Lesson 3: working on your right hand

I think it is very important to learn how to play guitar both with your fingers and with a pick, that way it will be easier for you to become a versatile guitarist. I've seen many classical trained guitar players that just can´t play with an attack similar to the one you get with a pick, the sound is just different. On the other hand, I've also seen people who are so used to the pick that just can't play a fast arpeggio. Unless you are Al Di Meola, that is a problem because you are not gonna be able to play a lot of music that need some fast arpeggios. Besides, it is virtually impossible to play with a pick when the bass lines are different from the melody ones, this is very easy to find in classical guitar and jazz (try to play Joe Pass). Anyway, I will always insist in the fact that you need to have as many skills in guitar as possible, that way you won't feel out of side when someone asks you to play something difficult. I would like you to listen to Paco de Lucía and Al Di Meola playing Mediterranean Sundance in the album Friday Night in San Francisco, notice the difference between the fingerpicked notes by de Lucia and the picked ones by Di Meola, it is really amazing the speed Paco de Lucía can reach with his fingers, I don't think there is any other guitarist in the world that can top him with that.