The New Guitar Course, Book 2: Guitar Book

Accessible and grounded. The music feels like something you'd actually hear on the radio or at a campfire, not an exercise designed solely for technique. Each progression and rhythm pattern connects to real songs students recognize.

Guitar students working through a structured course who want their studies rooted in contemporary acoustic and electric styles rather than classical repertoire. Teachers seeking a method that values student interest while maintaining systematic skill development will find this approach refreshing.

• Listen to recordings of the folk, country, and blues styles featured in the book before teaching them. Your familiarity with the idioms will help you model authentic phrasing and articulation.
• Use the rock and blues examples to discuss how rhythm patterns differ between genres. Students absorb these distinctions faster when they hear and feel the variation.
• Encourage students to explore the chords and progressions in multiple keys once they master the original versions. Folk and country traditions rely on transposition as a learning tool.

Use Book 2 as the core text for students who have completed foundational material and are ready to deepen their command of rhythm, chord changes, and ensemble playing. The genre diversity makes it ideal for community guitar classes, homeschool curricula, and group lessons where students have varied musical tastes.

• chord transitions and voicing changes
• rhythm patterns in rock, folk, country, and blues styles
• fingerpicking and strumming technique
• reading chord charts and notation
• understanding blues progression and turnarounds
• ensemble playing and timing awareness