Guitar Tip #3 - Fingerpicking Patterns

Improve your guitar fingerpicking with Mauro Giuliani’s classic arpeggio exercises and learn how they can inspire new musical ideas.

An amazing resource for learning fingerpicking on guitar is the 120 Fingerstyle Arpeggio Exercises written by Mauro Giuliani. Despite being written in the 1800s and intended for classical guitar, these arpeggio patterns are amazing tests for any guitar player's right hand.
The patterns are primarily taken through 2 chords throughout the book making them easy to repeat on a loop to work on accuracy and endurance but what makes these patterns really great is how musical they are.
They can be huge inspirations for song writing if you decide to take them through different chord progressions because each pattern emphasises different aspects of the chord that’s being used.
Bruno Mars is a modern day guitar hero that endorsed this book when he posted it on his instagram a few years ago. Give his track “Columbo” a listen to hear someone that's studied these patterns and put them to use in a modern musical context.
Practice Tip: Take the first page and try to learn each of the patterns. Listen to what parts of the chord are emphasised and which ones you enjoy playing.
Advanced Practice Tip: Try to take your favorite pattern through a new chord progression and make sure each voice is expressed appropriately E.G. whatever melody you hear naturally coming from the pattern mixed with the chord should get extra attention.