbook. The way he plays and talk about it on Youtube is incredible ! 




Leon Redbone sang on it, but I do not find the video...

Elisabeth Cotton used to serve at the Seegers' house : She played lefty on a right hand guitar...


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## BGood (Feb 20, 2015)

I don't fingerpick, but I like this one.


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## FlyingFred (Sep 29, 2019)

How about pretty much everything by Chet Atkins? You have to hear his version of « La vie en rose »...


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## mawmow (Nov 14, 2017)

FlyingFred said:


> How about pretty much everything by Chet Atkins? You have to hear his version of « La vie en rose »...


Oh yeah ! Chet Atkins : Got almost all its discography. He played so many repertoires.
He palyed his Windy & Warm on electrics as well as on nylon with orchestral arrangement.


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

Tons of classical pieces of course, as that's almost always fingerstyle anyway. I like Bach/baroque. A lot of celtic pieces, Lark in the Clear Air, Hector The Hero, various planxties, The Foggy Dew, The Joy Of My Life, Swallowtail, etc. The odd jazz thing like Take Five but as much as I like jazz, I tend to flatpick it.


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