It’s a plus! Left hand muting is a must have. With that said, I’d suggest adding other techniques to your bag of tricks. The more the merrier. When I first started taking Ben’s lessons, I remember he wanted me to pull off opposite the way I had always done it for a particular lick because it was better for going to a lower string. I eventually learned it and now it is something I can do without thinking.
Discuss the Guitar lesson: Alternating Thumb Fingerstyle- Lesson #1
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Thank you for the advice Mike. I’ll try and do whatever Ben suggests. I want to learn several James Taylor songs. Fingerstyle is something I need to learn,
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Dang! I came here to learn flatpicking and came across your alternating thumb lessons. Trying to figure out which one to do first is gonna be tough. I’ve been wanting to pull the trigger for a long time and I’ve decided to use some of my bonus I get later this month on the Gold Pick membership. There’s too much good stuff on here not to! This is gonna be a fun 2021!
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to @BanjoBen 's Forum Mike, There sure are a lot of learning opportunities here and not just on geetar. There’s a whole lot more coming too if your still wrestling I recommend a Life Membership.
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An error message appears when I attempt to download the PDF file of this lesson…
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2021-05-25T00:27:12Z
2021-05-25T11:42:37Z
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Welcome @sootytern! The PDF file is working fine for me (on Google Chrome browser). I’d recommend refreshing the page and switching to Chrome if you’re not already using it. Otherwise, here’s the file for you:
Gtr-AltThumb-Lesson1.pdf (73.2 KB)
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Thanks Michael_Mark. I’ll try Google, but was able to download the file you shared.
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Glad to hear it helped!
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Outstanding lesson!
I’ve been playing sloppy, do my own thing fingerpicking for a long time.
I recently attacked the alternating Bass, or as you call it alternating thumb. But I thought I had to play that for about a year before I added much. I could never slow myself down enough to really get it.
I love that the first lesson has all those wild combinations. I got through the whole thing in one sitting. Now I need to bring the final one up to speed! Brilliant teaching! Just what I needed.
Thank you, sir! 
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