Use this Melody in E minor to Improve Fingerstyle Technique.

Beginner Guitar Melody

Hey, guys, today I want to talk to you about improving fingerstyle technique with simple, musical, and effective exercises that are fun to play.

If you want to improve your technique, you have to practice. We all know that there is a massive difference between practicing and playing.

Practicing requires discipline, patience, and self-awareness. It would help if you also had a solid routine and focus. Playing is more instinctual and requires less focus.

Playing is a reward from practicing.

When I was practicing 6-7 hours a day, I remember thinking, “30 more minutes of practice, then I can finally play!”

My question is, “Can you combine practicing and playing?”

I started teaching in 2006, and my first year was a disaster. I lost a ton of students, and I was blaming it on them. I thought they didn’t want to practice, so it was their fault.

It took me a while to realize that the majority of people don’t care about practicing. They want to play! I realized they didn’t have 6-7 hours a day to practice.

I was selling them something that didn’t fit their lifestyle.

I changed my teaching approach in 2007, and it was the best thing I did in my life.

I would write tons of musical ideas and turn them into exercises. Each musical idea would tackle a specific technique.

Today we will focus on a practical idea in E minor that will help you develop your alternate fingering.

I hope you enjoy it!

The Video

Fingerstyle Pattern

In this fingerstyle exercise, we will be working on a symmetrical pattern that will help you with alternate fingering and finger dexterity.

The pattern is performed on two strings, B and E string, with the index finger plucking the B string and the middle finger plucking the E string.

Here’s the fingerstyle pattern we will be focusing on.

Notice that the melody will be always played on the second string.

The Melody

I highly recommend to practice the melody separately.

If you are a beginner, it is advisable to split the exercise into different steps and learn the melody. Then once you feel comfortable, move on to the next step and add the E open string.

Practicing using this system will help you to improve the fingerstyle technique faster and with less effort.

Chord Progression

One of the things I love about this fingerstyle exercise is the chord progression.

Guitar players love the E minor key. There are so many possibilities and fun patterns to play in E minor, and this exercise is the right example.

The chord progressions go as follows: Em – C – D – Em. The second part of the chord progression is C – D – Em – G/B – C – D – Em.