Good songs to learn for when I don't have a pick?

['59]

What are some good songs for fingerpicking? They don't even necessarily have to be written with fingerstyle in mind. For example, I've already learned most of Purple Haze with my fingers.

 

[jeremy]

i play frequently without a pick. if you want a finger picking song... i just heard jim croce operator and that would be a fun one to learn. or just play things you know, without a pick. its good practice and you dont have to put time in learning a new tune

 

[solspirit]

Just get on the web and look, there aee dozens of artists and songs.

Knopfler
Paul Simon
James Tayler
Paul Simon
I think Neil Young also. There are tons of others too.

 

[Clint 55]

 

[jeremy]

i like the second paul simons stuff more than the first

 

[Napthol]

The intro to Holiday by The Scorpions.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Find something you like and learn it. I got into finger picking really early on because I wanted to play the middle clean part of Metallica's "To Live is To Die." It's a fairly complex thing to start with, but I spent so much time learning it, I started finger picking all sorts of stuff.

 

[beaubrummels]

Anything by Jeff Beck. Or Derek Trucks.

 

[Securb]

Or Lindsey Buckingham

 

[Mincer]

I'd say Money for Nothing or Sultans of Swing.

 

[eclecticsynergy]

"Dust In The Wind began as a fingerpicking exercise. Kerry Livgren's wife heard him playing it and told him it should be a song.

 

['59]

Also do yall pick with your nails or the pads of your fingers? My nails are never long enough, but I feel most people use their nails.

It doesn't hinder me or anything, just curious.

 

[Securb]

Also do yall pick with your nails or the pads of your fingers? My nails are never long enough, but I feel most people use their nails.

It doesn't hinder me or anything, just curious.

The left hand is trimmed short, and my right hand is trimmed slightly longer so I can pick with the pad or fingernail both give different textures. I also downstroke rake a lot with the front of my fingers with the nails ala Flamingo style. I love the effect.

 

[GuitarStv]

I've really never dabbled much in fingerstyle guitar, but have been working to change that recently. Tunes that I'm practicing regularly now:
Dylan - Don't Think Twice
Clapton - Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out
John Mayer - Neon
James Taylor - Fire and Rain


I play with the pads of my right hand fingers, so if I don't play regularly my fingers get kinda shredded. Never figured out the nail thing, other than the occasionally strummy type rake with the tops of the nails.