devonven12
Verified buyer
08/12/25
Easy to follow, able to slow down, shows chords and piano chords. I sit down in morning with coffee and learn little bit every morning. Easier than using a teacher once a week in real life!
Essentials: Boom-Chick Fingerstyle Etudes
Right- and left-hand techniques to get your boom-chick chops up to speed
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About this course
The boom-chick finger picking pattern is one of the most coveted techniques in fingerstyle guitar. You’ll hear this ultra-rhythmic approach all over the catalogs of fingerstyle legends like Merle Travis, Jerry Reed, Chet Atkins, Tommy Emmanuel and Buster B. Jones.
For the budding fingerstyle guitarist, it’s a must that you master this sound and the best way to do this is by learning a repertoire of essential boom-chick arrangements. Brooks Robertson composed and/or arranged 10 essential “boom-chick” etudes for you to work with, each designed to help you develop the necessary right- and left-hand techniques that you’ll need a grip on to get your boom-chick chops up to speed.
Brooks demonstrates all 10 of the following Performance Studies and then breaks them down section-by-section stepping you through the key concepts, techniques, and creative approaches used in the performances.
All of the performances are tabbed and notated for your practice, reference and study purposes. You’ll also get Guitar Pro files so that you can play, loop and/or slow down the tab and notation as you work through the lessons.
Grab your guitar and let’s get boomchickin’ with Brooks Robertson!
For the budding fingerstyle guitarist, it’s a must that you master this sound and the best way to do this is by learning a repertoire of essential boom-chick arrangements. Brooks Robertson composed and/or arranged 10 essential “boom-chick” etudes for you to work with, each designed to help you develop the necessary right- and left-hand techniques that you’ll need a grip on to get your boom-chick chops up to speed.
Brooks demonstrates all 10 of the following Performance Studies and then breaks them down section-by-section stepping you through the key concepts, techniques, and creative approaches used in the performances.
All of the performances are tabbed and notated for your practice, reference and study purposes. You’ll also get Guitar Pro files so that you can play, loop and/or slow down the tab and notation as you work through the lessons.
Grab your guitar and let’s get boomchickin’ with Brooks Robertson!
What you'll learn
- Play Avalon in fingerstyle arrangement
- Learn complex chord voicings
- Advanced fingerstyle technique
- Understand melodic composition
- Develop fingerpicking technique
Release date: 10/26/2016 • 3h 43m runtime
Sample lessons
The Nieliwocki Stroll
Overview
The Nieliwocki Stroll
Perfomance
The Nieliwocki Stroll
Breakdown
Limehouse Blues
Overview
What's included
32 lessons • 10 charts
Essentials: Boom-Chick Fingerstyle Etudes
Hi, I'm Brooks Robertson and welcome to Essentials: Boom-Chick Fingerstyle Etudes. One of the reasons so many people love to play fingerstyle guitar is because it makes it possible to sound like a small band or guitar orchestra without needing anything more than your guitar, a few foundational techniques, and some good arrangements. It's crucial to develop the basic techniques and approachable etudes before you progress into playing more advanced arrangements, which certainly is an ambition of most players.
The technique that is most widespread throughout traditional and even contemporary fingerstyle guitar playing is the boom-chick alternating bass technique. This serves as a foundation to the music of many guitar giants like Merle Travis, Chet Atkins, Jerry Reed, Thom Bresh, Tommy Emmanuel, Buster B. Jones, Leo Kottke, Doc Watson, and countless others.
The purpose of this course is to take the quintessential boom-chick technique and use it to play five great tunes from the early twentieth century, as well as five original tunes I've written specifically for this course. The short arrangements we'll work through are designed to utilize the boom-chick technique, develop your existing skills, and give you ten captivating tunes to add into your fingerstyle repertoire.
*A recommended prerequisite to this essentials course would be some previous knowledge and experience of the basic boom-chick technique, which can be learned in the Acoustic Learning Paths, or my Fingerstyle Survival Guide Course, both offered here on TrueFire.
The technique that is most widespread throughout traditional and even contemporary fingerstyle guitar playing is the boom-chick alternating bass technique. This serves as a foundation to the music of many guitar giants like Merle Travis, Chet Atkins, Jerry Reed, Thom Bresh, Tommy Emmanuel, Buster B. Jones, Leo Kottke, Doc Watson, and countless others.
The purpose of this course is to take the quintessential boom-chick technique and use it to play five great tunes from the early twentieth century, as well as five original tunes I've written specifically for this course. The short arrangements we'll work through are designed to utilize the boom-chick technique, develop your existing skills, and give you ten captivating tunes to add into your fingerstyle repertoire.
*A recommended prerequisite to this essentials course would be some previous knowledge and experience of the basic boom-chick technique, which can be learned in the Acoustic Learning Paths, or my Fingerstyle Survival Guide Course, both offered here on TrueFire.
Careless Love
This great tune has been recorded by many iconic artists including Ray Charles, Louis Armstrong, Pete Seeger, Madeleine Peyroux, Joan Baez, and countless others. We'll be learning the arrangement in the guitar-friendly key of E, utilizing basic techniques like steady boom-chick thumb rotation, muting the bass strings with the palm of the hand, and playing chords in multiple positions on the neck to accommodate the use of open strings and melody.
It's important to take your time when learning the tune, first just listening and watching the performance a few times through before diving in. Be sure to work efficiently, on small sections (roughly 2 - 4 measures) at a time.
It's important to take your time when learning the tune, first just listening and watching the performance a few times through before diving in. Be sure to work efficiently, on small sections (roughly 2 - 4 measures) at a time.
Careless Love
It's a good idea to first watch and listen to the performance video a few times so you can become familiar with the tune, including the form, phrasing, etc. As you watch, focus your attention to what the right hand is doing, then rewind and watch again, this time focusing on what's happening with the left hand. As you practice the tune, this performance video is a great resource to reference and check in with. Eventually you can use this video to play along with as well. Remember to utilize the tabs, charts, and notation.
Careless Love
The breakdown video is where we can slow down and take a closer look at what's going on within this arrangement. You'll want to strive for solid technique, a steady, driving, alternating bass pattern with your thumb, and most importantly good tone production. The bass strings should be muffled, while letting the treble strings (where the melody is played) sustain clearly. Try to take sections of 2 - 4 measures at a time and only work that section until you have it down and memorized, then move on to the next measure(s), and so on.
At first, be sure to practice very slow, striving for accuracy. If you're up for it, use a metronome. As you work up to playing at faster tempos, be sure to play the entire song at the speed in which you can accurately play the most challenging part or section. Again, don't forget to reference the tabs and notation. It's good to be aware that there are numerous variations possible in terms of alternate phrasing, syncopation, anticipations, etc.
At first, be sure to practice very slow, striving for accuracy. If you're up for it, use a metronome. As you work up to playing at faster tempos, be sure to play the entire song at the speed in which you can accurately play the most challenging part or section. Again, don't forget to reference the tabs and notation. It's good to be aware that there are numerous variations possible in terms of alternate phrasing, syncopation, anticipations, etc.
Avalon
"Avalon", a wonderful standard written by Al Jolson, Buddy DeSylva, and Vincent Rose. In this lesson, we'll focus on the chorus of the tune only, which makes for a nice solo guitar arrangement. A great version to listen to is Chet Atkins' and Les Paul's, recording the tune on their 1976 album Chester & Lester, which won a Grammy for best instrumental record. This is a standard for many fingerstyle guitar players as it lends itself nicely to the boom-chick technique as you'll see. We'll be playing this arrangement in the key of C Major, again utilizing open strings and playing chords in multiple positions up the neck.
Avalon
Once again, it's always a good idea to first watch and listen to the performance video a few times to help become more familiar with the tune, form, phrasing, etc. Remember as you watch, focus your attention to what the right hand is doing, then rewind and watch again, this time focusing on what's happening with the left hand. Use this video as a resource to frequently reference and eventually to play along with as well. Don't forget to utilize the tabs, charts, and notation.
Avalon
As you start learning this arrangement of "Avalon", notice that the bass, chords, and melody are all played simultaneously. The most efficient way of doing this with the fretting hand is to play a chord form (also known as a shape or grip) that allows you to play the root of the chord in the bass, some kind of harmony (chord tones) on the middle strings, and the melody on the treble strings. This is a technique which is used in every song we'll cover in this course, and it's commonly used to arrange all sorts of songs for fingerstyle guitar. So, be sure as you work through the arrangement that you've got the correct fingerings to guarantee you're playing the song in the easiest, most efficient way possible, which will also contribute to an overall smoothness in your playing.
Once again, the bass strings should be muffled, while letting the treble strings (where the melody is played) sustain clearly. Try to take sections of 2 - 4 measures at a time and only work that section until you have it down and memorized, then move on to the next measure(s), and so on. Finally, don't forget to reference the tabs, the notation, and be aware that there are numerous variations possible in terms of alternate phrasing, syncopation, anticipations, etc.
Once again, the bass strings should be muffled, while letting the treble strings (where the melody is played) sustain clearly. Try to take sections of 2 - 4 measures at a time and only work that section until you have it down and memorized, then move on to the next measure(s), and so on. Finally, don't forget to reference the tabs, the notation, and be aware that there are numerous variations possible in terms of alternate phrasing, syncopation, anticipations, etc.
+ 25 more lessons
Reviews
14 results
rene69
Verified buyer
04/18/25
Top quality lessons from Brooks!
All lessons from Brooks are top notch! I build a golden cage for him in case I can catch him 😉
cfan15
Verified buyer
10/23/24
Brooks Robertson's Essentials: Boom-Chick Fingerstyle Etudes
I'm taking my time on this course. I'm only on the first song. It's a fun tune that I don't think I've heard before. Brooks is a great player and knows how to break the song down and explain it.
Stratotao
Verified buyer
10/06/22
Boom-chick style
Great lessons!
Christian R.
03/10/22
Essential fingerpicking tunes and skill development
Best fingerstyle course I have bought bar Buster B Jones fingerstyle introduction on Stefan Grossman guitar Workshop. Brooks is Buster's protege and this is an excellent lesson l. Why? Because it teaches you essential tunes that increase in difficulty however, unlike a lot of courses on Grossman guitar Workshop this truefire course dlows everything right down so you actually have a chance to learn the tune. Legg and right hand shown, embellishments, and Brooks knowledgeable. He's already up there with the greats. I can't recommend this course enough if you are interested in building a repertoire of fingerpicking tunes but like me are nowhere near Emmanuel level yet.
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