Fingerstyle Guitar

Fingerstyle guitar refers to a range of techniques which open up new possibilities, allowing the guitarist to play melody, harmony and rhythm at the same time. This can be seen in the likes of Lindsey Buckingham (Fleetwood Mac), John Martyn, Tommy Emmanuel and Ed Sheeran who often use unconventional and creative techniques. 

This course will teach you the fundamentals of fingerstyle guitar including:

• An overview of the basic techniques
• A step-by-step approach to learning fingerstyle guitar songs
• How to arrange any song for solo guitar

No experience with fingerstyle guitar is necessary, although you should be able to change between basic chords with ease.

Both acoustic and electric players welcome!

About the Tutor

Gary Lutton is a final-year PhD researcher at Ulster University and a lecturer in music at Belfast Metropolitan College. His research focuses on developing a new improvisatory vocabulary for fingerstyle guitar, integrating theories from cognitive psychology and flow.

Gary has been a lecturer at Belfast Met for 4 years and frequently gives workshops at Ulster University, in local schools and at community events.He is a touring musician in the UK, Europe and the US, winning Sky TV’s Guitar Star (2015) and placing 3rd in global competition Six String Theory (2014).

Gary is also a founding member of US-based record label Fretmonkey Records and co-ordinates the Belfast Guitar Night, a bi-monthly event at The Crescent featuring guitarists from around the globe.