Usually, the words "easy" and "finger picking" shouldn't show up in the same sentence. Except for maybe something like: "This finger picking blues song is anything but easy!" I felt that way for years and struggled through many songs on my way to learning how to finger pick. I could have saved hours of frustration by breaking things down and taking things from easy to hard in a logical sequence. That's what the FINGER PICKING 101 series is about. I use my favorite style of acoustic blues, Piedmont Blues, to show you how to break down a common finger picking progression into its core components. LEARN THE PROGRESSION: To start with, let's use our familiar pick and strum through the progression until you know it cold. This isn't your typical 12 bar blues pattern and is deeply rooted in Ragtime Music. Here's a video for step one: http://www.bluesguitarinstitute.com/decoding-a-classic-piedmont-blues-progression ALTERNATING BASS: One of the staples of Piedmont Blues is the alternating bass picking done with the thumb. This takes a while to get down if finger picking is new to you, but I put together an entire lesson dedicated just to this technique. Check it out here: http://www.bluesguitarinstitute.com/cracking-the-piedmont-blues-picking-code ADDING THE MELODY: This video is all about adding the melody on top of the alternating bass line. This is where things start to get cool (and tough). You have to put your other fingers to work, not just the thumb. But this lesson is designed to keep things short and sweet with a clean melody. In this video, I walk you through the first 4 bars of the progression. Check out the full lesson and the TAB here: http://www.bluesguitarinstitute.com/beginner-piedmont-finger-picking-blues-adding-the-melody If you're serious about improving your blues guitar skills, join the Blues Guitar Institute newsletter to get quick tips, licks and lessons: http://www.bluesguitarinstitute.com/YT039 Good luck with this lesson, please leave a comment if you have any questions or if there's something you'd like to dive deeper into. Play On! -John P.S. - If you liked this video, share it with your friends on Facebook: http://youtu.be/MboWq49_3gU