Description

Greg Horne's engaging and humorous approach makes learning the acoustic guitar both enjoyable and accessible. This updated edition includes examples in both TAB and standard music notation, along with online video content featuring guitar expert Jared Meeker. Readers will discover how to properly hold the guitar, use a pick, count rhythms, read music, and play basic chords. Once the fundamentals are mastered, the book delves into more advanced techniques such as fingerpicking, barre chords, improvisation, and music theory, while exploring various genres like blues, rock, country, and folk. The second edition also boasts enhanced examples inspired by acoustic guitar legends, improved instructional content on techniques and theory, and online video demonstrations to complement the material.

Songs / Content

• Chapter 1-Getting Started
• Lesson 1: Getting to Know Your Tools
• Lesson 2: The Notes on the Fretboard
• Lesson 3: Reading Tablature (TAB)
• Mary Had a Border Collie
• Lesson 4: Your First Chords-"Easy" G, C, and D7
• Lesson 5: Strumming a Song
• This Hammer's Too Heavy
• Lesson 6: Awesome Tips for Learning and Switching Chords
• Lesson 7: Full-Size Chords-D, A, and G
• Canadian Campfire Song
• Lesson 8: Full-Size Chords-E and C
• Rock 'n' Roll Wonder Dog
• You Move My Boogie Machine
• Chapter 2-Reading Music
• How to Use This Chapter
• Why Read Music?
• Lesson 1: The Notes and the Staff
• Lesson 2: Notes on the 1st String
• Lesson 3: Notes on the 2nd String
• Lesson 4: Time
• Lesson 5: Notes on the 3rd String
• Oh! Susanna
• Lesson 6: Rests
• When the Saints Go Marching In
• Lesson 7: Eighth Notes
• Lesson 8: Notes on the 4th String
• Old Joe Clark
• Lesson 9: Eighth Rests and Dotted Notes
• Lesson 10: Notes on the 5th and 6th Strings
• Lesson 11: Sight-Reading Songs
• Ode to Joy
• Cluck Old Hen
• Lesson 12: Adding Sharps and Flats
• Lesson 13: Reading Key Signatures
• Lesson 14: 1st and 2nd Endings
• Line Dancing on Mars
• Chapter 3-More New Chords
• Lesson 1: Minor Chords
• Heavy Fog
• Heavy Fog, It Makes Me Happy
• Lesson 2: The Bluegrass G Chord and a C Chord to Match
• The One-Human Garage Band
• Lesson 3: The Art of Strumming
• Train of Dreams
• Lesson 4: Country and Bluegrass Strumming
• Boil That Cabbage Down
• Shady Grove
• Lesson 5: Country and Bluegrass Flatpicking
• Sail Away Ladies
• Lesson 6: Rocking Out with Syncopation
• Lesson 7: Cadd9
• Strumming Through the Heartland
• Lesson 8: Waltz Time
• Amazing Grace
• Chapter 4-Basic Fingerpicking
• Lesson 1: The Right-Hand Position
• Lesson 2: First Fingerpicking Patterns
• Lesson 3: Alternating Bass Patterns
• California Flood
• Lesson 4: Travis Picking and Pinch Patterns
• Thumbing Around
• Lesson 5: Fingerpicking in Waltz Time
• Chapter 5-Improvisation and Music Theory
• Lesson 1: The Major Scale
• Lesson 2: The Circle of 5ths
• Lesson 3: Open-Position Major Scales in C, G, and D
• Lesson 4: Movable Major Scale Fingerings
• Lesson 5: Intervals Are Your Building Blocks
• Lesson 6: Interval Fingerings
• Lesson 7: Harmony and Chords
• Lesson 8: Getting Started with Improvisation
• Chapter 6-The Blues
• Lesson 1: The 12-Bar Blues
• Lesson 2: Memorizing the 12-Bar Blues
• Lesson 3: Blues Rhythm
• Shufflin' Through the Blues in A
• Lesson 4: The Minor Pentatonic Scale
• Lesson 5: Beginning Blues Improvisation
• Lesson 6: Bending
• Lesson 7: New Chords-The Dominant 7th
• 7 Chord Blues
• Lesson 8: More 7th Chords-Blues in E
• The 12-Bar Blues in E
• Lesson 9: Minor Blues and Minor 7th Chords
• A Minor Blues
• Lesson 10: The Major Pentatonic Scale
• Chapter 7-New Techniques
• Lesson 1: Switching Chords Mid-Measure
• Lesson 2: Split Strumming
• I Know How It Feels
• Lesson 3: The Mute Stroke
• Lesson 4: A New Folk/Country Strum and I-V-vi-IV
• Rollin' Wheels on Route 1564
• Lesson 5: Transposition
• Lesson 6: Power Chords
• Rage Against the Gumball Machine
• Lesson 7: Barre Chords
• Fall Along the Tower Stairway
• Tiki Barre Tender
• Barre Chords Got Me on My Knees
• Passing the Barre
• Can I Barre a Dollar?
• Lesson 8: Thumb Chords
• Lesson 9: Hammer-Ons and Pull-Offs
• Blues Noodles on an E Chord
• Lesson 10: Walking the Bass
• Free Little Bird
• Appendix 1-Musical Expression, Phrasing, and Dynamics
• Appendix 2-Accessories
• The Wonderful Capo, the Terrible Capo
• To Fingerpick or Not to Fingerpick
• Buy a Metronome!
• Help with Tuning