Yeah, that's what i thought. And I don't think there's too much space. I just thought that it's potentially confusing how space is used within the measure to notate durations (e.g., a half note gets twice as much space as a quarter note) but not to notate the duration between the start of the measure and the first beat. It actually came up because I was trying to figure out the rhythm for one version (it seems like there are many) of "For What it's Worth" where during the recurring switch from E to A, there's a really quick E that precedes the A. Instead of a straight rhythm like E------------------>A------------------>E-------------------->A, it's E-----------------E->A----------------->E-------------------E->A (again, I've seen lots of variations on this tune). I think the 2nd E of each pair is in the same measure as the first E of the pair, so it's kind of tucked into the very end of the bar that precedes the switch to A, like:

E------------------E->|A------------------->|E------------------E->|A----------------------->|.

I really stink at figuring out where notes are falling with respect to the beat though. I've tried filming myself tapping a rhythmic beat while singing the notes and then watching the video in slow-mo to see where my sung notes fall with respect to my tapping. It still confounds me sometimes. Anyway, I just wanted to make sure I understood correctly that the first beat of the measure occurs at the very start of the measure, which you have confirmed.

Thanks

Dave