been playing guitar for about 3 years, mostly strumming. started learning travis picking a few weeks ago and tbh it's humbling. my thumb just does not want to cooperate with my index finger.

any tips from people who went through this? how long until it started feeling natural?

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[–] philanthropicoctopus@thelemmy.club 7 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Yes

Travis picking is your best bet for learning finger picking to begin with. Its the foundation of basically all finger picking aside from classical.

Some basic tips:

First and fore most and most importantly. Make sure your using the right fingering from the start. Your thumb plays the low E, the A, and D. Index plays G, middle plays B, and ring finger plays high e. I know it's tough at first but it will set you up for more advanced picking later on
Start slow. Practice the exercises with a metronome and move up 5bpm at a time.

I just made this to explain what I mean about finger positions

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If you can get hold of this book, you'll be in great hands. Work through the exercises day by take. I think I have a digital copy

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14341596-travis-picking

EDIT: My photo upload didn't work so here's the link to the book above