This is the 10th exercise from the Core Skills Picking section.

Here we will use all the things you have learned so far in the previous picking exercises and put them together to learn your first tune. The tune is 'twinkle twinkle little star'. It might not be a classic rock tune or anything, but it's an excellent tune to begin with.

You'll be learning the fun stuff like lead licks soon enough, but until then it's best to start with a very simple melody that you are likely to know very well. If you know the tune in your head, you'll know when you're doing it right or wrong. It's good to learn using familiar music for the simple reason that if you know the tune well, you will be more able to play it.

Here we will play the tune all along one string. Once you can do that we will start to play across strings.

Pay attention to the picking strokes used for each note. Some notes are held (sustained), let your ear guide you, and do your best to make each note sound out clearly. Remember that good guitar technique is about co-ordinating both hands to play together!

Once you can play all the exercises up to this point, we recommend applying each one of them to each of the 6 strings on your guitar. Doing this will help you gain familiarity with your instrument and prepare you for our next set of picking exercises.