Adventures in Fingerstyle

Maneli Jamal teaches the progressive fingerstyle method of guitar

The Progressive Fingerstyle Method takes you from learning the techniques of fingerpicking and applying them to a musical context. This is a great way to jumpstart your adventure to get more out of the acoustic guitar, with lessons that start simple and extend into advanced playing. Topics include basic fingerstyle composition and technique, to two-hand tapping, slap harmonics, percussion and much more!

This is a step by step course that will get you prepared to use these elements in a musical context. Suited for the beginner or intermediate guitarists, Maneli aims to show how to develop strong technique to unlock more of the instrument. Learn more or start the course with membership

Course Details
36 Lessons
15 Hour+ Runtime
Tabs (gpx, pdf)
Playalong Tracks
HD+ Video
90 day guarantee
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The JamPlay Learning System

Like every JamPlay course, Adventures in Fingerstyle features world-class instruction and a dynamic learning system to help you succeed quickly.

It's not just videos, and not just downloads. You'll get:

  • Interactive tabs, notation, and fretboard
  • JamTracks for play along practice
  • Ask-a-teacher functionality
  • Speed up, slow down and loop the video
  • Bookmark exact moments in the lesson
  • Note-taking feature
  • 4k video with multiple camera angles
  • Track progress with the progress report
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Meet Maneli Jamal

Award winning guitarist, Maneli Jamal has lived in five different countries, (Iran, Belarus, Germany, USA, Canada) and moved twenty times by the time he was 18. The young artist gained a sense of musical maturity rarely seen among his peers especially when he transforms his life experiences into music using extended guitar techniques. There aren't many players in his style that have Jamal's balance of power and sensitivity, nor his breadth of ideas.

Maneli has won numerous music competitions around the world, including placing 1st at Canada's Soundclash Music Awards. Having been brought up in a purely artistic and musical family has contributed to shape his unique and comical story telling approach in live settings. He has already performed in 5 continents and 17 countries as a solo performer, has a signature model acoustic guitar, and was on the front cover of 2015 Toronto magazine. The world is his home and he plays from one end to the other.

Step-by-Step. Bit-by-Bit.

Assemble the tools for modern fingerstyle guitar.

Build your fingerstyle skillset with a thorough, patient and step-by-step course from Maneli Jamal. We start from the ground floor with simple lesson for the fingerstyle basic, then ramp up to include techniques such as simple percussion, harmonics and chord slaps. We then merge these techniques to get your playing songs applying all principles.

This course offers 36 lessons covering 15+ hours of material in step-by-step, digestible presentation.

Lessons in this Course
1

Series Introduction

Maneli Jamal introduces himself and his course. Learn what you can expect to get out of "Adventures in Fingerstyle.:

4:27 Runtime

0.0 Difficulty

2

Fingerstyle Basics 1

We’ll learn some Fingerstyle Basics that will make the rest of the course easier to play and learn.

25:47 Runtime

2.0 Difficulty

3

Fingerstyle Basics 2

Developing your picking patterns, and learning to be economical in your picking is very key to being a proficient fingerstyle player. Maneli gives us some great exercises in this lesson to help us develop these skills.

29:26 Runtime

2.0 Difficulty

4

Fingerstyle Basics 3

In this lesson, Maneli continues to show us how to develop a strong picking hand. We dive into 3/4 time and a different chord progression that will definitely be challenging!

23:28 Runtime

2.0 Difficulty

5

Scales with Bass on the Down Beat 1

Now we're going to learn some right hand independence by playing scales with bass notes on the beat. These exercises are not only fun but will also boost your skill tremendously.

24:47 Runtime

2.0 Difficulty

6

Scales with Bass on the Down Beat 2

In this lesson Maneli teaches some note skipping musical sequences in the E major scale, while continuing to use the bass note on the down beat. These kinds of exercise are very helpful in developing thumb independence!

26:44 Runtime

0.0 Difficulty

7

Scales with Triplets on Top 1

By now, you should start noticing thumb independence and finger dexterity coming more into focus. Now we will go over sequences of four notes at a time in the E major scale with triplets ringing strings 1 and 2 out as drones.

46:14 Runtime

2.0 Difficulty

8

Scales with Triplets on Top 2

In a continuation of the last lesson, let's go over another sequence of four notes at a time in the E major scale with triplets ringing strings 1 and 2 out as drones.

13:03 Runtime

2.0 Difficulty

9

Tapping 1

Tapping is a great tool that can be used to create the sound of two guitars without ever having to pluck a note! The tricky part is learning to manage the volume of the tapped notes. These exercises are designed to develop right hand tapping on the fretboard while creating cool bass lines!

26:59 Runtime

2.0 Difficulty

10

Tapping 2

Picking up where we left off in the previous lesson, we now look at the adding the left hand to mix, creating different musical parts. This will add a completely new dimension to your playing!

45:17 Runtime

2.0 Difficulty

11

Harmonic Slaps 1

Harmonic slaps can be thought of as one of the first forays into using percussion on the acoustic guitar. In this lesson, Maneli breaks down the mechanics of the harmonic slap and why it is such a useful tool!

43:41 Runtime

2.0 Difficulty

12

Harmonic Slaps 2

Here we will learn how to coordinate both left and right hands to play some more advanced patterns of two hand tap, strumming and harmonic slaps.

32:00 Runtime

2.0 Difficulty

13

Percussion 1

The acoustic guitar is basically a big wooden box, so it makes sense that it sounds pretty good as a drum! Learning how and where to hit this "drum" is what Maneli will talk about in this lesson. Then, he will give us some basic exercises that will get us on our way in using the guitar as a percussion instrument.

14:18 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

View this Lesson
14

Percussion 2

We learned the basics of "hitting" the guitar in the last lesson, now it's time to add some functionality from the left hand. We'll learn how to hold chords with the left hand while the right hand is doing basic percussion.

31:26 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

15

Chord Percussion 1

What is chord percussion? It's the technique where you impact the strings of the guitar (while holding a note or chord) as well as giving it a percussive hit - all with the same hand, at the same time. Maneli gives us some great lessons to practice this technique.

23:21 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

16

Chord Percussion 2

In this lesson, Maneli shows us how to coordinate our hammer-ons and pull-offs with our percussion hits. It's starting to sound like a one man band!

31:42 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

17

Fingerstyle Picking with Slaps

Sometimes we don't need full on percussion in a song, but maybe we want just a little rhythmic enhancement. This lesson helps us work on subtle slap that can add just that touch of rhythm you may be looking for!

26:09 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

18

Fingerstyle Picking with Slaps 2

Now, let's add in a more complex rhythm pattern. The key here is to take it slow, and treat the slap as another note in your pattern.

31:22 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

19

Fingerstyle Picking with Slaps 3

This slap is slightly different than the previous two lessons. Now, instead of just using the thumb to slap the low strings, we're using the entire hand in a "claw" shape. This technique works well when you're playing across a chord progression.

33:10 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

20

Advanced Two-Hand Tapping

Now, we will learn some more patterns with the two hand tap technique in 4/4 timing. Keeping the bass notes consistent is the key to making these exercises smooth. Your left hand will be tapping two notes at a time, so it will take some brain power at first to get your hands around this!

24:46 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

21

Advanced Two-Hand Tapping 2

Having your fingers prepared when doing two handed tapping, can make all the difference in the world. Maneli explains exactly what this means in this lesson that showcases how to use the two hand tap in a more complex way to create a fuller sound.

38:56 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

22

Advanced Harmonic Slaps

Maneli expands on the harmonic slaps that we learned in previous lessons by adding a second slapping finger on the right hand. This technique allows you to play faster lines using the harmonic slap.

36:08 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

23

Advanced Fingerstyle Picking

Let's take a look at one of Maneli's favorite fingerpicking patterns. This pattern is in the unusual time signature of 9/8. Take this exercise slow, and in no time you will fall into the natural motion of this pattern!

18:02 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

24

Advanced Fingerstyle Picking 2

Using the "claw" slap to create a basic groove is what this lesson is focusing on. The tricky thing here is that now, we're pairing that slap with a more complex fingerpicking pattern. Again, slow and steady at first, then you'll be grooving in no time!

33:27 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

25

Advanced Fingerstyle Picking 3

Here's a unique technique where the thumb and index finger are doing double duty on the low E string. Add to that a percussive slap on beat 3, and you've got a unique percussion/picking pattern that you can get a lot of mileage out of!

23:51 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

26

Rhythmic Grooves

In this lesson, the multi-hit percussive groove takes center stage. This is a precursor to more complex percussion techniques, but we must first crawl before we walk! We will start with a simple chord progression on the left hand, so that we can focus more on the "hits".

25:26 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

27

Rhythmic Grooves 2

Taking another step forward, we now add more 8th notes to the groove to fill it out more while doing some left hand hammer-ons. This creates a much fuller sound when coupled with the right hand that's keeping the beat.

31:50 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

28

Rhythmic Grooves 3

Taking grooves to the next level, Maneli uses hammer-ons, palm mutes and percussive hits to establish this groove based around an A major chord.

21:18 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

29

Artificial Harmonics

Most of us know what natural harmonics are, and what they sound like. An artificial harmonic is a slightly different animal. In this lesson, Maneli looks at the basics of artificial harmonics, and the best way to get this beautiful sound.

21:20 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

30

Artificial Harmonics 2

Now, Maneli explores the use of hammer-ons and pull-offs with the left hand while plucking artificial harmonics with the right. This is a more complex technique to be sure, but the affected sound is something you'll use for a long time!

17:35 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

31

Fingerpicking Patterns in 6/8

Playing in 6/8 requires a certain feel of being laid-back, and frankly, being patient when playing at slower tempos. This lesson is designed to use some of the percussive slaps we've worked on already, but put them into a different feel, so that you can see them at work in other contexts.

23:42 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

32

Fingerpicking Patterns in 6/8 - 2

Adding to our 6/8 feel, our percussive slaps and our basic picking, we mix in the use of hammer-on and pull-off techniques. We will be plucking bass notes with our thumb while plucking the high notes with our fingers for added fullness.

19:35 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

33

Fingerpicking Patterns in 6/8 - 3

Now we add another level of complexity - left hand tapping and harmonic strums! In this lesson, we'll learn how to control our timing in the 6/8 feel, adding thumb slaps and harmonics while keeping the groove.

29:53 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

34

Fingerpicking Synchrodestiny Part 1

Let's learn a section of one of Maneli's songs - "Synchrodestiny". In this first part, we'll learn the chord progression, which will prepare us for learning the melody in the next lesson.

15:55 Runtime

3.5 Difficulty

35

Fingerpicking Synchrodestiny Part 2

In example two of "Synchrodestiny", we'll incorporate the melody, which in part can be drawn out of the chord progression. The picking pattern and melody we will learn in this lesson will prepare us for the thumb slaps and palm hits in the next lesson.

16:32 Runtime

3.5 Difficulty

36

Fingerpicking Synchrodestiny Part 3

And now the full spectrum of this section of Maneli's song, "Synchrodestiny". We will add the percussive elements to the chords, and picking pattern that we learned in the previous lesson.

22:35 Runtime

3.5 Difficulty