Make every note sing.
Fingerpick Academy takes you from your very first pinch-and-roll pattern all the way to three complete, performance-ready song arrangements — with the exact picking patterns, finger positions, troubleshooting fixes, and genre deep-dives that make the technique finally click.
"I'd rather give you a handful of patterns you can really feel than ten you can almost play."— Andrew P Wheeler
What you'll learn
What you'll be able to do
- Nail the foundational Travis picking pattern cleanly at a steady tempo
- Independently move your thumb on bass strings while your fingers carry the melody
- Play at least three complete fingerpicked song arrangements from start to finish
- Apply fingerpicking to multiple genres — folk, blues, classical, and singer-songwriter
- Read and use fingerpicking tablature and notation to learn new pieces on your own
- Troubleshoot common tension and muting problems to build pain-free, fluid technique
How it works
A school that adapts to you
This isn't a set of static videos. Every lesson is tuned to where you actually are.
We learn your level
A quick placement check tailors your starting point so you're never bored or lost.
Lessons adapt as you go
Each lesson is written for your pace and your goal, adjusting as your skills grow.
We keep you moving
Checkpoints, feedback, and gentle nudges turn progress into a real result.
The curriculum
What's inside your school
6 modules · 18 lessons
Hands, Posture & First Contact
Establishes the physical foundation every fingerpicker needs before a single note is played. Students learn how to sit, position the guitar, and place both hands so that good technique is built in from day one — preventing the tension and injury patterns addressed later in the course.
- 1.1Posture, Guitar Position & Hand SetupIncluded
- 1.2The Free Stroke vs. The Rest StrokeIncluded
- 1.3Your First Fingerpicking Pattern — The Pinch & RollIncluded
Reading Fingerpicking Tab & Notation
Gives students the literacy tools they need to learn new pieces independently — a core target outcome. Placed here, after basic hand mechanics are in place but before complex patterns arrive, so students can immediately apply reading skills to every lesson that follows. Both tablature and standard notation conventions specific to fingerpicking are covered.
- 2.1How Fingerpicking Tab WorksIncluded
- 2.2Playing From Tab — Two Study PiecesIncluded
Travis Picking & Thumb Independence
The technical core of the course and the primary vehicle for the thumb-independence outcome. Students build the classic Travis picking pattern in stages — alternating bass first, then fingers added, then true melodic independence — so each layer is solid before the next is introduced. Sequenced after reading skills so students can follow tab examples throughout.
- 3.1The Alternating Bass — Setting the Thumb FreeIncluded
- 3.2Classic Travis Picking — Adding the FingersIncluded
- 3.3Thumb Independence — Melody Over the BassIncluded
Troubleshooting Technique — Tension, Muting & Fluidity
Moved earlier in the sequence — immediately after the most technically demanding module — so students can diagnose and fix problems before they become habits. Addressing tension and muting now also ensures students enter the genre and arrangement modules with clean, pain-free mechanics.
- 4.1Diagnosing & Fixing TensionIncluded
- 4.2Solving Muting, Buzzing & Uneven ToneIncluded
- 4.3Building Speed & Fluidity Without Breaking TechniqueIncluded
Genre Toolkit — Folk, Blues, Classical & Singer-Songwriter
Broadens students' fingerpicking vocabulary across all four target genres. Each lesson treats a genre as a distinct musical language with its own rhythmic feel, characteristic patterns, tonal ideals, and historical context. Students emerge with genre-specific tools they immediately carry into the arrangements module.
- 5.1Folk Fingerpicking — Drones, Cascades & Open TuningsIncluded
- 5.2Blues Fingerpicking — The Piedmont StyleIncluded
- 5.3Classical & Fingerstyle — Arpeggios, Voicing & ToneIncluded
- 5.4Singer-Songwriter Style — Patterns That Support a VoiceIncluded
Three Complete Song Arrangements
The culminating module where every technical and musical skill is integrated into three full, performance-ready arrangements. Students learn each piece from tab (applying Module 2 literacy skills), troubleshoot problems using Module 4 tools, and perform each arrangement from start to finish — directly fulfilling the course's three-song performance outcome.
- 6.1Arrangement One — Folk or Singer-SongwriterIncluded
- 6.2Arrangement Two — BluesIncluded
- 6.3Arrangement Three — Classical or Fingerstyle InstrumentalIncluded
Who it's for
Is this you?
The Frustrated Strummer
You've been playing chords for years and are finally ready to unlock that fingerpicked sound you've been chasing.
The Folk & Singer-Songwriter Fan
You want to accompany your own voice with something more intimate and expressive than a flat-pick ever gave you.
The Blues Enthusiast
Piedmont blues and that rolling thumb-and-finger groove are calling your name — you just need the roadmap.
The Classical Curious
You're drawn to arpeggios, tone, and voicing but don't want a full conservatory curriculum — just the good stuff, clearly explained.
The Self-Taught Guitarist
You've picked things up by ear and from videos, but you want to fill in the gaps — proper hand setup, readable tab, and real technique that doesn't hurt.
The Returning Player
Life got busy, the guitar sat in the corner, and now you're back — fingerpicking is the fresh challenge that's going to keep you hooked this time.
Questions
Frequently asked
Your teacher
A note from your teacher
Andrew P Wheeler
Hey — if you're reading this, I'm guessing you've been a strummer for a while, maybe a pretty good one, and somewhere along the way you fell in love with that fingerpicked sound. The warmth of it. The way it feels like one person making a whole band's worth of music. And I'm also guessing you've tried to get there on your own and hit a wall — the thumb and fingers not cooperating, a buzzy note ruining every run, or just that frustrating feeling of knowing what it's supposed to sound like but not quite getting there.
I've been there. And I built Fingerpick Academy specifically to be the course I wish I'd had at that stage — one that doesn't skip the foundational stuff (because hand position and stroke type genuinely matter), doesn't rush past the hard parts (because thumb independence takes real, patient repetition), and doesn't leave you with a bag of drills and no actual music to play.
Here's what I want you to know about how this course works: everything is broken into the smallest useful step I can find, based on over 11,000 lessons I've taught, and, the instruction I've received by some of the best fingerpickers out there - including the acoustic guitar faculty at Berklee College of Music. I have spent countless hours learning fingerpicking arrangements in many styles - from Carcassi and Sor's classical and Spanish pieces to Fleetwood Mac, James Taylor, the Beatles, and delta blues masters like Rev. Gary Davis and Elizabeth Cotten.
When we get to Travis picking, we don't just throw the full pattern at you. We set the thumb free first. Then we add a finger. Then we add melody. Each piece is its own win before we build on it. When something goes wrong — and something always does, that's just guitar — there's a whole troubleshooting module where we talk about tension, buzzing, and uneven tone like the technical problems they are, with specific things to try. I'm not going to tell you to "just relax." We're going to figure out why you're tensing up.
By the end of this course, you'll have a working right-hand technique across four genres, the ability to learn new pieces from tab on your own, and three complete arrangements you can actually perform. That last part matters to me a lot — I want you to finish this course with real fingerpicking patterns you can apply immediately, not just exercises. Come as you are. We'll take it one pattern at a time.
— Andrew P Wheeler
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- 6 modules, 18 lessons
- AI-adaptive lessons tuned to your level
- Quizzes & checkpoints to lock in progress
- Your own AI learning coach
- Learn on any device, at your pace
- Full access for as long as you're subscribed