Sometimes a piece starts with an incomplete first bar. There may only be three beats, two beats or even one beat in the first bar.
The notes in the first bar are called lead-in notes or an anacrusis note. The missing note will always be found in the last bar of the piece, so that together they add up to one full bar. Count the missing note (or notes), but do not play it. All the pieces in this lesson use the i-m alternation with the thumb of the right hand resting on the sixth string.