Practice, practice and more practice is the only way to make the transition from a tangled mess of fingers and strings, to that 'nirvana' when the left hand actually does know what the right-hand is doing, while the brain concentrates on maintaining the rhythm.
My good friend and partner, Chris Elmore from GuitarTips helps to get you started in this great Guitar Fingerpicking article, which as well as explaining the basics, also teaches you to pick your way thru Metallica's "Nothing Else Matters". This article was written specially for www.guitarsongs.info, and my Blog readers:
www.guitarsongs.info/fingerpicking.htm
You can find hundreds of tips at Chris's Guitar-Tips.com website, just click on the link below:
Guitar Tips
Enjoy your music!
P.J. Murphy