Start here: the thumb walks between the bass string and the one above it, on the beats. Everything else sits on top of this, so get it steady first.

Bass, then two fingers together on the top strings, bass, fingers: boom-chick with the fingers. The first pattern most people play.

p i m a, p i m a: the fingers climb the top three strings after every thumb note. Slow songs, ballads, the pattern under a thousand verses.

p a m i: the same climb the other way, the ring finger first. Keep the hand still; only the fingers move.

The alternating bass with a pinch on 1: thumb and middle together, then index, then the thumb on the fifth, then middle. Freight Train, and every Merle Travis and Chet Atkins tune.

Pinches on 1 and 3, the index in between: a steadier version of the Travis pattern that rolls along under a vocal.

Bass, three fingers at once, bass, chord: country and old-time, the fingers playing the chord the pick would strum.

Up, then back and up again: p i m a m i m a. The ring finger on the top string gives it the shimmer.

A pinch with the ring finger, then a roll down and up: the kind of pattern Paul Simon and James Taylor build songs on.

Bass, chord, chord in three: the fingerpicked waltz. Count 1, 2, 3 with the thumb on 1 only.

p i m a m i in 3/4: six notes a bar, the thumb on 1. Round and round; the top of the roll is beat 2.

The same six-note roll in 6/8, where the pulse is two groups of three: Hallelujah, House of the Rising Sun, most slow 6/8 songs.

The Travis pattern with a finger pushed off the beat: the hole on the "& of 2" and the middle on 3 is where the bounce comes from.

The folk roll at twice the speed: sixteen notes a bar, the thumb on 1 and 3. Count 1 e & a and keep the fingers light.

The Travis pattern, then a second bar that changes which finger answers the thumb: a two-bar phrase that keeps a verse from sounding like a loop.

Start here: the pick on the bass, then the two free fingers pop the top two strings together. Boom-chick with the chick plucked, not strummed; it's the whole idea in one bar.

The same bar with the pops accented: snap m and a so the strings slap the frets. That snap is chicken pickin'; the pick stays quiet underneath.

One finger at a time after each pick stroke: pick, m, pick, a. The pick keeps moving like a strum with the strings missed; the fingers fill the gaps.

Pick, m, a, over and over, three notes across the eighths so the roll turns over against the beat. Eric Johnson and Brent Mason live here; count it slowly first.

The Travis pattern with the pick for a thumb: pinch on 1, then the two fingers answer alternately. Flatpickers get the whole Travis sound without putting the pick down.

A down-strum through the shape, then m and a pluck the top two strings. The strum is the pad, the plucks are the melody notes; slow songs and ballad intros.

Strum on 1, two plucks, pick the alternate bass on 3, two plucks: the full hybrid bar. The plucks on the "&" and the beat after are played as a pair, one motion.

Every finger note popped: the pick walks the bass on the beats, the fingers snap the off-beats. Set the Feel to Swing and it's a Telecaster.

Bass, pop, bass, pop on every eighth, meant for the Swing feel: the pops land late, on the back of the shuffle. Country and blues shuffles.

Strum on 1, the fingers on 2 and 3: the picked waltz without a pick change. Count 1, 2, 3 and keep the strum light.

Pick on the beats, pops on the "&"s, at sixteenth speed: the pops are a hair after the beat, which is the bounce. Count 1 e & a.

A chicken-pickin' bar, then a bar that ends on a strum and a pop: the strum is the release. Two bars is what a verse breathes in.