Phase 1 Checkpoint: Picking Up the Thread
How to Use This Checkpoint
Section titled “How to Use This Checkpoint”When it is taken: after the last practice day of Week 6 and before Session 7, in two sittings: on one day with at least an hour between them, or on two days. These days are added to the week: the rest day stays a rest day, and Session 7 waits until the checkpoint is done. No sitting is taken on a practice day.
The two ear recordings you made after Session 6 must be at least one day old when Sitting 2 marks them.
Most checks are of these five kinds:
- The click: the metronome clicks the beat while you play, at the figure the item gives.
- A count: you count what the item names, aloud as you play or afterwards on a recording.
- A recording: you record the item on your phone, then listen to it and mark what the item names.
- The tick list of a task: the list under “The Tick List” in the task’s session: you tick each line that is true of what you played.
- The recorded card test (Session 2): the ear test of items 11 and 12. Its method is printed in full above item 11.
Under each item stand two boxes, Yes and Not yet: tick Yes if you met its Pass mark, Not yet if you did not. For a Not yet, do what the item’s own “If not” part says.
Items 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 9 and 10 may be tried a second time on the same day, and the second try counts. There is no third try.
Items 5, 7, 8, 11 and 12 are taken once in a sitting. Item 5 needs a passage you have not seen: its second try comes after the one more week that “Overall Phase Assessment” gives, on the passage under “Unseen TAB for a Second Try”. Item 7 is one draw of ten cards. Item 8 is one take: the next comes after the one more week. Items 11 and 12 are answered from a recording that is new to your ear only once.
No item asks for a tempo above the figure its ladder has reached by the end of Week 6’s practice.
Sitting 1 takes 17 minutes: 14 minutes of playing and 3 with the theory cards.
Sitting 2 takes 25 minutes: 18 minutes of playing and 7 of marking the two ear recordings.
On the last two practice days of Week 6, when the Programme row comes to the Seventh-Chord Blues in E, strum it once as the row says, then play one chorus of your own over your recorded backing of Session 4, listening through the first time round, and stop the backing when your chorus ends.
Begin each sitting with the movements under “Hand Warm-Up” in Segment 1 of any session, and tune the guitar: neither is counted in the sitting’s minutes.
Print this page, or copy the item numbers and the lines to write on onto paper, so you can write your marks.
Skills Checklist
Section titled “Skills Checklist”The pain rule comes before every item: an item that hurts is stopped and counted as not yet passed, and nothing more is played that day.
Read each sitting’s items through before you begin it: an item’s minutes are for doing it, not for reading it.
Sitting 1
Section titled “Sitting 1”Item 1 uses four chord cards: A7, D7, E7 and B7. Before Sitting 1, write the four names on four slips of paper. In the sitting, shuffle the slips face down and turn them over one at a time. With the metronome at 60, turn a slip over and count the next three clicks: the chord is down when the third sounds. These slips are for this checkpoint: the chord cards of the Rotation row are first written in Session 7.
Each chord card: place the shape once, pluck each string that should sound, let go.
1*. (2 minutes) Form each of A7, D7, E7 and B7 from its card. Check: the metronome at 60: the chord is down by the third click. Then pluck the strings one at a time. Pass: 3 of the 4 cards, every string that should sound ringing. If not: for each card that failed: place, strum, lift, place, 8 placings a day from its diagram in the chord chart, with the two fixes, under “If a string does not ring” in Session 4; take this item again after one week.
- Yes
- Not yet
2*. (2 minutes) Play the Stop-Time pattern on E5 with its damped rests for four measures, and record it with the metronome sounding, at 70 BPM. Check: listen to the recording and count the rests in which a string still rings. Pass: 0 rests with a string still ringing, in all 4 measures. If not: go back to the rest-stop drill on E5 at 60 BPM: strum, stop, say the silent count aloud, under “The Rest Stop” in Session 3; take this item again after one week.
- Yes
- Not yet
3*. (2 minutes) Play the A natural minor scale from memory, up and down, in eighth notes, two notes per click, at 60 BPM. Check: record it and follow the recording on the scale’s TAB in the scales reference sheet. Pass: 2 runs in a row with 0 wrong notes. If not: go back 5 BPM and take the step again only after three runs in a row with no wrong note, under “Scales” in Session 6; take this item again after one week.
- Yes
- Not yet
4*. (3 minutes) Play E minor pentatonic and then G major pentatonic from memory, up and down, in quarter notes, one note per click, at 80 BPM. Check: record them and follow each recording on the scale’s TAB in the scales reference sheet. Pass: 2 runs in a row of each with 0 wrong notes. If not: go back 5 BPM and take the step again only after three runs in a row with no wrong note, under “Scales” in Session 6; take this item again after one week.
- Yes
- Not yet
5*. (3 minutes) Play the two-measure TAB passage of this checkpoint, which you have not seen, after 30 seconds of study, and record it, at 50 BPM. Check: follow the recording on the TAB and count the wrong notes. Pass: 2 measures with no stop and at most 1 wrong note. If not: play each of the two practice-day passages of Session 6 once a day by the routine, saying the count aloud, under “Unseen TAB” in Session 6; take this item again after one week, on the passage under “Unseen TAB for a Second Try” on this page, opened only then.
- Yes
- Not yet
The unseen TAB routine: (1) Set the metronome to 50 BPM. (2) Study the passage for 30 seconds without playing: the strings it uses, its lowest and highest fret, any eighth notes, and the count of its last note. (3) Start the recording. (4) Count one measure aloud. (5) Play the passage once, to the end, without stopping. (6) Follow the recording on the TAB and count the wrong notes.
The block below is closed. Open it at step (2) of the routine, when the 30 seconds begin, and not before.
The passage of item 5
Unseen TAB, Phase 1 checkpoint e|----------------------|-------------------| B|----------------------|-----------1-------| G|------0---------------|---0---2-----------| D|--------------2---3---|-------------------| A|----------------------|-------------------| E|----------------------|-------------------| Count: 1 (2) 3 4 1 2 3 (4) Pick: D D D D D D Finger: - 2 3 - 2 1 Notes: G E F G A C
6. (2 minutes) Strum the endings example of Session 5 from the page, one strum to a measure, saying each chord’s name as you strum it, at 60 BPM. Check: the metronome clicks the beat; after each chord’s name say its number, from 1 to 14. Pass: 14 chords in the order the signs give, with no click missed. If not: read the chart aloud twice without the guitar, pointing at each box, then strum it, under “First and Second Endings” in Session 5; it is not asked again: this item is reported and holds nobody back.
- Yes
- Not yet
Copy of Session 5: the endings example
Key: G major Time: 4/4 (four beats in a measure) Example, 8 measures, 14 as played: |: G | Em | C | D7 | | G | Em |1. D7 :|2. G |
7. (3 minutes) Shuffle the pile of theory cards you wrote in Sessions 2 to 4, draw ten, and answer each aloud before you turn it over. Check: turn each card over and read the answer on its back. Pass: 8 of 10 cards. If not: read aloud the backs of the cards you missed, once a day, under “The First Theory Cards” in Session 6; take this item again at the Phase 2 checkpoint, with ten cards drawn again: this item is reported and holds nobody back.
- Yes
- Not yet
Sitting 2
Section titled “Sitting 2”No piece is printed again on this page. Items 8 to 10 are played from the pages of their sessions: the Seventh-Chord Blues in A is in Session 2, the Stop-Time Study in E in Session 3, Amazing Grace in Session 5, and the Seventh-Chord Blues in E, with the task of item 10, in Session 4. The tick list that marks item 10 is there, under “The Tick List”, and is not printed here.
8*. (10 minutes) Record a programme of two pieces in one take, each alone from your own count-in to its written ending, with no backing sounding, by the rule of a take printed under this item. Choose the two from the three pieces of Session 6’s programme: the Seventh-Chord Blues in A, the Stop-Time Study in E and Amazing Grace. Check: listen to the take once for each piece with its page in front of you and make a stroke for every wrong or missed note; a strummed piece, and the strummed verse of Amazing Grace, are counted as the rule of a take under this item says. Pass: no stop, each of the 2 pieces reaches its written ending, and at most 3 strokes in either piece. If not: work on the piece that failed four or eight measures at a time with the metronome, then record the take again, under “Marking Your Take” in Session 6; take this item again after one week, with one take on one day, which begins with the first piece.
- Yes
- Not yet
No metronome sounds while a piece of a programme is played. Before each piece, with the recording running, set the metronome to that piece’s performance tempo, listen to eight clicks and stop it, then count one measure aloud and begin.
A piece that begins with pick-up notes is counted in as its page prints it: the tune’s own counted measure is the count-in.
A stop is a break in the count inside a piece: going back, beginning a measure again, or waiting a whole measure or longer before coming in. Keeping the count and coming in on the next beat 1 is not a stop: its notes are counted as missed.
A take with a stop has not passed and ends at the stop. One take a day: the next is made on a later day and begins with the first piece.
In a strummed piece, and in the strummed verse of a tune, one wrong or missed note is one measure in which the chord is wrong, late or not played.
9*. (4 minutes) Record the strummed verse of Amazing Grace as a backing, as Step 6 of “How to Learn This Tune” in Session 5 has it: with the metronome sounding, after a spoken 1, 2, 3 with three clicks, at the figure your Amazing Grace has reached, 70 BPM at most, and with G strummed once in its last measure and left to ring. Then play the melody of one verse over that recording, from the pick-up note to measure 14. Check: record it and listen for where your last note falls against the backing’s last chord; if your phone cannot play the backing and record you at the same time and you have no second device, judge it as you play. Pass: you finish with the backing: your last note falls within 1 beat of its last chord. If not: listen to the backing once without playing and count 1 2 3 aloud through its 14 measures, then play the melody over it, under “How to Learn This Tune” in Session 5; take this item again after one week.
- Yes
- Not yet
If your phone cannot play the backing and record you at the same time, play with the backing sounding and judge it as you play; checking it on a recording then needs a second device.
10*. (4 minutes) Play one chorus of your own, once round the 12-bar form, over your recorded backing of the Seventh-Chord Blues in E, by the rule of the task in Session 4: listen and count through the first time round and come in at the second ONE. If that recording is gone, record it again before the sitting by the three steps under “The Backing” in Session 4: that is not part of this item’s 4 minutes. The backing is at 60 BPM. Check: mark the tick list of Session 4 on a recording; if your phone cannot play the backing and record you at the same time and you have no second device, mark it as you play. Pass: 5 ticks. If not: play the map of the four model phrases once more over the backing, then try again; if a tick is still missing, play the map once a day, under “The Model Phrases” in Session 4; take this item again after one week.
- Yes
- Not yet
The recorded card test
You need a phone that records sound, some slips of paper, a pen and a sheet of paper for your answers. A test that needs the metronome says so.
- Make the pile of slips the test describes. If you made it for an earlier recording, use it again. After you have marked a recording, put all its slips back into one pile.
- Shuffle the pile face down. Start recording. For each item, turn over as many slips as the test says and lay them in a row from left to right: say the item’s number aloud (“one”, “two”, …), play the item, and put its slips face down on a new pile, one at a time from left to right. Keep the pile in order.
- Stop recording. Put the slips you did not turn over to one side: they are not part of the key. Put the new pile away without looking through it. The new pile is your answer key.
- Wait until the day you take this assessment, at least one day later, so that you no longer remember the order.
- Play the recording once through. Write your answer for each number. Stop the recording after an item if you need time to answer, but do not play any item again.
- When every answer is written, turn the key pile over, so that the first slip you played is on top. Deal the slips out in order, as many to an item as the test says, and mark your answers.
If someone else can play the items for you where you cannot see their hands, that works equally well: skip steps 2 to 4.
Before the first item, record five seconds: say “test” and make the sound of the test once, a strum, a note or four claps, with the metronome sounding if the test uses it. Then listen. If you cannot hear your voice, the sound and the click, move the phone and record the five seconds again.
The number you say aloud is the item’s place in the recording (“one” for the first item), never anything written on a slip.
If you play or clap an item wrongly while you record, say “again” and do the item again. On marking day, answer from what comes after the last “again”.
If you cannot make out an item on the recording, cross out its number: it counts as wrong. If two or more numbers are crossed out, do not mark the recording: make a new one the same day and mark it on your next practice day. If that day is the last practice day of the week, mark it on the first practice day of the next week and answer the self-check question then. The new recording and its marking are not part of the practice minutes. You do not repeat the week for it.
At a checkpoint, mark the new recording on the day after you make it, and mark its item then: the result waits for it.
Write the result as a count, such as “7 of 10”, with the test’s number and the date, at the foot of your answer sheet, and keep the sheet: a self-check question or a checkpoint item will ask for the figure.
Test 3, play it back
Section titled “Test 3, play it back”Test 3, play it back, four notes. The pile is 48 note slips, eight for each of these six places: string 3 open, string 3 fret 2, string 2 open, string 2 fret 3, string 1 open, string 1 fret 3. An item is four slips in a row from left to right: play their notes as four quarter notes. No metronome: count slowly and evenly, about one count a second. Play the phrase twice. If you play a note that is not on its slip, say “again” and play the phrase twice more. Record six items. To answer, listen to both playings of an item, stop the recording, play the phrase back once on the six places of the pile, and write the places you played, in order. If you hear “again”, answer from the two playings after the last “again”. Write each place as two figures, the string then the fret, such as 2-3; an open string is 3-0. To mark, deal the key pile four slips to an item. A phrase is right only if every note matched.
11*. (4 minutes) Play back the six four-note phrases of your recording of Test 3, play it back, made after Session 6, and write the places you played. Check: the key pile, dealt four slips to an item, against the places you wrote. Pass: 4 of 6, a phrase counting only if every note matched. If not: play the drill once on each practice day and record the test again after the last of them, under “Ear Drill: The Six Places” in Session 6; take this item again after one week, at least one day after the new recording.
- Yes
- Not yet
Test 4, higher or lower
Section titled “Test 4, higher or lower”Test 4, higher or lower. The pile is 24 note slips, four for each of these six places: string 2 open, string 2 fret 1, string 2 fret 3, string 1 open, string 1 fret 1, string 1 fret 3. An item is two slips: play the first note and let it ring for about two seconds, then play the second and let it ring. If the second slip names the same place as the first, put it under the pile and turn over another. Wait about five seconds after each item. Record ten items; about four slips stay in the pile. No metronome. Your answer for each number is “higher” or “lower”: is the second note higher or lower than the first? To mark, deal the key pile two slips to an item. On one string the higher fret is the higher note, and every one of these notes on string 1 is higher than every one on string 2.
This checkpoint marks Test 4 for the last time.
12. (3 minutes) Answer the ten items of your recording of Test 4, higher or lower, made after Session 6. Check: the key pile, dealt two slips to an item, against the answers you wrote. Pass: 8 of 10. If not: nothing has to be done: Test 4 is marked here for the last time. To go on training this, play the drill once on any practice day, under “Ear Drill: Higher or Lower” in Session 6; it is not taken again: Test 4 is closed here, and this item is reported and holds nobody back.
- Yes
- Not yet
Overall Phase Assessment
Section titled “Overall Phase Assessment”Must-pass items passed: _____ of 9. Still open, by number: ______________________________
Reported items: item 6 __________, item 7 __________, item 12 __________
Nine items must pass. Items 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9 and 10 must pass because their exit criteria (E1, E8, E12, E26, E27 and E25) are in the Grade 2 set, which Course Overview lists under “Exit Criteria”. Item 5 (E16) must pass as the one reading item this checkpoint holds, and item 11 (E22) as the one ear item it holds.
Items 6, 7 and 12 are reported and never have to pass: the criterion of item 7 (E20) is the course’s own, and items 6 and 12 have no exit criterion. On the second line of the result, write a Yes on one of them as “started” and a Not yet as “not yet”.
If every must-pass item passes, go on to the next phase. If one does not, spend one more week on the practice plan of the showcase week, with the failed items in its “Checkpoint items” row, and take those items again. After that week, go on to the next phase whatever the result: the checkpoint’s result names each item that is still open, and it comes again at the next checkpoint that holds it or at the end-of-course assessment. Nobody is held at a checkpoint for more than one week.
An item that is only reported holds nobody back: if it is not passed, go on to the next phase all the same, do what its If not line says, and meet it again where that line says.
Here the next phase begins with Session 7, and the showcase week is the week of Session 6. In the one more week, each failed item’s own “If not” part says what to do in the “Checkpoint items” row.
Still open after the one more week, each with where it comes again: ______________________________
Where each item comes again
| Item | Where it comes again |
|---|---|
| 1. The chord cards | The Phase 2 and Phase 3 checkpoints |
| 2. The Stop-Time pattern | The end-of-course assessment |
| 3 and 4. The two scale items | The end-of-course assessment. Each later checkpoint checks the scales of its own phase, and from Session 7 the A natural minor scale is a card of the Rotation row |
| 5. Unseen TAB | Every later checkpoint |
| 6. The endings chart | It has no later item of its own |
| 7. The theory cards | Every later checkpoint |
| 8. A programme | Every later checkpoint |
| 9. Playing over your own backing | The Phase 4 checkpoint |
| 10. A chorus of your own | The Phase 4 checkpoint |
| 11. Test 3 | The Phase 3 checkpoint |
| 12. Test 4 | Test 4 is closed here |
The checkpoint is not an exam and predicts no exam result: it decides when you move on.
Unseen TAB for a Second Try
Section titled “Unseen TAB for a Second Try”The passage in this section is for a second try of item 5 only, after the one more week that “Overall Phase Assessment” gives.
This section is for a second try only. Each passage in it is in a closed block: open a block only when you take its item again, at step (2) of the routine.
Second try at item 5
Unseen TAB, Phase 1 checkpoint, second try e|----------------------|-------------------| B|----------------------|-------------------| G|----------------------|-------------------| D|----------------------|---0---------------| A|--------------0-------|-------2-----------| E|------0---3-----------|-----------0-------| Count: 1 2 3 (4) 1 2 3 (4) Pick: D D D D D D Finger: - 3 - - 2 - Notes: E G A D B E