I fingerpick guitar to accompany myself singing in folk clubs in the uk.

Whilst I am reasonably competent at bass runs, I seem to be stuck in playing in mostly C or G shapes, frequently with capo on 2nd fret. I generally use standard fingerpicking patterns (e.g. arpeggio, clawhammer, etc) repeated throughout the songs, with the thumb picking strings 6, 5 or 4, and up to 3 fingers playing strings 3, 2, 1.

Part of the problem is that my vocal range goes up to a high D – i.e. either 10th fret 1st string or 2nd fret 2nd string.

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to master barre chords, so I seem to be stuck in the first position chords, and don't seem to make any real use of the rest of the guitar neck!.

I want to be able to pick out the melody better, particularly where it goes up to higher notes – e.g. note A within an F chord, note B within a G chord. Should I confine myself to picking the melody on say 4th 3rd and 2nd strings?

I also have heard of a technique where the melody is picked out on the bass strings, with the higher strings being effectively just fill notes.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Old Folkie