1. The Guitar, 1
Types of Guitars, 1.
Posture and Position for Holding the Guitar, 3.
Hand and Guitar Symbols, 3.
Playing Techniques for Single Strings, 4.
"High" and "Low" in Musical Sound, 5.
Parts of the Guitar, 7.

2. The Guitar Fretboard, 8.
Music Theory and the Fretboard: Whole- and Half-steps, 8.
Alphabet Letters Used in Music Theory, 10.
Letters on the Entire Fretboard to Fret Twelve, 12.
Building a Scale of Natural Notes in First Position, 13.

3. Reading Music on the Guitar, 15.
The Music Staff, 15.
Relating the Music Staff to Letters on the Fretboard, 16.
Basic Rhythm Reading, 17.
First Position Reading Charts and Exercises, 18.
First Position Natural Scale chart, 25.

4. Guitar Tablature and Notation, 26.
Pitch Levels of Letters and the Music Staff. 26.
Converting Music Notation to Guitar Tablature, 27.
Converting Guitar Tablature to Music Notation, 32.
Mixed Tablature and Notation: Exercise, 33.

5. Chord Basics, 36.
Chord Diagrams for Guitar, 36.
Guidelines for Playing the Correct Chord Strings, 37.
Beginning Chord Fingering Exercises, 39.

6. Song Accompaniment and Charts, 42.
Songs with One Chord, 42.
Song Accompaniment, 43.
Music Charts: The Three Basic Elements, 44.
Chart Exercises, 45.

7. Songs: Charts with Words, 46.
Charts with Words, 46.
Memorizing Chords Alphabetically, 48.

8. Counting by Note Values, 49.
Counting Values of Notes, 49.
Counting Individual Note Values, 49.
Counting Beats per Measure, 51.

9. Converting Songs to Charts, 52.
Published Song Formats and Conversion to Charts, 52.
Variety of Playing Techniques, 54.

10. Alternating Bass for Chords, 57.
Definition of "Alternating Bass," 57.
Perfect Fifths as Alternating Basses, 57.
– But Not All Chords Have Perfect Fifths!, 59.
Alternating Bass Applied to Various Chords, 60.

11. Freestroke with Chords, 62.
Freestroke Technique, 62.
Freestroke Patterns, 63.
Beginning Steps for Playing a Freestroke Pattern, 63.
Freestroke Pattern Chart, 64.

12. The Chords Most Likely to Succeed, 70.
Practice Chart for Primary Key Chords, 70.
"The Chords Most Likely to Succeed," 71.
Guitar Techniques for Harmonizing "by ear," 72.
Songs to Harmonize: Two Chords, 73.
Songs to Harmonize: Three Chords, 75.

Reference A: Tuning the Guitar, 77.
Matching Unison Pitches at the Fifth Fret, 77.
Use of the "A–440" Tuning Fork, 78.
Tuning with Harmonics, 78.
Tuning Tips, 79.

Reference B: Care and Maintenance of the Guitar, 80.

Reference C: Answers, 81.

Reference D: Chords, 86.

Blank Practice Tablatures and Music Staff, 87.
Blank Chord Diagrams, 87.
Blank Tablatures:12
Frets, 88.
Music Staff with Tab, 89.

Song Index, 90.