Following on from Amazing Grace 1, here we put down the plectrum and fingerpick through this famous tune. This is a good exercise for new beginners.

The melody etc is exactly the same as in Amazing Grace 1, however this time we use the thumb to play a bass line along with the melody.

Notice that the thumb will play bass notes on the low strings at regular intervals. Every second melody note has a bass note added. These bass notes are always played simultaneously with the melody notes (pick with thumb and finger together).

Because you need to play bass notes, some of the fingers used to play the melody notes will change, but the notes are the same.

To play this tune, always use your thumb for the bass notes. However, for your fingers, use your first finger to play any melody notes along the D string, your 2nd finger for any melody notes on the G string, and 3rd finger for notes along the B string.

You can use other fingers to play the melody notes of course - in a tune like this it doesn't matter too much because there is no pattern picking. However, assigning a finger to a particular string can help you get fingerpicking quicker at the start. Just make sure you use your thumb for the bass notes.

As always, divide the tune into manageable chunks and practice getting it right slowly first. Build up speed once your fingers know their way!