Phase 4 Checkpoint: Blues, Swing and the Fifth Fret
How to Use This Checkpoint
Section titled “How to Use This Checkpoint”When it is taken: after the last practice day of Week 24 and before Session 25, 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 25 waits until the checkpoint is done. No sitting is taken on a practice day.
Neither sitting is longer than 30 minutes or taken on the last practice day of Week 24, which holds the week’s one take. The three ear recordings that Session 24 asks for must be at least one day old when their items are taken.
Sitting 1 takes 29 minutes, 23.5 of them playing; items 18 and 19 are cards and marking.
Sitting 2 takes 27.5 minutes, 12.5 of them playing; items 22, 23 and 24 are marking, listening, playing back, writing and clapping.
No sitting has more than 30 minutes of playing.
You need the guitar, a pick, the tuner, the metronome, a phone that records, paper and a pen; your theory cards of Phases 1 to 4; your recording of the “Shuffle Blues in A” (Session 21) and a way to play it while you play; the three ear recordings and their key piles; Sessions 20, 22 and 23 open at their pieces and the tick list; and the TAB of the three scales: Scales And Arpeggios for item 11, Session 21 for item 12 and Session 23 for item 13.
The checks:
- The tuner: item 1.
- The click: the metronome, at the item’s figure.
- A count said aloud: as you play, or on a recording.
- A recording followed on the page: you mark what the item names.
- The change test: items 3 to 7, by the rule below.
- The tick list of a task: item 22.
- The recorded card test (Session 2): items 19, 23 and 24, by the method above item 19.
Set the metronome to the tempo given; each click is one beat. Strum each chord once, with a downstroke, and let it ring. Play a new chord every 4 beats (on beat 1 of each measure) or every 2 beats (on beats 1 and 3), as the target says. Alternate the two chords until you have played 8 chords in a row: that is 7 changes. You pass when all 8 land on their click with every string that should sound ringing, twice on the same day.
In an assessment a change-test pair passes on one run of 8 chords in a row with no click missed. “Twice on the same day” is the pass mark of the weekly Self-Check Questions.
Mark each item Yes or Not yet on the lines under it: it passes at its pass mark and not before. For a Not yet, do what its If not part says.
A reading item (15, 16 or 17) is taken again only if none of the three passed, and only on its second passage under “Passages for a Second Try”: a passage once seen is no longer unseen, so that block stays closed until then.
No item asks for a tempo above the figure its ladder has reached by the end of Week 24’s practice.
Pain rule: tender fingertips are normal. Pain in the wrist, forearm, thumb joint or knuckles, numbness or tingling, any sharp pain, or pain that lasts into the next day means stop. The full rule is in START HERE.
The day’s limits hold here too: the barre of item 1 is three presses, and items 14 and 20 are slur work, about 2 minutes of playing together.
Begin each sitting with the movements under “Hand Warm-Up” in Segment 1 of any session, and tune: neither is counted in the minutes.
Open and close both hands loosely five times. Circle each wrist five times each way. Touch your thumb to each fingertip in turn. Shake the hands out.
Tune all six strings (EADGBE). Before you look at the tuner, guess: too low, too high or right? Then look.
On the last two practice days before Sitting 1, end the Warm-Up row with eight measures of D D U U D U on known chords: at 85 BPM, then at 90 BPM.
Items 1 to 14 may be tried twice on the same day; the second try counts, and there is no third. If anything aches, stop playing for today: nothing is tried again after it.
Items 15 to 24 are taken once in a sitting: 15 to 17 need an unseen passage, 18 is one draw of cards, 19, 23 and 24 are answered from a recording, 20 is one take a day, and 21 and 22 are one playing.
A second try counts within the sitting’s 30 minutes of playing; when they are used up, the rest is taken on another day.
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”No chord diagram is printed for items 1 and 2: press the two shapes from memory.
Barre work: no more than 5 minutes a day in total. Pain rule: tender fingertips are normal. Pain in the wrist, forearm, thumb joint or knuckles, numbness or tingling, any sharp pain, or pain that lasts into the next day means stop. The full rule is in START HERE.
1. (1 minute) Play A (four strings) at fret 5 from memory: press, pluck strings 4 to 1 one at a time, release completely and shake out the hand; 3 presses. Check: pluck the strings one at a time; the tuner shows A, C#, E, A. Pass: all 4 strings ring, 3 times in a row. If not: find the string that did not ring in the table of dead or buzzing strings and move the finger as its row says, with no added pressure, and keep the “Barre presses” row, under “Presses at Fret 5” in Session 19; take this item again at the end-of-course assessment: this item is reported and holds nobody back.
- Yes
- Not yet
2. (1 minute) Play Bm (four strings) from memory: press, pluck strings 4 to 1 one at a time, release; 3 presses. Check: pluck the strings one at a time. Pass: all 4 strings ring, 3 times in a row. If not: place Bm (three strings) first, then add finger 3, eight times a day, under “The Bm Chord on Four Strings” in Session 15; take this item again at the end-of-course assessment: this item is reported and holds nobody back.
- Yes
- Not yet
Items 3 to 7 are the change test, by the rule quoted under “How to Use This Checkpoint”, each pair at the figure its ladder has reached.
3*. (1 minute) Play the change test for G and D7, a new chord every 2 beats, at 80 BPM. Check: the metronome: one strum on each chord, counted aloud. Pass: 8 chords with no click missed. If not: drop 10 BPM and climb back 5 BPM at a time, as the test for this pair in the Rotation row, under “The Change Tests of Phase 3” in Session 18; take this item again after one week.
- Yes
- Not yet
4*. (1 minute) Play the change test for Em and B7, a new chord every 2 beats, at 80 BPM. Check: the metronome: one strum on each chord, counted aloud. Pass: 8 chords with no click missed. If not: drop 10 BPM and climb back 5 BPM at a time, as the test for this pair in the Rotation row, under “Change Test: Em and B7” in Session 23; take this item again after one week.
- Yes
- Not yet
5*. (1 minute) Play the change test for Am7 and D7, a new chord every 2 beats, at 80 BPM. Check: the metronome: one strum on each chord, counted aloud. Pass: 8 chords with no click missed. If not: drop 10 BPM and climb back 5 BPM at a time, as the test for this pair in the Rotation row, under “Warm-Up” in Session 22; take this item again after one week.
- Yes
- Not yet
6*. (1 minute) Play the change test for C and G7, a new chord every 2 beats, at 75 BPM. Check: the metronome: one strum on each chord, counted aloud. Pass: 8 chords with no click missed. If not: drop 10 BPM and climb back 5 BPM at a time, under “Warm-Up” in Session 24; take this item again after one week.
- Yes
- Not yet
7*. (1 minute) Play the change test for D and Bm (four strings), a new chord every 4 beats, at 80 BPM. Check: the metronome: one strum on each chord, counted aloud. Pass: 8 chords with no click missed. If not: drop 10 BPM and climb back 5 BPM at a time, under “Warm-Up” in Session 24; take this item again after one week.
- Yes
- Not yet
Copy of Beginner Session 5: the D D U U D U pattern
Strum: D D U U D U Count: 1 2 & (3) & 4 &
8*. (1.5 minutes) Keep D D U U D U going for 8 measures on a chord cycle of your choice, then play one more downstroke on the next beat 1, at 90 BPM. Check: the metronome clicks the beat; record it and count the measures aloud on the recording. Pass: 8 measures with no stop, and after the last measure 1 more downstroke lands on the next click. If not: go back to 85 BPM for two days, then take one step, under “Warm-Up” in Session 24; take this item again after one week.
- Yes
- Not yet
Fast strumming: if your strumming hand or forearm aches, that is tension. Stop playing for today, and next time loosen your grip on the pick.
Pain rule: tender fingertips are normal. Pain in the wrist, forearm, thumb joint or knuckles, numbness or tingling, any sharp pain, or pain that lasts into the next day means stop. The full rule is in START HERE.
Copy of Session 20: the shuffle
Chord: A5 e|--------------------------------------| B|--------------------------------------| G|--------------------------------------| D|------2---2---2---2---2---2---2---2---| A|------0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0---| E|--------------------------------------| Count: 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & Strum: D U D U D U D U PM: PM PM PM PM PM PM PM PM
Item 9 plays this block four measures straight, then four measures swung, without stopping. The two halves have a tempo line each:
Tempo: 70 BPM, two strums per click (eighth notes), down-up
Tempo: 70 BPM, Swing, two strums per click (swung eighth notes)
9. (1.5 minutes) Play 8 measures on a palm-muted A5 without stopping, down-up: the first half in straight eighth notes, the second half in swung eighth notes; record it with the metronome sounding, at 70 BPM. Check: a recording: clap the click along with it and say for each measure whether the upstroke falls halfway between two claps or late. Pass: 8 measures with no stop: measures 1 to 4 are heard as straight and measures 5 to 8 as swung. If not: go back to 65 BPM: clap 1 trip let for two measures, then play the form once a day, under “Straight, Then Swung” in Session 20; take this item again at the end-of-course assessment: this item is reported and holds nobody back.
- Yes
- Not yet
Copy of Session 20: the clapped triplet count
The triplet count, clapped Count: 1 trip let 2 trip let 3 trip let 4 trip let | Count: 1 trip let 2 trip let 3 trip let 4 trip let |
Clap on every count that is written, and stay silent on a count in brackets. Say the count aloud as you clap, including the counts in brackets.
10. (1 minute) Clap eighth-note triplets with the metronome for 4 measures, counting 1 trip let aloud, and record it, at 60 BPM. Check: a recording: count the claps to each click. Pass: 3 claps to each of the 16 clicks, and the spoken count is unbroken in all 4 measures. If not: say the count without clapping for two measures, then clap and say it, once a day, under “Clap the Triplet” in Session 20; take this item again at the end-of-course assessment: this item is reported and holds nobody back.
- Yes
- Not yet
No scale block is printed for items 11 to 13. Item 11 is played from memory; afterwards, follow the recording on the scale’s eighth-note TAB in Scales And Arpeggios, under “D major scale, one octave, open position”.
Items 12 and 13 are not yet scale cards: play each from its TAB, and follow the recording on the same TAB. A minor pentatonic in fifth position is in Session 21, under “The Scale and Two Phrases”, in eighth notes; the A blues scale is in Session 23, under “The Blues Scale”, in quarter notes.
11*. (1.5 minutes) Play the D major scale, one octave, open position, from memory, up and down in eighth notes, two notes per click, twice, and record it, at 60 BPM. Check: a recording, followed on the scale’s TAB in the scales reference sheet. Pass: 2 times in a row with no wrong note. If not: play the scale once from its TAB and once from memory each day, as its card in the Rotation row says, under “A Scale Card: D Major” in Session 24; take this item again after one week.
- Yes
- Not yet
12*. (1.5 minutes) Play A minor pentatonic in fifth position, two octaves, from its TAB, up and down in eighth notes, two notes per click, twice, and record it, at 50 BPM. Check: a recording, followed on the scale’s TAB. Pass: 2 times in a row with no wrong note. If not: go back 5 BPM and take the step again after three runs in a row with no wrong note, under “A Minor Pentatonic in Eighth Notes” in Session 24; take this item again after one week: in that week the scale is in the “Scale ladder” row of Week 24’s plan.
- Yes
- Not yet
13*. (1.5 minutes) Play the A blues scale in fifth position, two octaves, from its TAB, up and down in quarter notes, one note per click, every note picked, twice, and record it, at 80 BPM. Check: a recording, followed on the scale’s TAB. Pass: 2 times in a row with no wrong note. If not: go back 5 BPM and take the step again after three runs in a row with no wrong note, under “The A Blues Scale at 70” in Session 24; take this item again after one week: in that week the scale is in the “Scale ladder” row of Week 24’s plan.
- Yes
- Not yet
Slur work: no more than 5 minutes a day in total.
Pain rule: tender fingertips are normal. Pain in the wrist, forearm, thumb joint or knuckles, numbness or tingling, any sharp pain, or pain that lasts into the next day means stop. The full rule is in START HERE.
Item 14 is played from the page of the “Slur Study in A minor” in Session 23: measures 1 to 4, the slur phrase, not printed again here. It asks for the legato form only, in quarter notes; no staccato form of the phrase is asked before Session 28.
14. (1.5 minutes) Play the slur phrase, measures 1 to 4 of the “Slur Study in A minor”, once, legato, with its hammer-ons and pull-offs, in quarter notes with the picked note on the click, and record it, at 60 BPM. Check: a recording, followed on the TAB of Session 23: count the slurred notes you can hear. Pass: all 6 slurred notes can be heard, with no stop. If not: play the drill four times through a day at 50 BPM, with a measure of rest after each: quicker and closer to the fret, inside the day’s slur minutes, under “Slur Drill” in Session 23; take this item again at the end-of-course assessment: this item is reported and holds nobody back.
- Yes
- Not yet
Pain rule: tender fingertips are normal. Pain in the wrist, forearm, thumb joint or knuckles, numbness or tingling, any sharp pain, or pain that lasts into the next day means stop. The full rule is in START HERE.
15. (2 minutes) Play the TAB passage printed with this item, which you have not seen, once, by the unseen TAB routine printed with it, and record it, at 55 BPM. Check: follow the recording on the TAB and count the wrong notes. Pass: the whole passage with no stop and at most 1 wrong note. If not: in the 30 seconds of study, say the string and the fret of every note aloud in order, under “Unseen TAB” in Session 24; take this item again after one week, on the second passage under “Passages for a Second Try”, opened only then, and only if none of items 15, 16 and 17 passed: one of the three is enough.
- Yes
- Not yet
The unseen TAB routine: (1) Set the metronome to 55 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 15
Unseen TAB, passage C e|--------------------------------------|-------------------| B|--------------------------------------|---0---------------| G|--------------------------0---2-------|-------2---0-------| D|------0-------2-------4---------------|---------------4---| A|--------------------------------------|-------------------| E|--------------------------------------|-------------------| Count: 1 2 3 & 4 1 2 3 4 Pick: D D D U D D D D D Finger: - 2 4 - 2 - 2 - 4 Notes: D E F# G A B A G F# e|--------------------------------------|-------------------| B|--------------0-------2-------3-------|---0---------------| G|------0---2---------------------------|-------2-----------| D|--------------------------------------|-----------2---0---| A|--------------------------------------|-------------------| E|--------------------------------------|-------------------| Count: 1 & 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 Pick: D U D D D D D D D Finger: - 2 - 2 3 - 2 2 - Notes: G A B C# D B A E D
16. (2 minutes) Strum the chord chart printed with this item, which you have not seen, once, by the unseen chart routine printed with it, one strum on each chord, and record it, at 65 BPM. Check: follow the recording on the chart and count the chords. Pass: no stop, and each of the 5 chords falls in its measure. If not: say the chord names of a chart aloud in time with the metronome, without the guitar, before you strum it, under “Unseen Chart” in Session 24; take this item again after one week, on the second chart under “Passages for a Second Try”, opened only then, and only if none of items 15, 16 and 17 passed: one of the three is enough.
- Yes
- Not yet
The unseen chart routine: (1) Set the metronome to 65 BPM. (2) Study the chart for 30 seconds without playing: its Key and Time line, each chord, any measure that holds two chords, and any repeat signs or endings. (3) Start the recording. (4) Count one measure aloud. (5) Strum the chart once, to the end, without stopping, one strum on each chord. (6) Follow the recording on the chart and count the chords that do not fall in their measure.
The block below is closed. Open it at step (2) of the routine, when the 30 seconds begin, and not before.
The chart of item 16
Unseen chart C
Key: G major Time: 4/4 (four beats in a measure)
Chart C, 4 measures:
| Em | C | G D7 | G |
Beats: 1234 1234 12 34 1234
17. (2.5 minutes) Play the four measures of staff notation printed with this item, which you have not seen, in first position, in C major or G major, in half, quarter and eighth notes, after 30 seconds of study, and record it, at 50 BPM. Check: a recording, checked against the passage’s TAB in the “Answers” section of this page. Pass: the whole passage with no stop and at most 1 wrong note. If not: read each day’s line of the staff handout by its routine, saying the letter names first, under “The Key Signature of G” in Session 22; take this item again after one week, on the second four measures under “Passages for a Second Try”, opened only then, and only if none of items 15, 16 and 17 passed: one of the three is enough.
- Yes
- Not yet
The unseen staff routine: (1) Set the metronome to 50 BPM. (2) Study the passage for 30 seconds without playing: its first note and its last, its lowest note and its highest, and any eighth notes. (3) Start the recording. (4) Count one measure aloud. (5) Play the passage once, to the end, without stopping. (6) Check the recording against the passage’s TAB under “Answers” and count the wrong notes.
In the 30 seconds, look at the key signature first: if there is one sharp, it is F sharp, and every F in the passage, high or low, is played as F sharp.
Every staff here is printed without TAB: the TAB of each is its answer, under “Answers”.
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 17
Item 18 uses your own pile of theory cards: no question is printed here.
18. (3 minutes) Shuffle your pile of theory cards of Phases 1 to 4, keep it question side up, 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, and find each statement in its theory handout, under “Cards and the Triplet Count” in Session 24; take this item again at the Phase 5 checkpoint, with ten cards drawn again: this item is reported and holds nobody back.
- 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 7, straight or swung
Section titled “Test 7, straight or swung”Test 7, straight or swung. The pile is 12 slips: six marked “straight” and six marked “swung”. An item is one slip: with the metronome sounding at 60 BPM, listen to four clicks, then play two measures of palm-muted eighth notes on A5, down-up, straight or swung as the slip says. Record eight items; four slips stay in the pile unseen. Your answer for each number is “straight” or “swung”. To mark, deal the key pile one slip to an item.
Test 7 is marked here for the last time.
19. (2.5 minutes) Answer the eight items of your recording of Test 7, straight or swung, made after Session 24. Check: the key pile, dealt one slip to an item, against the answers you wrote. Pass: 7 of 8. If not: nothing has to be done; to go on training this, play the drill once on any practice day, under “Ear Drill: Straight, Then Swung” in Session 24; it is not taken again: Test 7 is closed here.
- Yes
- Not yet
Sitting 2
Section titled “Sitting 2”Slur work: no more than 5 minutes a day in total.
Fast strumming: if your strumming hand or forearm aches, that is tension. Stop playing for today, and next time loosen your grip on the pick.
Pain rule: tender fingertips are normal. Pain in the wrist, forearm, thumb joint or knuckles, numbness or tingling, any sharp pain, or pain that lasts into the next day means stop. The full rule is in START HERE.
Item 20 is played from the pages of its two pieces: the “Shuffle Blues in A” in Session 20 and the “Slur Study in A minor” in Session 23. No block of either is printed here.
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.
The performance tempos are 70 BPM for the Shuffle Blues and 60 BPM for the Slur Study.
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.
The Shuffle Blues is the strummed piece of the two.
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.
In the Slur Study a wrong or missed note is one note; a slurred note that cannot be heard on the recording is a missed note.
20*. (9 minutes) Record your programme of two pieces in one take, each played alone from your own count-in to its written ending, with no backing sounding: the “Shuffle Blues in A”, then the “Slur Study in A minor”, one of the two from memory, by the rules of a take printed with this item; one take today, at the performance tempos of 70 BPM, then 60 BPM. 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; the Shuffle Blues, a strummed piece, is counted as the rules of a take printed with this item say. 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 measures at a time with the metronome, inside the day’s slur minutes for the Slur Study, then record one new take, under “Marking Your Take” in Session 24; take this item again after one week: one take a day.
- Yes
- Not yet
Items 21 and 22 are one playing over your recording of the “Shuffle Blues in A” and two marks: item 21 by where your last chord falls, item 22 by the tick list of “Your Own Blues Chorus” in Session 22, under “The Tick List”, which is not printed again here. In the programme of item 20 each piece is played alone; this playing is a separate item.
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.
If you lose your place while playing, stop, listen for the next ONE on the recording, and come in again there.
21*. (3.5 minutes) Taken once, and no part of the programme: play the “Shuffle Blues in A” along with your recording of it, all 38 measures: its first chorus the piece itself, a chorus of your own over its second chorus, its third chorus the piece itself, then the ending, at 65 BPM, the tempo of your recording. Check: record it and listen: where does your last A7 fall against the recording’s last A7? 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 A7 falls within 1 beat of its last chord. If not: listen to the recording once without playing and count its 38 measures aloud, then play along with it once a day, under “Over Your Backing” in Session 24; take this item again after one week.
- Yes
- Not yet
22*. (1.5 minutes) Mark the tick list of “Your Own Blues Chorus” (Session 22) for the chorus of your own that you played in item 21: once round the 12-bar form, over the second chorus of your recording, by the task’s rule. Check: mark the tick list of Session 22 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 over the backing once a day, under “How to Learn This Task” in Session 22; take this item again after one week.
- Yes
- Not yet
Test 3, play it back
Section titled “Test 3, play it back”Test 3, play it back, six notes in fifth position. The pile is 48 note slips, eight for each of these six places: string 5 fret 5, string 5 fret 7, string 4 fret 5, string 4 fret 7, string 3 fret 5, string 3 fret 7. An item is six slips in a row from left to right: play their notes as two half notes and then four quarter notes. Record with the metronome sounding at 60 BPM, one count to a click, and start each playing on a click. 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 4-7. To mark, deal the key pile six slips to an item. A phrase is right only if every note matched.
23. (6 minutes) Mark your recording of Test 3, play it back, in fifth position, made after Session 24: play back each of its six phrases of six notes and write the places you played. Check: the key pile, dealt six 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 24; take this item again after one week, at least one day after the new recording, and only if neither item 23 nor item 24 passed.
- Yes
- Not yet
Test 5, rhythm recall
Section titled “Test 5, rhythm recall”Test 5, rhythm recall, two measures. The pile is 60 cell slips: the 38 of Session 9 and 22 more: 6 marked “quarter”, 6 marked “two eighths”, 4 marked “four sixteenths” and 6 marked “rest”. An item is eight slips in a row from left to right: the eight beats of two measures. Record with the metronome sounding at 50 BPM, one cell to a click. For each item say “1, 2, 3, 4” with four clicks, then clap the row twice through without a break. Count in your head while you clap: if you said the count aloud, the recording would tell you the answer. Record six items. On each click the claps name the cell: none is “rest”, one is “quarter”, two are “two eighths”, four are “four sixteenths”. To answer, listen to an item, stop the recording, clap the rhythm back once, and write the cells you clapped, in order. Write each cell as the number of claps on its click: 0, 1, 2 or 4. To mark, deal the key pile eight slips to an item. A rhythm is right only if every cell matched.
24. (7.5 minutes) Mark your recording of Test 5, rhythm recall, made after Session 24: clap back each of its six rhythms of two measures and write the cells you clapped. Check: the key pile, dealt eight slips to an item, against the cells you wrote. Pass: 4 of 6, a rhythm counting only if every cell matched. If not: play the drill once on each practice day and record the test again after the last of them, under “Ear Drill: Clap the Cells” in Session 24; take this item again after one week, at least one day after the new recording, and only if neither item 23 nor item 24 passed.
- Yes
- Not yet
Of items 15, 16 and 17 one must pass.
Of items 23 and 24 one must pass.
Overall Phase Assessment
Section titled “Overall Phase Assessment”Must-pass items passed: _____ of 14. Still open, by number: ______________________________
Reported items: item 1 __________, item 2 __________, item 9 __________, item 10 __________, item 14 __________, item 18 __________, item 19 __________
Fourteen marks must pass. Twelve are items of their own: items 3 to 8, 11 to 13 and 20 to 22 must pass because their exit criteria (E3, E6, E12, E26, E27 and E25) are in the Grade 2 set, which Course Overview lists under “Exit Criteria”: the change test for each of the five pairs, D D U U D U, the three scales, the programme, a piece over your own backing and a chorus of your own. The other two are groups, each counted once: of the three reading items, 15, 16 and 17 (E16, E18 and E17), one must pass, and of the two ear items, 23 and 24 (E22 and E23), one.
Items 1, 2, 9, 10, 14, 18 and 19 are reported and never have to pass: items 1 and 2 (E2), 9 and 10 (E10) and 14 (E14) are a start on Grade 3 skills; the criterion of item 18 (E20) is the course’s own; and item 19 has 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 25, and the showcase week is Week 24, the week of Session 24. In the one more week, each failed item’s own If not line says what to do in the “Checkpoint items” row. A reading item is taken again on its second passage, under “Passages for a Second Try”.
Still open after the one more week, each with where it comes again: ______________________________
Where each item comes again
An open item comes again at the next checkpoint that holds it or at the end-of-course assessment. A reported item is never open: it is met again where its own If not line says.
| Item | Where it comes again |
|---|---|
| 1 and 2. The two four-string shapes (reported) | The end-of-course assessment |
| 3 to 7. The change test | The end-of-course assessment |
| 8. D D U U D U | The Phase 5 checkpoint |
| 9 and 10. The shuffle and the triplet count (reported) | The end-of-course assessment |
| 11 to 13. The scale cards | The end-of-course assessment |
| 14. The slur phrase (reported) | The end-of-course assessment |
| 15. Unseen TAB | The Phase 5 checkpoint |
| 16. An unseen chart | The Phase 5 checkpoint |
| 17. Unseen staff measures | The Phase 5 checkpoint |
| 18. The theory cards (reported) | The Phase 5 checkpoint |
| 19. Test 7 (reported) | Closed here: it is not taken again |
| 20. A programme | The Phase 5 checkpoint |
| 21. A piece over your own backing | The end-of-course assessment |
| 22. Measures of your own | The end-of-course assessment |
| 23. Test 3 | The end-of-course assessment |
| 24. Test 5 | The Phase 5 checkpoint |
The checkpoint is not an exam and predicts no exam result: it decides when you move on.
Passages for a Second Try
Section titled “Passages for a Second Try”The three passages in this section are for a second try only, one week after the first, and only if none of items 15, 16 and 17 passed. Nothing here is read or played on the day of the checkpoint itself.
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.
For item 15: the second TAB passage
Take it exactly as item 15 says: by the unseen TAB routine printed with item 15, with 30 seconds of study, at 55 BPM, and with the same pass mark: the whole passage with no stop and at most 1 wrong note.
Second try at item 15
Unseen TAB, passage D e|------0-------2---3---2-------0-------|-----------------------0-----------| B|--------------------------------------|---3-------0-------3-------3-------| G|--------------------------------------|-----------------------------------| D|--------------------------------------|-----------------------------------| A|--------------------------------------|-----------------------------------| E|--------------------------------------|-----------------------------------| Count: 1 2 & 3 4 1 2 3 & 4 Pick: D D U D D D D D U D Finger: - 2 3 2 - 3 - 3 - 3 Notes: E F# G F# E D B D E D e|----------------------|-------------------| B|------1---0-------1---|---0-------0-------| G|--------------2-------|-------2-------0---| D|----------------------|-------------------| A|----------------------|-------------------| E|----------------------|-------------------| Count: 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 Pick: D D D D D D D D Finger: 1 - 2 1 - 2 - - Notes: C B A C B A B G
For item 16: the second chart
Take it exactly as item 16 says: by the unseen chart routine printed with item 16, with 30 seconds of study, one strum on each chord at 65 BPM, and with the same pass mark: no stop, and each chord falls in its measure.
Second try at item 16
Unseen chart D
Key: E minor Time: 4/4 (four beats in a measure)
Chart D, 4 measures:
| C | G | Em B7 | Em |
Beats: 1234 1234 12 34 1234
For item 17: the second four staff measures
Take them exactly as item 17 says: by the unseen staff routine printed with item 17, with 30 seconds of study, at 50 BPM, and with the same pass mark: the whole passage with no stop and at most 1 wrong note. Their TAB is their answer, under “Answers”.
Second try at item 17
Answers
Section titled “Answers”Each answer below is in a closed block. Open a block only after you have played its passage.
Answer to item 17
Unseen staff, measures C e|----------------------|-----------------------------------| B|--------------0---3---|---1-------0-------0-------3-------| G|------0---------------|---------------2-------------------| D|----------------------|-----------------------------------| A|----------------------|-----------------------------------| E|----------------------|-----------------------------------| Count: 1 (2) 3 4 1 2 & 3 4 Pick: D D D D D U D D Finger: - - 3 1 - 2 - 3 Notes: G B D C B A B D e|------0---3---2---0---|-----------------------------------| B|----------------------|---3-------0-----------------------| G|----------------------|---------------2---0---------------| D|----------------------|-----------------------------------| A|----------------------|-----------------------------------| E|----------------------|-----------------------------------| Count: 1 2 3 4 1 2 & 3 (4) Pick: D D D D D D U D Finger: - 3 2 - 3 - 2 - Notes: E G F# E D B A G
Answer to the second try at item 17
Unseen staff, measures D e|----------------------|-----------------------------------| B|----------------------|-----------------------------------| G|----------------------|---0-------2---0-------------------| D|------0-------2---3---|-------------------3-------2-------| A|----------------------|-----------------------------------| E|----------------------|-----------------------------------| Count: 1 (2) 3 4 1 2 & 3 4 Pick: D D D D D U D D Finger: - 2 3 - 2 - 3 2 Notes: D E F G A G F E e|----------------------|-----------------------------------| B|----------------------|-----------------------------------| G|--------------2---0---|-----------0-----------------------| D|------0---3-----------|---2---3---------------------------| A|----------------------|-------------------3---------------| E|----------------------|-----------------------------------| Count: 1 2 3 4 1 & 2 3 (4) Pick: D D D D D U D D Finger: - 3 2 - 2 3 - 3 Notes: D F A G E F G C