Fingerpicking can open a world of new possibilities for your playing. It allows you to break chords down to their individual notes and then deliver the notes in varying order with rhythm and syncopation. You can create intricate patterns, delicate or driving, that are captivating to listeners. I still remember being blown away by the talent of my 10-year-old friend Howie Hoffman at summer camp who could fingerpick lightning-fast patterns on his banjo. Here was a kid my own age who could wail! He immediately became a major inspiration behind my own desire to be a good player.
Most fingerpicking is done by the thumb and first two fingers. Occasionally, the third finger gets involved, especially for pulling out specific chord voicings. But your fourth finger also has an important job in the process—it rests on the face of the guitar just below the strings, providing stability for the active fingers to stay positioned above their strings. This is known as anchoring your fourth finger, or pinkie.
Try this by placing your thumb on top of the low E string, your first finger below the B string and your second finger below the high E string. Then, allow your fourth finger to drop onto the face of the guitar wherever it’s comfortable. This will eliminate the problem of your fingers drifting out of position while you’re fingerpicking.
[photo: Vintage Collective]
As a musician, it’s critical to play in time and not drift off the beat by rushing or dragging. But, that said, there are times when you can purposely use rushing or dragging to your advantage.
The term “playing legato” on guitar refers to playing long, continuous runs using a combination of hammer-ons and pull-offs to create a smooth stream of connected notes. For most guitarists I’ve met, the hammer-ons come naturally and easily. A good hammer-on is played by picking the first note and then attacking the following notes by hitting the string with your fingertips with some velocity and then holding the string down to sustain each of the notes for as long as you want.
Practicing with a metronome is the long-established method for learning to keep solid time. Playing scales and chord progressions with the metronome forces you to recognize any tendency you might have to speed up or slow down while you’re playing and helps you correct it. Metronome practice also allows you to gradually and effectively improve the speed of all your techniques.
For those about to jam, we salute you.
I recently wrote a post listing the 
Picks that are not flexible are widely considered to be the best for fast picking and speed riffs because the tip of the pick is always exactly where you expect it to be as opposed to thinner picks whose tips drift from side to side as they move through the strings. 
Okay, I’m the first to admit it—many of the greatest rock guitarists used long straps that positioned their instruments somewhere just above their knees and played with their arms extended straight downwards in ape-like fashion. Think Slash, Keith Richards, Chuck Berry. And that’s why many of the current generation of rockers follow that example. It’s iconic and it looks cool. But, it creates a lot of technical problems. 
I learned this lesson early in life through the experience of a friend. He left his beautiful Martin acoustic guitar in its hard-shell case on his bed with the case unlatched. Then his mother decided to move the guitar. When she picked up the case by its handle, the top flew open and the guitar fell out and smashed into the case top, destroying the exquisite spruce face of the instrument.
There’s an easy trick: Turn down the volume. The slightly muddy, distorted sound of electric guitar chords that you get with your amp turned up and your guitar volume at 9 are great for playing chunky rock progressions and creating a powerful wall of sound. But what if you’re playing a song that has an intricate fingerpicking part or one that calls for rapid, strong strumming on a solid body electric? In those situations the strings blending together will be working against you.