Tunes and Tablature

So far, so good. We’ve learned and practiced some basic techniques for both hands. Now it’s time to learn how to read guitar tablature—the simplest method for notating (writing down) guitar music. This notation enables us to recognize notes quickly and easily. Then we can practice the new techniques by playing some familiar songs. After working on different time values, we add valuable new skills to our repertoire in Chapter 10—the left-hand hammer-on and pull-off.

1. How Guitar Music Is Written
• Guitar Tablature
• Rhythm and Counting
• Time Signatures
• How to Count Time
• Ties, Rests, and Damping
• Some Familiar Tunes
• ”Au Clair de la Lune”
• ”Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes”
• The Eighth Note
• Nursery Rhyme
• Counting Beats with Fractions
• “The Ash Grove”
• More about Dotted Notes
• “Greensleeves”
• “Muss I Denn”
• Irish Air: “Endearing Young Charms”


2. Varied Accompaniments
• Playing Chords and Arpeggios in Tablature
• “Down in the Valley” (Folk Song from Kentucky)
• “The Riddle Song”
• “The Streets of Laredo” (Traditional Cowboy Song)
• “Aura Lee” (George Poulton, Lyrics by W. W. Fosdick)
• Some New Chords
• The Half Bar
• ”Waltzing Matilda” (A. B. “Banjo” Patterson)
• A First Solo
• “Andantino” (Ferdinando Carulli)


3. Rhythm Practice
• Advanced Counting
• Sixteenth Notes
• Smaller Note Values Do Not Always Equal Greater Speed
• Mixed Rhythms
• ”William Tell”
• “Leaves So Green”
• “Humoresque”
• Triplets


4. Slur Techniques
• The Upward Slur (Hammer-On, Ascending Ligado)
• The Downward Slur (Pull-Off, Descending Ligado)
• Slurs on Inside Strings
• Practice for Upward and Downward Slurs
• Rhythm of Soleares
• Exercise for Left-Hand Solo


5. The Full Bar
• Playing a Full Bar
• Chord Sequences
• 12-bar Blues
• “Dream a Little Dream of Me” (F. Andree, W. Schundt, G. Khan)
• “Dream a Little Dream of Me”