Beginner fingerstyle on acoustic guitar

Question

I'm trying to learn fingerstyle technique on an acoustic guitar. I'm using the 5 fingers (thumb for E & A, ..., pinky for E) but after 3 days trying with this song I still sound horrible. I recorded the first 8 bars. The sound isn't continuous & the notes are very short. Is this normal for a beginner and will get better with practice and playing faster or is there something wrong with my technique?

Answer 1

First problem is between notes 1 and 2 , then 3 and 4. There's a little curved line between them, meaning play them legato. That means don't pluck the 2nd or 4th notes, but instead, hammer-on with fingers on your fretting hand. Result will be no gap between them.

The next semi-quaver run is also detached, and needs to be played as we speak words - with no audible gaps between. For that, you need to have fingers ready over the appropriate frets, and don't touch anything with r.h. fingers until exactly on time for each note. Only way to achieve this is to play very slowly and smoothly, losing gaps between notes.

I find bars 2, 6 and 8 with the arrows on tab a little odd. I guess it means stagger the notes - arpeggiate - but there's no sign to do so in the real music.

Answer 2

Yes it is mostly a matter of developing the technique. You need to be able to move quicker between notes and chords so there's no gaps when you go the the next note of chords.

Might be good idea to practice basic scales and arpeggios and faster chord changes to develop more general dexterity of fretboard hand.

It's probably not a good idea to use pinky for plucking. Try to be more flexible with how fingers cover different strings and rely on stronger fingers, to get more consistent sound and have more control.

Also try to pay attention to the details from the start and actually practice to play the rhythm that is written there, try not to miss anything (like open D that should ring out in first bar).