Lesson 3: Right Hand Fingering

In order to distinguish our right hand fingering from our left hand, we use letters to represent our fingers. These abbreviations derive from the Spanish names for your fingers, and are used throughout Classical and Fingerstyle guitar notation. The Thumb (P), Index (I), Middle (M) and Ring (A) are used commonly in fingerstyle performance, while the pinky (C) is only used rarely, mostly in flamenco music and other strumming applications.

P = Thumb   

I = Index 

M = Middle  

A = Ring 

C = Pinky (rarely used)