Fingerstyle is a fantastic skill for any guitarist, crossing almost every genre and style. From simple picking patterns and beautiful song accompaniment to complete solo guitar arrangements, we’ll build from the core techniques into great songs, riffs, grooves and the sounds that make fingerstyle guitar so rewarding.
Saturday 12 December 2026
10:00am – 5:00pm
Limited to just 4–6 players, allowing plenty of individual attention throughout the day.
Places are strictly limited, so early booking is recommended.
Run by:
Andy Moore
Venue:
The Teaching Studio, Kenley
This Fingerstyle Guitar Day Course is limited to just 4–6 players, creating a relaxed, small-group environment with plenty of individual attention.
It’s become one of our students’ favourite ways to learn, combining the social experience of a Guitar Weekends course with something much closer to the personal attention of a private lesson or masterclass.
Fingerstyle guitar can take you in almost any musical direction. It can create rhythmic accompaniment, beautiful chord textures, blues grooves and riffs, or complete solo guitar arrangements where you play the bass, chords and melody together.
During the day, we’ll explore all of these areas, starting with the fundamentals and gradually applying the techniques to real musical examples.
The course is aimed particularly at high beginner to intermediate guitarists who already have some playing experience but may be relatively new to fingerstyle guitar.
We’ll start with the essentials – picking-hand position, finger placement, plucking techniques, posture, nails and developing good habits.
From there, we’ll work through exercises that lead directly into songs and musical examples, including classic fingerstyle songs, acoustic blues, riffs and grooves.
We’ll also explore partial chord shapes and adding simple melodies over chords, giving even relatively new fingerstyle players the opportunity to begin creating standalone solo guitar arrangements.
For solo fingerstyle playing, we’ll work on areas including:
Most importantly, you’ll leave with plenty of material and a structured collection of ideas to continue practising and developing over the following months.
If you’ve previously taken our Blitzing Your Fingerstyle online series, we’ll be developing some of the ideas covered in the earlier levels, alongside plenty of additional techniques and material.
If you’d like a head start before attending, Levels 1–2 of Blitzing Your Fingerstyle are a great introduction.
The course is divided into five sessions, gradually building from the fundamentals towards playing complete musical examples and solo arrangements.
We’ll establish the foundations of good fingerstyle technique, including picking-hand position, finger independence and warm-up exercises.
We’ll also introduce some of the Giuliani studies, which provide an excellent resource for developing control, coordination and independence in the picking hand.
Fingerstyle isn’t just about which strings you pick – developing a strong sense of rhythm is equally important.
We’ll work through specially designed exercises and songs to explore different rhythmic feels and four common time signatures, helping you keep fingerstyle patterns flowing while the harmony changes underneath.
We’ll build an acoustic blues piece from the ground up, gradually developing the picking patterns and coordination needed to make it groove.
We’ll then explore ways of adding simple blues licks, fills and variations, helping you move beyond simply repeating a picking pattern.
We’ll explore a selection of recognisable fingerstyle guitar parts and riffs.
These are perfect for players who want to get more from their songs than simply strumming the chords, while also providing great exercises for developing coordination, timing and picking-hand control.
We’ll bring the different elements of the day together and look at how bass, chords and melody can be combined.
You’ll begin exploring how a familiar song can be turned into a standalone fingerstyle arrangement – giving you the foundations for playing pieces that sound complete with just one guitar.
This course is aimed at high beginner to intermediate guitarists playing acoustic or electric guitar.
You don’t need previous fingerstyle experience, but this isn’t a course for someone completely new to the guitar.
As a general guide, you’ll be comfortable if you can:
Don’t worry if your fingerpicking itself is still very basic – that’s exactly what we’re here to develop.
If you can play some of the examples in the course overview PDF, you’ll be absolutely fine to attend.
This isn’t a large workshop.
We deliberately limit the course to just 4–6 guitarists.
That gives everyone plenty of opportunity to ask questions, receive individual feedback and work on areas of their playing that need particular attention.
It also means we can adapt the pace and some of the material to suit the people in the room.
It’s a format our students have particularly enjoyed – combining the fun and atmosphere of learning alongside other guitarists with something closer to the individual attention of a small masterclass or private lesson.
The course is £150 for the full day and is limited to just 4–6 players.
The price includes:
Please bring your own packed lunch.
The aim is to make the main course materials available digitally before the day, so you can bring them on an iPad, laptop or similar device if you wish.
You’ll also receive access to relevant supplementary materials from the day, which may include:
These give you plenty to take away and continue working on after the course has finished.
We always advise bringing as little as possible. The day is about playing and learning rather than setting up lots of equipment.
An acoustic guitar is ideal for this course.
You may also wish to bring:
All of the main teaching materials will also be projected onto a larger screen.
If you’d prefer to use an electric guitar, please let us know when booking and we can discuss the best setup with you.
“Thank you so much for yesterday’s session. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole day and really appreciated your inclusive approach to teaching and, as a result, I gained much more than I expected from the time spent with you. Also, I found the location and pace that you went through the material perfect.”
– Les J
“Thanks for a great day everyone! Thoroughly enjoyed it and keen to do more; as we discussed, the session with the quartet worked very well. I will try to sign up for the fingerstyle bootcamp once I’ve checked dates. Cheers.”
– Adrian C
“Just wanted to thank you for the guitar course which I thoroughly enjoyed. You are truly an exceptional teacher with incredible energy and it was amazing how you managed to inspire us all, despite the differences in our abilities. I’ve been learning for two years and was beginning to feel a bit stale and unsure how to progress, so it’s especially nice to feel enthusiastic again. So thank you.”
– Sarah G
Driving is the easiest way to reach the course, although you can also travel by public transport. The closest mainline stations are Purley and Kenley.
If travelling by car, there are two convenient routes from the M25:
Parking is free on the surrounding roads.
We’ll send everyone the exact location, parking information and final joining instructions during the week before the course.
Unlike our larger hotel courses, these small-group days are limited to a maximum of just 4–6 players.
That small group is an important part of the course – it means more playing, more individual attention and plenty of opportunity to ask questions throughout the day.
If you’d like to join us, book early as places are very limited.
If you’re travelling from further afield and would like to stay locally, we’re also happy to suggest nearby hotels and B&Bs.