Fingerstyle Basics for `Ukulele - t i m r, ( p i m a )

No Movement - No Sound

Everybody sounds the same until they actually get the strings moving with their no-fretting hand.

The right hand, for right hand players and left hand for left hand players, is responsible for getting the strings moving – NO Movement — NO Sound.

Strings can be plucked, picked, strummed and any combination of the same to get the strings moving.

Pick up your ukulele and finger a C chord. Nothing happens until you get the strings moving. Everybody sounds the same until they get the strings moving.

An interviewer once told the great guitarist, Chet Atkins. That guitar sounds great. Chet put the guitar down and then asked Hows it sound now?

Initially my fingerstyle technique was limited to Bossa Nova style accompaniment using the technique I learned as a jazz guitarist. It wasn't until I started developing my concert repertoire for ukulele that I really started exploring legit fingerstyle technique. With 20 plus years as a private guitar, bass and ukulele teacher, and up to 60 students a week at times. I know the value of dedicated practice when it comes to learning a specific instrument techniques.

So I set out to explore fingerstyle and incorporate in to my playing repertoire.

Fingerpicking can be organized into two styles:

• Alternating Thumb Style — a strumming style that utilizes the thumb and two fingers. on guitar it's called WikipediA Travis Picking and on banjo it's WikipediA Scruggs Style
• Classical Guitar Technique — uses the thumb, index, middle, and ring fingers. The traditional p i m a classical guitar technique. The traditional Spanish names are: p = thumb (pulgar), i = index finger (índice), m = middle finger (mayor), a = ring finger (anular), c = little finger or pinky (meñique/chiquito)

Common Names for Those Pesky Musical Digits?)

Here are the common fingering notations I've encounter over the course of my studying ukulele and guitar.

Fingering for chords is typically expressed using Arabic numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and T for Thumb.

For the plucking hand, in fingerstyle, the Spanish classical names and what are commonly used in English are shown.

For the plucking hand, in fingerstyle, the Spanish, Latin classical names and what are commonly used in English are shown.

• Thumb ( t ), not really a finger but a digit. In classical guitar notation this is Pulgar (p), Pollex (p)
• Index ( i ) finger. In classical guitar notation Indice, Index (i)
• Middle ( m ) finger. In classical guitar notation Medio, Medius (m)
• Ring ( r ) finger. In classical guitar notation Anular, Aanularius (a)
• Pinky ( p ) finger. In classical guitar notation Mignolo (c, x or e)

Spanish: p i m a, English: t i m r

If you're studying traditional classical guitar repertoire and technique, the classical terms for the right hand are more common. For all else I recommend simply using the English terms and eliminate an translation.

Modern Classical Guitar , the repertoire and technique dates back to the mid nineteenth century ( 1800s ). And offers a wealth of information that can be adapted to the ukulele. Which is essentially a small classical guitar in its construction and technique when played without a plectrum (pick).

When playing ukulele it's only four strings with each finger handling their own string. On ukulele it's a simple finger to string assignment, your thumb handles string ④, your index finger handles string ③, your middle finger handles string ② and your ring finger handles string ①. A simple one-to-one string assignment.

Unlike ukulele with only one set of four strings, With the guitar there are fifteen possible four string combinations, not all are practical but a lot more than the one for ukulele.

When playing any of the three, possible three Ukulele String Sets . You can use the thumb, index and middle fingers.

For the two Ukulele String Pairs any combination of t i m r is possible depending on the musical context.

The final decision as to what fingering combination to use will be a musical one. But it is definitely worth exploring all possible combinations.

The Fingerpicking Series of Lessons explores these fingering possibilities.

My Personal Journey Exploring the Classical p i m a Fingerstyle

So, one day I decided to finally get a handle on Classical p i m a Fingerstyle using my thumb and three fingers. I had developed my Travis Picking fingerpicking style, where you use your thumb, index and middle fingers. But not legit a.k.a. classical p i m a fingerstyle.

It was a dark stormy night

Don't all stories begin like that? It actually was a dark stormy night, an approaching hurricane coming up the Atlantic Ocean on the Northeast coast of the USA<.

I had, on a good day, a 30 to 45-minute drive home from that night's teaching as a music store. With many of the normal routes I'd typically take home, I'd have to take a different way home. It actually came closer to 90 minutes to get home using back and side roads.

So, it was during that long drive home on that dark stormy night that I practiced, p i m a , my Thumb, Index, Middle and Ring finger technique on the open strings of my Fluke ukulele, which was riding shotgun right up front with me. It yelled shotgun coming out of the store. No chords as the left hand was busy driving – I only did p i m a with the right hand for one hour plus. I focused on getting a clean sound, even volume and tone. Starting S L O W and only after many reps did I increase the tempo. I only did that one drill for the whole ride, no other combinations. I then practiced accenting one of the strings in the sequence. t i m r, t i m r, t i m r, t i m r.

String Combinations

One Finger, Single String

Two Finger, Single String Combinations

There are twelve 12 possible two finger, single string combinations.

Example starting on the thumb ( t ), C tuning with a high G string four.

Three Finger, Single String Combinations

There are twenty-four 24 possible three finger, single string combinations.

Four Finger, Single String Combinations

There are twenty-four 24 possible four finger, single string combinations.

Checkout the below video demonstrating all the combinations starting in the thumb (t).

Fingerstyle Basics for `Ukulele - t i m r, ( p i m a ) Lesson Video

What About the Pinky?

Funny you should ask. The pinky is typically not used in fingerstyle. With the ukulele only having four strings, the thumb and three fingers are enough to handle only four strings.

Practical Applications

For all practical purposes, single string fingerpicking can be mostly done with your thumb, index and middle fingers or a combination of the same fingers.

Classical Guitar Links & Information

There are several schools of though with regards to classical fingerstyle. Here is a collection of and information I've been collecting during my research in to fingerstyle as applied to the ukulele.

• WidipediA: Classical guitar technique

  The classical guitar technique is a fingerstyle technique used by classical guitarists to play classical guitar music on a classical guitar.

• WidipediA: Fingerstyle guitar

  Fingerstyle guitar is the technique of playing the guitar by plucking the strings directly with the fingertips, fingernails, or picks attached to fingers, as opposed to flatpicking (picking individual notes with a single plectrum called a flatpick) or strumming all the strings of the instrument in chords. The term is often used synonymously with fingerpicking (although fingerpicking can also refer to a specific stylistic subset; see below). Music arranged for fingerstyle playing can include chords, arpeggios and other elements such as artificial harmonics, hammering on and pulling off with the fretting hand, using the body of the guitar percussively, and many other techniques.

• WidipediA: Hybrid picking

  Hybrid picking is a guitar-playing technique that involves picking with a pick and one or more fingers alternately or simultaneously. Hybrid picking allows guitar players who use a pick (plectrum) to perform music which would normally require fingerstyle playing. It also facilitates wide string leaps (e.g. from the sixth string to the second string, etc) which might otherwise be quite difficult. The technique is not widespread in most genres of guitar playing (though notable exceptions exist), but is most often employed by country and bluegrass flatpickers who play music which occasionally demands fingerstyle passages.

• Tuck's Corner, Tuck Andress (1/99 - updated 8/24/99) Pick & Fingerstyle Technique

  For fingerstyle Tuck goes over; Development of fingerstyle, The fundamentals of fingerstyle technique according to Tuck, Choosing which finger to use when playing single lines, How to use picking to improve fingerstyle

• Great Tone By Michael Chapdelaine

  This is a great article on the benefits of developing string contact with the fleshy part of the finger before the nail. Explains why getting a good sound on nylon strings with a pick is so hard to develop.

• Great Tone By Rest Stroke and Free Stroke Revisited, Published: 1990 Author: Ricardo Iznaola

Nail Care

Regular and proper care of your nails is the single, foremost way to prevent them from breaking and requiring repair.(Everyday)

Links & Information From Around the Web

• Acrylic Nails - link
• Flamenco Guitarist Nails - Tips and Advice - link
• The Art of Nail Care By Jason Fowler - link
• Care of the Nails (guitardownunder.com) - link

Nail Care Tools

• Diamond File
• 500 Grade Sandpaper
• 600 Grade Silicon Carbide - available at hardware stores
• Multigrade Cosmetic Nail Buffer or 800 Grade paper for buffing the nail

Nail Care Products

• Savarez Nail Repair Kit
• Los Angeles Classical Guitars - $24.95

Nail making and repair kit, includes: band of self adhesive silk, 2 tubes of resin, Nail file, needle and applicator stick.

Conclusion

There is of a lot of work to do — but it's well worth the effort.
So get to work!!!