Here’s a fun, easygoing campfire-style fingerpicking sequence for you to dive into. This 12 measure sequence is played with just three chords (G-C-D), but I’ll show you how you can pepper in some melody lines and atypical chord voicings to add a bit of character to things. For the G in particular, I’ll show a secondary position you can use – which lets you slide the melodic phrase downward from the 3rd and 4th fret to the open strings.
Here’s a few extra video lessons for this song, made in thanks to those supporting me with Premium membership here on my Song Notes website. To those showing your support, you have my true thanks and appreciation — and I hope you find these additional videos helpful!
Here’s a capo 5 slow playthrough, from start to finish, without any talking. I like the sound of the capo in this position, and it also makes the frets slightly less wide — making some of the chords easier to form.
If you don’t have a capo, here’s a playthrough with none applied. I follow the same tab, and play things from start to finish (zoomed, no talking).
If you need some guidance on which right-hand fingers to use to fingerpick the various chords, here’s a quick video showing you the ropes.
Listen to In His Arms by Jack Ingram, Jon Randall, and Miranda Lambert to hear the song that inspired this riff. Note, they’re playing things slightly different (different key, different riff, different chord progression) – but you likely can connect the dots between what they’re playing and my exercise here. This track #1 from “The Marfa Tapes” which is an album I’d recommend for sure!
You know how I use my left ringer on the low-E string for the G-major chord in figure 1A? Here’s a lesson I made doing a deep dive on that topic – specifically, showing when to use that G-chord finger position, vs. alternatives where your left-ring is on the 2nd string. There’s a time and place for both of these finger positions! Watch this video and get my PDF to really understand the difference.
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