This Flamenco Thumb Technique Will Transform Your Fingerstyle Playing

Neil Chan
Jun 25
1 min read

Hey everyone, it’s Neil Chan here. It’s been a while since I’ve done a lesson video, but I’m excited to dive back in — and this time, it’s all tied to my new album The Word. Each song on the album explores different fingerstyle guitar techniques, and I’ll be breaking them down for you so you can start using them in your own playing.

In this first video, I’m teaching a technique called pulgar, which comes from the flamenco guitar tradition. It’s all about using strong, deliberate downstrokes with your thumb to create a gritty, percussive sound — perfect for giving your playing a bit more edge and expression.

I walk you through the intro riff of the title track, show you how to shape your thumbnail for tone, and talk about how this technique supports both rhythm and melody, even while singing.

If you're keen to go deeper, check out my free PDFs or join me in my Fingerstyle for the World course. Lots more to come — let’s keep learning together!