Any trouble with the tablature below? Go To Chapter 3

From my years of dedicated guitar teaching and deep study of human nature, I've come to this conclusion:

Nowadays people long for life in the "Fast Lane".
They don't save.
They don't conserve.
They don't "Stop at the Red and Go at the Green."

They RUSH THROUGH all the important warnings!

Lately we demand Instant Gratification. We don't wait for Tradition.

Or First Things First.

We take a book like this and try to skip right to the INTERESTING parts--the neat little tunes with the funny names!

But you can't just play these terrific tunes right away! They're hard. You have to work up to them.

When most people confront this harsh truth, they get frustrated. They might even get cranky.
Some might even take it out on this manual, and start cursing it, and maybe cursing ME out, too!

Well, I don't like this one little bit.

So listen you students, let's nip this infantile behavior right in the bud.

here's how I'll handle this rebelliousness:

I'm going to give you a list of what NOT to do--when playing the guitar. OK?

And just to get back at me--(boy, Students can be so petty)--you just go ahead and do eXaCtLy the OPPOSITE. OK?

And Then, when all this Nonsense is over, we can get down to the real business of playing great fingerpicking guitar.

THE LIST FOR YOU TO REBEL AGAINST

• (DON'T) Hold the guitar balanced on your Right leg (either bent normally or crossed over your left)
  with your right elbow balancing the guitar's body to free your left hand for mobility

• (DON'T) Keep your Left hand vertical,
  with an imaginary line running through your knuckles parallel to the strings

• (DON'T) Keep your Left Thumb mainly on the CENTER of the neck,
  straight up and pressing on it, only moving it up when fretting the sixth string from behind

• (DON'T) Use your Right Thumb almost exclusively to play the bass notes on the three fattest strings--
  only playing the "G" string with your thumb if it's a bass note in that piece

• (DON'T) Use your Right hand fingers in PAIRS:
  Index and Middle plays the third + second, OR
  Index and Middle plays the second + first strings

• (DON'T)
  1. Use Right Index for all third ("G") string melody notes.
     
  2. Use Right middle for first (skinniest) string notes

• (DON'T) Refer to the Left hand fingers: Index = 1, Middle = 2, Ring = 3, Pinky = 4

• (DON'T) Remember that all tunes in this book are in 4/4 time
  (four beats per measure, quarter note equals one beat) unless stated otherwise.

• (DON'T) Practice Slowly, and try not to repeat the same part over and over
  -- rather, PUSH yourself through the whole tune or segment

TAKE THE "DON'T"s OFF THIS LIST!

Now how are you going to READ these great tunes within?

I've transcribed all the pieces in this book in BOTH:

1. Traditional Music Notation, and
2. Non-Traditional Folky Guitar Tablature.

STOP! DON'T GET SCARED AND RUN AWAY!

Most of you probably don't read music well (hah!), or at all.

If you play guitar, we can bet on this. Reading Traditional Music Notation For The Guitar is NOT easy.
You don't have to be dyslexic to have tried it more than once and failed!

Since many of you may not be sure which you'll use to learn these pieces, I've written out the
"Getting Started" Chapter 4 in Siamese-Twin fashion (with standard music and tablature sort of joined at the hip).

Those of you out there who haven't studied with me personally (poor souls) should review both
the chapters on Traditional Notation and Tablature, unless you'requite familiar with one of these systems.
Then use the system that works for you.

By the way, there's also a cassette tape available of these pieces. See the Appendix

This chapter © 2014 by Andrew D. Polon. All rights reserved.