Sometimes a song does not begin on the first beat of the bar. Any notes which come before the first full bar are called pick-up notes. When pick-up notes are used, the last bar is also incomplete. The combined notes in the pick-up and last bar add up to one full bar.
The following tune Man of Constant Sorrow begins on the second beat of the bar. The melody is relatively simple and can be played solely on the first and second strings. The chord progression to Man of Constant Sorrow is a sixteen bar Folk progression. Practice the melody to this song first before trying the accompaniment on the following page.
Now try the accompaniment to Man of Constant Sorrow which uses the first fingerpicking pattern. You may encounter difficulties with playing the pattern in time to some of the chord changes. For these instances try either omitting the last note before the chord change or substitute an open string note.