Guitar Picking Patterns

When reading sheet music with a guitar part, how do you determine the finger picking pattern?

I have been looking at sheet music samples online for Leonard Cohen’s Suzanne. The music indicates it is for both guitar and piano, but I am unsure of which part is supposed to be for guitar. Is the only information I get the chord charts, or will there be information about the finger picking pattern that I am supposed to use?

The top line is just for the melody–the singing.
The second line is really for the piano. You could play that part on your guitar, but it’s tough to figure out because you’d have to know where all the notes are on your guitar & the chords, too. Because it’s written for the piano, you’d have to figure out the fingering on your own. It might not be available, but see if there’s guitar tab for it.
The guitar parts are the neck/chord symbols above the words Down, River, Hear, etc. You could finger those then play an arpeggio, you know, each note of the chord at a time.
The bottom line is for bass.

Acoustic guitar lesson – finger picking pattern

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