The Acoustic Guitar Journey: Intermediate Course

This course takes you from the end of the beginner course to about Grade 2 level in the skills it teaches, and makes a start on Grade 3 skills. It is called intermediate because it follows the beginner course. In the exam boards’ own terms it covers the later early grades: Grades 1 to 3 are the first level of the graded system, and RSL calls Grade 3 the “final stage as a beginner player”. It is not an exam course. As before, every lesson is written so that you can learn alone: you, your guitar and these pages.

Who This Course Is For

You have finished the beginner course, or you can already do what it teaches. You can play the eight open chords and the simplified F, change between them in time, strum the D D U U D U pattern with a metronome, play the C major and A minor pentatonic scales, read TAB, and play a short piece from your own count-in to its ending.

You do not have to take that on trust. Session 1 is an entry check: eight short tasks that fill most of the session, taken alone with your tuner, your metronome and your phone. It is printed in Entry Check.

Your result	What to do
All eight pass	Start the course
One to three not yet there	Start the course and work on those items in the Entry items row of Week 1; an item that is still not yet at the end of that week goes into your Warm-Up until it passes
More than three not yet there	Go back to the phase of the beginner course that teaches them first

What you need: your guitar, a pick, a tuner, a metronome, a phone that records, slips of paper, a pen, and the ruler you used for the string-height check. Later you also need:

• from Session 7, a way to hear the recordings of the songs the course names;
• from Session 9, a capo;
• from Session 27, a published chord chart that you own, of one song you would like to learn.

Some checks ask you to record yourself while the metronome sounds, or while a backing plays. Session 1 has a short test of whether your phone can do both. If it cannot record while its own metronome sounds, a second device or a separate metronome gives the click, set down where the recording picks it up. If it cannot record while it plays a backing, a second device plays the backing, and the two checks that are played over a backing say what to do with one device only. The full list is in START HERE.

Course Philosophy

1. Whole pieces. In the beginner course every piece was a short excerpt or a study. Here you learn eleven complete pieces of about one and a half to three minutes each, and you perform them.
2. One hard thing at a time. No session starts more than one hard new skill for your hands. A week that starts a hard skill for one hand is followed by a week with nothing new for that hand, with one exception: in Session 22 short notes are made by relaxing a finger that is already pressing, which takes pressure off the hand. Every phase has a lighter week, and the last session of every phase starts nothing new.
3. Ladders, not jumps. Every skill starts at or below the speed you reached in the beginner course and goes up 5 BPM at a time: a hard new skill takes one step at most in the week it is new, and nothing takes more than two steps in a week.
4. Nothing goes cold. From Session 7 every day’s practice has a four-minute rotation row: one scale, one pair of chords from the change test and two single chords, drawn by card. A scale’s card joins the pile in the session after its ladder ends; the chord cards are those of the chords you have learned so far. Every other skill the course tests comes back at least once in every six sessions: in a named row, or, for the ear tests, as the week’s ear check or at a checkpoint.
5. Barre chords with care. The five-minute daily limit and the method of the beginner course stay exactly as they were, and every week is planned at four minutes or less. The full six-string barre comes late, at the fifth fret: first as a press and release, then in one change inside one piece. It is never something you must pass.
6. Your music, as far as it can be printed truthfully. Song charts of Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Nirvana, Bob Dylan and a Kishore Kumar film song, each printed only as far as published sources agree; songs by Manna Dey and others to listen to; and beside them a study by Giuliani, three traditional tunes, and pieces written for this course in blues, rock and film-ballad styles.
7. An honest level. The course says what it reaches and what it does not. The paragraphs after the Exit Criteria say how it compares with a graded exam.

Your Guitar

You are still learning on the Saga SF-600C-BK, a steel-string dreadnought with a cutaway. The whole course is in standard tuning: you never retune.

This course goes further up the neck than the beginner course did: to fret 4 in Phase 2, to fret 9 for power chords in Phase 3, and to fret 8 for scales from Phase 4. It also asks more of finger 1, in the barre shapes of Phases 4 to 6. Both are more difficult on a guitar whose strings sit high above the frets. So you do the string-height check in Guitar Setup Check after Session 1, again in Session 19 and again in Session 28, each time before the first press. If your guitar fails it, a guitar shop can put it right. Do not adjust the neck, the nut or the saddle yourself.

The capo you need from Session 9 is a small device that clips onto the neck and holds all six strings down at one fret. Ask for one made for a steel-string acoustic guitar.

Course Structure

The course has 6 phases of 6 sessions each: 36 sessions, one a week (36 weeks, about eight months).

Phase	Name	Sessions	Focus
1	Picking Up the Thread	1–6	The entry check; seventh chords (A7, D7, E7, B7); rests you can hear; three new scales; your first complete tune
2	Sixteenths, Sevenths and Two Voices	7–12	The G major scale in two octaves; sixteenth notes; the capo; minor and major seventh chords; getting louder and softer; two notes at once with the fingers; first notes from the staff; your first song charts
3	Keys, Reading and the Neck	13–18	G7 and C7; the chords of a key; a complete study by Giuliani; Bm and the key of D; a whole melody from the staff; power chords anywhere by their roots
4	Blues, Swing and the Fifth Fret	19–24	The F shape at the fifth fret; the shuffle; the pentatonic and blues scales at the fifth fret; short notes; hammer-ons and pull-offs between fretted notes
5	Six-Eight, a Song of Your Own and the First Full Barre	25–30	A four-string shape in time; 6/8 time; learning a song from a chart you own; the full barre as a press; sixteenth notes with a push
6	Performing	31–36	The full barre in one change; a complete rock study; reading at sight; two arpeggios; the run-through and a three-piece concert

Each phase ends with a showcase session. Phases 1 to 5 each have a checkpoint that you take before you move on; Phase 6 ends with the Final Showcase and the end-of-course assessment. Sessions 5, 9, 16, 22, 27 and 33 are the lighter weeks: no hard new skill and at most one new piece. No session is planned to need a second week. If an end-of-week check is not all “yes”, you may still repeat the week: the course then takes a week longer, which is normal.

Session duration: 50 minutes of lesson, with one 5-minute break at the end of Segment 3, guitar out of your hands. No stretch of playing is longer than 30 minutes. Read a session through once before you play it, on the day before or earlier the same day: that first reading is not part of the 50 minutes.

Session Format

Every session has the same five segments as in the beginner course.

Segment	Duration	Purpose
Warm-Up and Stretch	5 min	Loose hand movements, tuning, and warm-up playing that brings earlier skills back
Technique Focus	10 min	The session’s one hard new skill, or a drill on an earlier one. Where a skill has a daily limit of a few minutes, the session says what fills the rest of the time
New Learning	15 min	New chords, scales, rhythms or reading
Piece Workshop	15 min	A piece: a study, a traditional tune, a course piece, and in some weeks a song chart beside it
Review and Practice Plan	5 min	Recap, self-check questions, and the practice plan for the week

Assigned reading and the recording you make for the ear check come after the session and are not part of the 50 minutes. Each session lists them at its end, under the heading “After the session (not part of the 50 minutes)”, with the minutes to allow. Staff reading and marking the ear check are both inside your daily practice minutes. Staff reading has its own row in the week’s plan. Marking takes two to seven minutes on your fourth practice day, and the plan names the row that gives them up that day. In the week of Session 33 you mark a second test on the fifth day.

Session Map

In the last column, “study” is the public-domain study printed in full, “course piece” is a complete piece written for this course, “exercise” is a short study or task written for this course, and “song” is a song chart: what it prints is said in its title. A piece is listed in the session that first teaches it and in the showcase that performs it.

Phase 1 — Picking Up the Thread (Sessions 1–6)

Session	Title	Key Topics	Song / Piece
1	Where You Stand: The Entry Check	The eight-item entry check; a two-minute test of your phone (recording with the metronome sounding, and over a backing); how this course works	No new piece: A study of your choice from the beginner course
2	Seventh Chords: A7, D7 and E7	A7, D7 and E7; what the 7 means; the 12-bar blues with sevenths; the A natural minor scale; repeat signs in a chord chart; ear: higher or lower	”Seventh-Chord Blues in A” (course piece)
3	Rests You Can Hear	Rests as real silences; whole, half, quarter and eighth notes and rests by name; ear: clap a rhythm back	”Stop-Time Study in E” (course piece)
4	B7 and Two Pentatonic Scales	B7; the blues moved from A to E by its numbers (I, IV and V); one pattern of frets that is E minor pentatonic from E and G major pentatonic from G; a chorus of your own; ear: play back a phrase	”Seventh-Chord Blues in E” (course piece); One chorus of your own over the Blues in E (exercise)
5	Lighter Week: A Complete Tune	A complete traditional tune of three verses; the song map (sections in order, measures in each) made on your own tune; first and second endings; your recorded strum as a backing	”Amazing Grace” (traditional; the course’s arrangement in G)
6	Phase 1 Showcase	A three-piece programme recorded in one take; the Phase 1 scales and changes at their figures; an unseen TAB passage; the first pile of theory cards; checkpoint walk-through	Performed: “Seventh-Chord Blues in A” (course piece); “Stop-Time Study in E” (course piece); “Amazing Grace” (traditional; the course’s arrangement in G)

Phase 2 — Sixteenths, Sevenths and Two Voices (Sessions 7–12)

Session	Title	Key Topics	Song / Piece
7	G Major in Two Octaves	One finger per fret in frets 1 to 4; the G major scale in two octaves; the key of G; a song chart mapped against its recording; the rotation row starts	”Two-Octave Study in G” (exercise); “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” (its four-measure chord progression) (song)
8	Sixteenth Notes	Sixteenth notes: four to a beat; the metronome set to click eighth notes; the course’s plain sixteenth-note pattern; ear: major, minor or dominant seventh	”Sixteenth-Note Strum Study in E minor” (exercise)
9	Lighter Week: The Capo and Three Minor Sevenths	The capo; Em7, Am7 and Dm7, each a known chord with one finger lifted; nothing new for the strumming hand; ear: rhythms with sixteenth notes	”Capo Study in A Shapes” (exercise)
10	Major Sevenths: Cmaj7, Amaj7 and Dmaj7	Cmaj7, Amaj7 and Dmaj7; crescendo and diminuendo; a complete strummed piece; staff reading starts, with a three-minute row every practice day; ear: play back five notes	”Evening Sevenths” (course piece)
11	Two Notes at Once	Plucking two strings together: two fingers together, and the pinch; the first half of a two-part study by Giuliani; a Kishore Kumar refrain with the capo	Giuliani: “Andantino”, Op. 50 no. 1 (study); “Roop Tera Mastana” (refrain chords, simplified, with a capo) (song)
12	Phase 2 Showcase	A two-piece programme, one piece from memory; the six seventh chords of Phase 2 by card; unseen TAB; the second pile of theory cards; checkpoint walk-through	Performed: “Evening Sevenths” (course piece); “Seventh-Chord Blues in A” (course piece)

Phase 3 — Keys, Reading and the Neck (Sessions 13–18)

Session	Title	Key Topics	Song / Piece
13	G7, C7 and the Chords of a Key	G7 and C7; the chords that belong to a key and the two-five-one turnaround in C and in G; four measures of your own with a major home note; staff notes on string 3	”Turnaround Study in C and G” (exercise); Four measures of your own in G major (exercise)
14	The Andantino, Second Half	The second half of Giuliani’s Andantino; a Black Sabbath verse on two chords; eight measures of your own over it	Giuliani: “Andantino”, Op. 50 no. 1 (study), second half; “Planet Caravan” (verse chords, simplified) (song); Eight measures of your own over Em and D (exercise)
15	Bm and the Key of D	Bm on four strings, with Bm (three strings) as its first step; the D major scale; the key of D and its chords; a complete traditional tune in D; ear: a two-measure rhythm	”Down by the Salley Gardens” (traditional air; the course’s arrangement in D)
16	Lighter Week: A Melody from the Staff	A complete 16-measure melody read from the staff; nothing new for either hand; ear: major, minor or dominant seventh again	”Staff Melody in C” (exercise)
17	Power Chords Anywhere	The notes on strings 6 and 5; finding any power chord by its root, up to a root at fret 7; ear: a two-measure phrase recorded with the click	”Root-Finder Study” (exercise)
18	Phase 3 Showcase	A programme of a fingerstyle study and a traditional tune; unseen TAB, a first unseen chart and two unseen staff measures; checkpoint walk-through	Performed: Giuliani: “Andantino”, Op. 50 no. 1 (study); “Down by the Salley Gardens” (traditional air; the course’s arrangement in D)

Phase 4 — Blues, Swing and the Fifth Fret (Sessions 19–24)

Session	Title	Key Topics	Song / Piece
19	The F Shape at the Fifth Fret	The simplified F as a shape that moves: A (four strings) at fret 5, as a press only; naming a shape by its root; the string-height check	No new piece: “Root-Finder Study”; Eight measures of your own over Em and D; Giuliani: “Andantino”, Op. 50 no. 1; “Down by the Salley Gardens” (traditional air; the course’s arrangement in D)
20	The Shuffle	Swing as the first and last of three; the triplet as a count you clap, not a speed you pick; a complete 12-bar shuffle; ear: straight or swung	”Shuffle Blues in A” (course piece)
21	The Fifth Position	The A minor pentatonic in two octaves at fret 5; what a position is; ear: a phrase in the fifth position	”Fifth-Fret Phrases” (exercise)
22	Lighter Week: A Chorus of Your Own	Twelve measures of your own over your recorded shuffle; staccato on fretted notes, by relaxing the fretting finger; staff notes on strings 4 and 5	”Your Own Blues Chorus” (exercise)
23	Slurs Between Fretted Notes	Hammer-ons and pull-offs between fretted notes, from finger 1 to finger 3 only; legato; the blues scale: the pentatonic plus one note	”Slur Study in A minor” (course piece)
24	Phase 4 Showcase	A programme with a chorus of your own over your recorded backing; the scales of Phase 4; unseen TAB, chart and staff; checkpoint walk-through	Performed: “Shuffle Blues in A” (course piece); “Slur Study in A minor” (course piece)

Phase 5 — Six-Eight, a Song of Your Own and the First Full Barre (Sessions 25–30)

Session	Title	Key Topics	Song / Piece
25	A Four-String Shape in Time	The first change in time to the four-string shape at fret 5: one strum, four beats to arrive; a short study built on that change	”Fifth-Fret Chord Study” (exercise)
26	Six-Eight Time	6/8 time: six eighth notes in two groups of three; a fixed down-and-up strum; a study in that pattern; an Iron Maiden verse and chorus with one downstroke on counts 1 and 4; ear: 4/4, 3/4 or 6/8	”Six-Eight Strum Study” (exercise); “Blood Brothers” (verse and chorus chords) (song)
27	Lighter Week: A Song of Your Own	How to learn a song from a published chart you own: the screening step, tuning and capo, the song map, sections, a tempo ladder; nothing new for either hand	A song of your own choice, from a published chart you own
28	The Full Barre: First Presses	The six-string shape at fret 5, as a press only; why fret 5 comes first; a complete traditional tune in 6/8; staff notes on string 6, rests and ties	”Greensleeves” (traditional; the course’s arrangement in A minor)
29	Sixteenth Notes with a Push	Sixteenth-note syncopation: muted strums inside a sixteenth-note pattern and a chord that arrives early; 6/8 with two clicks to the measure; ear: a rhythm with a pushed note	”Push Study” (exercise)
30	Phase 5 Showcase	A programme of two complete pieces; the song map of your own song checked against its recording; unseen TAB, chart and staff; checkpoint walk-through	Performed: “Greensleeves” (traditional; the course’s arrangement in A minor)

Phase 6 — Performing (Sessions 31–36)

Session	Title	Key Topics	Song / Piece
31	The Full Barre in a Change	The change from an open chord to the full barre at fret 5 and back, one strum at a time; the three questions asked of every piece you perform; choosing your programme; a Nirvana introduction and chorus in the pattern of the Push Study	”Smells Like Teen Spirit” (introduction and chorus chords, in the Push Study’s pattern) (song)
32	A Rock Study and a Black Sabbath Chart	A complete rock piece with one full-barre strum and a solo of your own; a Black Sabbath verse and interlude as a chart; nothing new for either hand	”Fifth-Fret Rock Study” (course piece); “Paranoid” (verse and interlude chords, simplified) (song)
33	Lighter Week: Eight Measures on a Chart You Have Not Seen	Strumming an eight-measure chart you have not seen; improvising over it in G major or E minor; the chords of each key by number	”Eight Measures of Your Own” on an unseen chart (exercise)
34	Reading at Sight, and Two Arpeggios	The three unseen-reading routines in the form the end-of-course assessment uses; the G major and A minor arpeggios	”Arpeggio Set” (exercise)
35	End-of-Course Run-Through	Every section of the end-of-course assessment tried once in its own form; the four ear tests recorded for marking; the programme run twice	No new piece: Your programme of three complete pieces
36	Final Showcase	A concert of three complete pieces recorded in one take; marking it against the checklist; what comes after	Performed: Your programme of three complete pieces

Skills Progression Ladder

Each column says where a skill stands at the end of that phase. Tempos are the ones the sessions set; the metronome click is one beat unless the cell says otherwise. “2 beats at 70” means the change test with a new chord every 2 beats at 70 BPM. Chord names with words in brackets are shapes this course teaches: A (four strings) is the simplified F shape at fret 5, and A (full barre) is the six-string shape at fret 5. F is the beginner course’s four-string shape: it is checked in the entry check, pressed in the Warm-Up until Session 18 and in the “Barre presses” row until Session 24, and not tested again.

Skill Area	Phase 1 (Session 6)	Phase 2 (Session 12)	Phase 3 (Session 18)	Phase 4 (Session 24)	Phase 5 (Session 30)	Phase 6 (Session 36)
Chords	+ A7, D7, E7, B7	+ Em7, Am7, Dm7, Cmaj7, Amaj7, Dmaj7	+ G7, C7, Bm (four strings); any power chord by its root, up to a root at fret 7	+ A (four strings), as a press	A (four strings) in time; A (full barre), as a press	The change to A (full barre)
Chord changes	G and D7: 2 beats at 65	G and D7 at 75; Em and B7 at 70; Am7 and D7 at 65	G and D7, Em and B7 at 80; Am7 and D7 at 75; C and G7 at 65; D and Bm: 4 beats at 70	Am7 and D7 at 80; C and G7 at 75; D and Bm: 4 beats at 80	C and G7 at 80; change drill, D to A (four strings): 4 beats at 60	Change drill, E to A (full barre): 4 beats at 60
Barre work a day (the limit is 5 minutes)	1 minute	1 to 2 minutes	1 to 3 minutes	3 minutes	3 to 4 minutes	2 to 4 minutes
Strumming	Rests you can hear; D D U U D U on the new chords	Sixteenth notes at 45 BPM with the metronome clicking eighth notes; D D U U D U at 80; louder and softer	D D U U D U at 85; sixteenth notes at 50	D D U U D U at 90; the shuffle at 70; sixteenth notes at 50 with the click on the beat	D D U U D U at 95; 6/8 with two clicks to the measure at 30; a pushed sixteenth-note pattern at 45	D D U U D U at 100
Picking and fingerstyle	A complete picked melody	Two strings plucked together: two fingers together, and the pinch	A complete two-part study	The fifth position; short notes; hammer-ons and pull-offs from finger 1 to finger 3	A melody in 6/8; the slur phrase in eighth notes	Two arpeggios, one note per click at 70
Scales (each ends at 60 BPM in eighth notes)	A natural minor; E minor pentatonic and G major pentatonic	G major in two octaves	D major	A minor pentatonic at fret 5	The A blues scale	All eight, by card
Improvising	12 measures of blues in E	The same chorus again	4 measures in G major; 8 measures over two chords	A 12-measure blues chorus at fret 5	The same chorus again	8 measures inside a piece; 8 on a chart you have not seen
TAB reading	Rests, and their mark in a count row; unseen TAB at 50 BPM	Sixteenth-note counts; a count row in 2/4	Unseen TAB at 55	The triplet count; the staccato mark	6/8 counts; unseen TAB at 60	Unseen TAB at 60
Chord charts	Repeat signs, endings, the song map	The capo line; two song charts	Turnarounds; an unseen four-measure chart at 60 BPM	An unseen chart at 65	A published chart of your own; an unseen chart at 70	An unseen eight-measure chart at 80
Staff notation	Not yet	The notes on strings 1 and 2, three minutes a day	Strings 1 to 3; a complete 16-measure melody	Strings 4 and 5; the key signature of G	String 6; rests and ties	An unseen four-measure melody at 60 BPM
Theory	What a seventh chord is; natural minor; relative major and minor; a progression moved to a new key	The key of G; minor and major sevenths; what a capo does; 2/4 time	The chords of a key; the key of D; the notes on strings 6 and 5	Moveable shapes; positions; triplets and swing; the blues scale	6/8 against 3/4; raised notes in a minor tune	The key, time signature and techniques of each piece you perform
Ear (recorded card test)	Higher or lower; clap back a one-measure rhythm; play back four notes on three strings	Major, minor or dominant seventh; rhythms with sixteenth notes; play back five notes	Play back six notes over two measures; a two-measure rhythm	Straight or swung; a phrase at the fifth fret	4/4, 3/4 or 6/8; rhythms with a push	All four final tests
Complete pieces so far	4	5	7	9	10	11
Song charts so far	0	2	3	3	4	6
Daily practice	30 minutes	30 minutes	35 minutes in two sittings	35 minutes in two sittings	40 minutes in two sittings	40 minutes in two sittings

Repertoire Overview

Three kinds of music are printed in this course.

Complete pieces, printed note for note. These are the pieces you memorise and perform at the showcases: a study by a guitar composer of the early 1800s, traditional tunes in arrangements made for this course, and pieces written for this course. Beside them are short exercises and studies written for the course, each under a plain name that says what it is.

Song charts. A song chart prints chords, the order of the sections, a strumming pattern and a tempo. It prints no lyrics and no sung melody. The course prints a section of a song only where two independent published sources give the same chords in the same order. A section that does not pass is not printed: the chart’s last line says what is left out, and the paragraph above the chart says why. You can map such a section yourself with the song map of Session 5. Some sections on which the sources agree are also left out, because the course’s shorter form does not use them, and the chart says so. So each chart’s title says what it holds (a chord progression, a refrain, a verse, a verse and chorus, a verse and interlude, an introduction and chorus), and none claims to be the whole song. Every chart is strummed in a pattern of this course, not in the recording’s own: the paragraph above each chart says so, and one title says it too (“Smells Like Teen Spirit”). Each chart also gives a course form: a fixed, shorter form that you practise in sections at the course’s tempo.

Songs for listening only. Where the sources do not agree on a song’s main section, the course names the recording and prints nothing.

The songs are named so that you can find and listen to the recordings. All rights in the songs remain with their writers and publishers; the full credits, and the sources for each section, are in Credits And Sources. Nothing in this course has yet been play-tested: nobody has checked an arrangement or a chart against its recording with a guitar in hand.

Complete Pieces

Piece	What it is	First Appears	Length	Key Skills
”Seventh-Chord Blues in A”	Written for this course	Session 2	38 measures	A7, D7 and E7 in the known 12-bar form: three times round and a two-measure ending
”Stop-Time Study in E”	Written for this course	Session 3	26 measures	Damped rests in palm-muted open power chords: 24 measures and a two-measure ending, about a minute and a half
”Seventh-Chord Blues in E”	Written for this course	Session 4	38 measures	B7; the same 12-bar form moved from A to E by its numbers (I, IV and V); the backing for a chorus of your own
”Amazing Grace” (traditional; the course’s arrangement in G)	Traditional hymn tune, known as “New Britain”; no known composer	Session 5	42 measures	A complete melody on the G major pentatonic, in 3/4; D7 in a tune; the song map on a tune of three verses, 14 measures each, after a one-beat pick-up
”Evening Sevenths”	Written for this course	Session 10	26 measures	Five minor and major sevenths; a written crescendo and diminuendo; in the manner of a slow film ballad, with no barre chord
Giuliani: “Andantino”, Op. 50 no. 1	Study by Mauro Giuliani (1781–1829)	Session 11	32 measures	Two parts moving together (measures 1 to 16), then the same tune, with its three phrase endings filled in, over an accompaniment in eighth notes (measures 17 to 32)
“Down by the Salley Gardens” (traditional air; the course’s arrangement in D)	Traditional Irish air, “The Maids of Mourne Shore”; no known composer	Session 15	48 measures	The key of D, Bm and the D major scale in a tune in 4/4: one counted measure, then melody, strummed verse, melody, three times 16 measures, about 3 minutes. The tune has no G and goes one note above the one-octave scale
”Shuffle Blues in A”	Written for this course	Session 20	38 measures	Swung eighth notes on open two-string power chords with seventh-chord hits; the backing for a blues chorus
”Slur Study in A minor”	Written for this course	Session 23	24 measures	A written 12-measure solo over the Shuffle Blues, played twice: hammer-ons and pull-offs from finger 1 to finger 3 only
”Greensleeves” (traditional; the course’s arrangement in A minor)	Traditional English tune; no known composer	Session 28	48 measures	A complete tune in 6/8, with no strain repeated: a pick-up note, then melody, strummed verse, melody, 48 measures, about two and a half minutes. In some measures the tune raises G to G sharp and F to F sharp. The strummed verse is played with one downstroke on count 1 and one on count 4
”Fifth-Fret Rock Study”	Written for this course	Session 32	32 measures	Riff, verse, chorus, eight measures for a solo of your own, ending. The full barre is one strum in one measure, with a measure of ringing E on each side; the whole study is capped at the change drill’s tempo. It has a first form: measures 2, 3, 6, 7, 10, 11, 30 and 31 are played on counts 1 & 2 & with a rest on counts 3 and 4. Sessions 32 and 33 play the first form only; the full pattern may be added from Session 34, and a student who does not add it performs the first form

Exercises and Studies Written for This Course

Exercise or study	First Appears	What it is for
One chorus of your own over the Blues in E	Session 4	The beginner course’s 12-measure solo task in a new key.
”Two-Octave Study in G”	Session 7	A picked melody that walks the whole two-octave G major scale; fret 4 on string 4 comes four times
”Sixteenth-Note Strum Study in E minor”	Session 8	The course’s plain sixteenth-note pattern and one variant, on three known chords
”Capo Study in A Shapes”	Session 9	The capo at fret 2 and at fret 4 on four open chords
”Turnaround Study in C and G”	Session 13	Dm7 to G7 to Cmaj7; Am7 to D7 to G; C7 to F: one chord a measure
Four measures of your own in G major	Session 13	Over your own recording of the G turnaround: the same task with a major home note.
Eight measures of your own over Em and D	Session 14	Question and answer, getting louder and softer, over your own recorded backing.
”Staff Melody in C”	Session 16	A 16-measure melody on strings 1 to 3 only, no sharp, no chord, no rest: read from the staff, with its TAB as the answer
”Root-Finder Study”	Session 17	Placing the three-string power chord by the name of its root, one chord every four beats, later every two; roots no higher than fret 7, so no finger above fret 9
”Fifth-Fret Phrases”	Session 21	Six two-measure phrases in the fifth position; finger 4 comes in three of them
”Your Own Blues Chorus”	Session 22	Twelve measures over your own recording of the Shuffle Blues, on strings 5, 4 and 3.
”Fifth-Fret Chord Study”	Session 25	The change to A (four strings) and back, one strum to a measure: four of its sixteen measures hold the shape
”Six-Eight Strum Study”	Session 26	The course’s 6/8 pattern on four known chords, one chord a measure
”Push Study”	Session 29	A sixteenth-note pattern with fretting-hand muted strums and a chord that arrives before the beat, on the four moveable power chords of the beginner course
”Eight Measures of Your Own” on an unseen chart	Session 33	Six chart cards in G major or E minor; draw one, record its backing, improvise. A card and the answer key are never shown together: the key stands in the answers at the end of the file, in Sessions 33 and 35 and in the end-of-course assessment.
”Arpeggio Set”	Session 34	Two arpeggios on frets already known, one note per click

Song Charts

Song chart	Recorded by	Written by	First Appears	The form you practise
”Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” (its four-measure chord progression)	Bob Dylan, on the soundtrack album Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973)	Bob Dylan	Session 7	Verse, refrain, verse, refrain and a written ending, each section the same four measures twice: 35 measures, 2 minutes at 70 BPM, 2 minutes 20 seconds at 60 BPM. The chart prints the order; your song map confirms it and adds the introduction
”Roop Tera Mastana” (refrain chords, simplified, with a capo)	Kishore Kumar, in the film Aradhana (1969)	Music: S. D. Burman. Lyrics: Anand Bakshi	Session 11	The refrain, 8 measures, four times, and a written ending of one measure: 33 measures, a length set by the course, 1 minute 53 seconds at 70 BPM and 1 minute 46 seconds at 75 BPM
”Planet Caravan” (verse chords, simplified)	Black Sabbath, on the album Paranoid (1970)	Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi, Ozzy Osbourne and Bill Ward	Session 14	Strummed from start to finish: the verse for 16 measures, eight measures on the same two chords (the measures your own eight are played over, in their own task), the verse again for 16 measures, and a written ending of one measure: 41 measures, 2 minutes 3 seconds at 80 BPM, 2 minutes 11 seconds at 75 BPM
”Blood Brothers” (verse and chorus chords)	Iron Maiden, on the album Brave New World (2000)	Steve Harris	Session 26	Verse, chorus, verse, chorus, eight measures each, and a written ending of one measure: 33 measures, two chords to a measure. Written in 6/8 by the course’s choice: the printed book and the tab write 6/4, the chord analysis 4/4, and the chart’s paragraph says so. In Session 26 it is played with one downstroke on count 1 and one on count 4; the full strumming pattern is added only when the changes are clean
”Smells Like Teen Spirit” (introduction and chorus chords, in the Push Study’s pattern)	Nirvana, on the album Nevermind (1991)	Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl	Session 31	Introduction 12 measures and chorus 12 measures: 24 measures in 2 minutes 8 seconds at 45 BPM, then a written ending of one measure, 25 measures in all, in the pushed pattern of the Push Study
”Paranoid” (verse and interlude chords, simplified)	Black Sabbath, on the album Paranoid (1970)	Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi, Ozzy Osbourne and Bill Ward	Session 32	Verse four times, interlude twice, verse again four times, and a written ending of one measure: 41 measures, 2 minutes 44 seconds at the course’s 60 BPM

One of these is slow enough to try with its recording during the course: “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” in Session 8. Its chart also gives another way to play it, with the metronome, because nobody has yet checked the recording’s pitch against a guitar. The other recordings are faster than the course goes, or their pitch is not known: each chart says so. The chart of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” prints the chords of the introduction and chorus only, in the strumming pattern of the Push Study, which is this course’s pattern and not the recording’s; its verse, pre-chorus and post-chorus are not printed.

For Listening Only

Song	Named in
”Yeh Dosti” (film Sholay, 1975; sung by Kishore Kumar and Manna Dey; music: R. D. Burman; lyrics: Anand Bakshi)	Session 13
”Iron Man” (Black Sabbath, on the album Paranoid, 1970; written by Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi, Ozzy Osbourne and Bill Ward)	Session 17
”Running Free” (Iron Maiden, on the album Iron Maiden, 1980; written by Steve Harris and Paul Di’Anno)	Session 20
”Neele Neele Ambar Par” (film Kalaakaar, 1983; sung by Kishore Kumar; music: Kalyanji–Anandji; lyrics: Indeevar)	Session 25
”Zindagi Kaisi Hai Paheli” (film Anand, 1971; sung by Manna Dey; music: Salil Chowdhury; lyrics: Yogesh)	Session 26
”Wasted Years” (Iron Maiden, on the album Somewhere in Time, 1986; written by Adrian Smith)	Session 31

No song sung by Manna Dey alone is printed: for none of them could two published sources be found that agree on the chords.

A song of your own. In Session 27 you learn a method for a song whose published chart uses chords you have learned and whose recording is in standard tuning. Its first step is a screening step: every chord on the chart is in this course’s chord chart, or can be played as the power chord on its root, or is reached with a capo; if not, that song waits. From Session 27 to Session 32 your practice plan has a five-minute row for it, one section a day. In those weeks you choose sections that have no barre chord: each day’s barre minutes are already planned, so a section with a barre chord waits. If every section has one, choose another song for now. The method is in Learning A Song.

Exit Criteria

By the end of the course you will have worked on every skill below. Each one is something a person could watch you do, with how you check it alone and the number that counts as a pass. The tempos are the ones the sessions set. The numbers (E1 to E27) are used in the checkpoints and in Final Assessment, which has eight sections. One criterion is tested earlier: E15, Giuliani’s Andantino, at the Phase 3 checkpoint, when you have just learned it.

1. Chords and Changes

No.	What you can do	How you check it alone	Pass
E1	Form each of A7, D7, E7, B7, G7, C7, Am7, Em7, Dm7, Cmaj7, Amaj7 and Dmaj7 from its card. Dm7, the one card with a small barre, is pressed once and released.	The metronome at 60: the chord is down by the third click. Then pluck the strings one at a time.	10 of the 12 cards, every string that should sound ringing
E2	Play Bm (four strings) and A (four strings): press, pluck four strings, release.	Pluck the strings one at a time.	All 4 strings ring, 3 times in a row, for each shape
E3	The change test: a new chord every 2 beats at 80 BPM, eight chords in a row, for G and D7, Em and B7, Am7 and D7, and C and G7; and every 4 beats at 80 BPM for D and Bm (four strings).	The metronome: one strum on each chord, counted aloud.	8 chords with no click missed, for each of the 5 pairs
E4	First steps on the full barre: A (full barre) at fret 5, press, pluck six strings, release; and the change from E to A (full barre) and back, a new chord every 4 beats at 60 BPM. It never has to pass: the pain rule comes first.	Pluck the strings one at a time; the metronome for the change.	At least 5 of the 6 strings ring, 3 times in a row; and the change 4 times without stopping
E5	Find and play a three-string power chord from its card. There are nine cards, each naming a root and its string: F#5, G5, A5 and B5 with the root on string 6, and B5, C5, C#5, D5 and E5 with the root on string 5.	The metronome at 60: the chord is down by the fifth click. Then pluck its three strings.	7 of the 9 cards, only the three strings sounding

2. Rhythm and Strumming

No.	What you can do	How you check it alone	Pass
E6	Keep D D U U D U going for eight measures at 100 BPM on a chord cycle of your choice.	The metronome.	8 measures with no stop, and after the last measure 1 more downstroke lands on the next click
E7	Play the plain sixteenth-note pattern for four measures at 50 BPM, and the pushed pattern of the Push Study for four measures at 45 BPM, each with the click on the beat.	The metronome, and a recording of the pushed pattern.	4 measures of each with no stop; each lands 1 more downstroke on the next click; every muted strum is a dry tick with no note in it. Only the plain pattern has to pass: the pushed pattern is reported under ‘A start on Grade 3 skills’
E8	Play the Stop-Time pattern with its damped rests for four measures at 70 BPM.	A recording.	0 rests with a string still ringing, in all 4 measures
E9	Strum the course’s 6/8 pattern for eight measures with the metronome clicking twice a measure at 30.	A recording.	You never stop, and counts 1 and 4 are the loudest strums in all eight measures
E10	Play four measures of straight eighth notes and then four of swung eighth notes on a palm-muted A5 at 70 BPM without stopping; and clap eighth-note triplets for four measures at 60 BPM, counting 1 trip let aloud.	A recording.	The first 4 measures are even and the next 4 long-short; the count is unbroken for all 4 measures of clapping
E11	Strum one chord for four measures getting louder, then four getting quieter, at 70 BPM.	A recording.	Measure 4 is clearly louder than measure 1 and measure 8 clearly quieter than measure 5, with no sudden jump in any of the 8 measures

3. Scales and Technique

No.	What you can do	How you check it alone	Pass
E12	Play from memory, up and down, at 60 BPM in eighth notes, three scales drawn by card from these eight: C major scale, one octave, open position; D major scale, one octave, open position; A natural minor scale, one octave, open position; G major scale, two octaves, open position; E minor pentatonic, two octaves, open position; G major pentatonic, two octaves, open position; A minor pentatonic, two octaves, fifth position; A blues scale, two octaves, fifth position.	A recording, followed on the scale’s TAB in the scales reference sheet.	3 cards, each twice in a row with no wrong note
E13	Play the G major arpeggio in two octaves and the A minor arpeggio up to the open first string, up and down, one note per click at 70 BPM, from memory.	A recording, followed on the arpeggio’s TAB.	Each 2 times in a row with no wrong note
E14	Play the slur phrase of Session 23 (measures 1 to 4 of the Slur Study) in eighth notes at 50 BPM, where it is two measures long, once legato with its hammer-ons and pull-offs and once staccato with every note picked and cut short by relaxing the fretting finger.	A recording.	Every slurred note can be heard, and every staccato note stops before the next begins, in both playings
E15	Play Giuliani’s Andantino, all 32 measures, from your own count-in to its last note with the metronome at 55 BPM.	The metronome and a recording.	No stop, and the last note lands with the click; at most 3 wrong or missed notes counted against the page

4. Reading

No.	What you can do	How you check it alone	Pass
E16	Play a four-measure TAB passage you have not seen, in quarter and eighth notes, with a longer note where a phrase ends, at frets 0 to 5, at 60 BPM after 30 seconds of study.	A recording, followed on the page afterwards.	No stop and at most 1 wrong note
E17	Play a four-measure melody in staff notation you have not seen, in first position, in C major or G major, in half, quarter and eighth notes, at 60 BPM after 30 seconds of study.	A recording, checked against the passage’s TAB in the Answers section of the file.	No stop and at most 1 wrong note
E18	Strum an eight-measure chord chart you have not seen at 80 BPM after 30 seconds of study, one strum on each chord. Its chords are drawn from G, C, D, Em, Am, A7, D7, E7, B7, G7, C7, Am7 and Em7; a measure with two chords uses a pair from the change test.	A recording, followed on the chart afterwards.	No stop, and every chord falls in its measure, in all 8 measures

5. Knowledge

No.	What you can do	How you check it alone	Pass
E19	Name the natural note at ten card-drawn places on strings 6 and 5, frets 0 to 10. For each programme piece, write its key, its time signature and two techniques it uses.	The cards against the fretboard note map; your written answers against the Key, Time and Techniques lines printed with each piece: any two of the techniques its line names.	8 of 10 cards; and the key, the time signature and both techniques right for every piece
E20	Answer ten theory question cards drawn from the pile you wrote from the theory handouts (question on the front, the handout’s answer on the back).	Turn each card over.	8 of 10
E21	Make a song map for one song from a published chart you own: tuning, key, capo, the sections in order and the measures in each.	Listen through twice, counting the measures of each section; first tap eight clicks of the chart’s tempo with the recording.	The counts are the same on both of the 2 listens and add up to your map

6. Ear Skills (the recorded card test)

No.	What you can do	How you check it alone	Pass
E22	Ear, recorded card test: play back a two-measure phrase after hearing it twice. Each of the six phrases is built on recording day by drawing six slips, each a string and a fret from the E minor pentatonic notes on strings 1 to 3, into the one printed rhythm of two half notes and four quarter notes, so none can be rehearsed. The sounds are ones you recorded yourself.	The slips, turned over in order.	4 of 6, a phrase counting only if every note matched
E23	Ear, recorded card test: clap back a two-measure rhythm of quarter, eighth and sixteenth notes and rests, and write down what you clapped. Each of the six rhythms is built on recording day from eight drawn one-beat cells, so none can be rehearsed.	The slips, turned over in order.	4 of 6
E24	Ear, recorded card test: say major, minor or dominant seventh for a strummed chord, and 4/4, 3/4 or 6/8 for 24 strummed eighth notes.	Answer on the day the week’s ear-check line names, from your recording, then turn over the pile.	8 of 10 chords and 7 of 9 rhythms

7. Improvising

No.	What you can do	How you check it alone	Pass
E25	Improvise eight measures over a chart drawn from six cards in G major or E minor, over your own recorded backing at 70 BPM, recorded twice through: you play over the second time round.	A recording. 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.	You finish with measure 8 of the second time round, your last note is the home note, and at least 2 measures hold a rest of two beats or more

8. Performance

No.	What you can do	How you check it alone	Pass
E26	Perform three complete pieces, one after another, each played alone from your own count-in to its written ending, recorded in one take. At most one is from Phase 1; at least one is from Phases 4 to 6; at least one is Giuliani’s Andantino, Down by the Salley Gardens or Greensleeves; at least one is from memory.	The recording, followed on the page of each piece: each piece played alone, as its page writes it, with no backing sounding; a piece with measures of your own plays its written backing there. For the Fifth-Fret Rock Study the page is the form you perform, the first or the full.	No stop; each piece reaches its written ending; at most 3 wrong or missed notes in any one piece
E27	Play one complete piece from start to finish over a backing you recorded yourself. The metronome alone does not count. It is a separate item from the programme, taken once. Pieces that fit: Amazing Grace over its own strummed verse; the Shuffle Blues in A with one chorus of your own over your recording of it; the Slur Study over your second recording of the Shuffle Blues, made at 60 BPM, ending with one A on its last chord; the Fifth-Fret Rock Study.	A recording made on a second device while the backing plays. 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.	You finish with the backing: your last note falls within 1 beat of its last chord; a piece with a tick list is marked by that list as well (the Fifth-Fret Rock Study: 5 ticks)

What the result means. The criteria are of three kinds, and the end-of-course assessment reports them separately.

• The Grade 2 set: E1, E3, E6, E7, E8, E11, E12, E15, E25, E26 and E27, with one reading item (E16, E17 or E18) and one ear item (E22 or E23). When all of these pass, you have reached about Grade 2 level in the skills this course teaches. Two notes: in E7 only the plain pattern has to pass, and E15 is passed at the Phase 3 checkpoint and is tested again only if you choose that piece for your final programme.
• A start on Grade 3 skills: E2, E4, E9, E10, E13, E14 and E24. Each is reported as “started” or “not yet”. None of them has to pass, and E4, the full barre, never does: the pain rule comes first.
• The course’s own: E5, E19, E20 and E21.

How this compares with a graded exam. The benchmarks are the course’s own. They are set from what RSL Awards, Trinity College London and LCME publish for Grade 2 and Grade 3 guitar, but they are not any board’s requirements, and meeting them does not mean you are ready to sit an exam. A real exam also needs the board’s own book: its set pieces, backing tracks and tests, which this course does not contain. Whats Next says what you would still need.

Course Files

The course has 76 files: 36 sessions, 23 handouts, 6 reference sheets, 8 assessments and 3 guides. START HERE is the course map: its Complete File Directory lists every one of the other 75, with what each is for and when to use it.

Practice Expectations

Between sessions, follow the practice plan at the end of each session, on five days a week. One rest day a week is part of the plan.

Phases	Each practice day	How	In the lighter week
1 and 2	30 minutes	One sitting	25 minutes, one sitting
3 and 4	35 minutes	Two sittings, neither longer than 30 minutes, at least an hour apart	30 minutes, one sitting
5 and 6	40 minutes	Two sittings, neither longer than 30 minutes, at least an hour apart	30 minutes, one sitting

The practice plan printed at the end of each session is the plan for that week, and the only one: there are no separate weekly-plan pages in this course. Its rows add up to the day’s minutes. In a week of two sittings the plan says where its rows divide. Begin the second sitting with the movements under “Hand Warm-Up” in Segment 1, and tune again: neither is counted in the minutes. From Session 7 one row is the rotation, and from Session 10 most weeks have a row of staff reading. In a week with an ear check you mark your recording on the fourth practice day, in two to seven minutes that the plan takes from a named row of that day, or from two rows. In the week of Session 33 you mark a second test on the fifth day. The rotation row is never the one that gives way. On your last practice day you answer the session’s Self-Check Questions. All “yes”: go on. Any “no”: repeat the week’s plan for up to one more week.

Full barre work: no more than 2 minutes a day in the week of Session 28 and 3 minutes a day from Session 29, at fret 5 only. It counts inside the 5 minutes of barre work.

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.

This counts every barre of any size, in drills and in pieces, on practice days and on the session day. Every week’s plan asks for 4 minutes or less, and says which rows they are in.

Three other loads have a daily limit of 5 minutes: hammer-ons and pull-offs between fretted notes, three-string power chords, and the little finger at fret 4 and at fret 8 in its first two weeks at each fret. The plan’s rows keep inside each.

The pain rule

1. Normal: fingertips that are tender, red or dented by the strings. Keep to the time limits and take the breaks.
2. Stop for today: fingertips that sting or burn, a blister or broken skin, or a hand that cramps or aches. With a blister, do not press strings again until it has healed.
3. Warning signs, stop at once: pain in the wrist, forearm, thumb joint or knuckles; numbness or tingling; any sharp pain; pain that lasts into the next day. Rest until it has gone completely. If it comes back when you play, or has not gone after two days, see a doctor or physiotherapist before you play again.

Never play through any of these to finish a session or to keep to the schedule.

The time limits the rule refers to are these: no stretch of playing longer than 30 minutes without a 5-minute break, and the daily limits above.

General rules:

• Always tune before you play
• Raise a tempo by 5 BPM only after three clean runs in a row. A hard new skill takes one step at most in the week it is new; in a lighter week nothing takes more than one step; anything else takes two steps a week at most
• When an item gains a new chord, a new rhythm or a new finger, its tempo does not go up that week
• Record yourself each week and listen back. Where a self-check asks for a recording, it says what to record and what to listen for

What Comes After

This course leaves these for later, on purpose:

• Full barre chords below the fifth fret, and the barre shape with its root on string 5. You finish this course with one full barre chord at fret 5. The next steps are the same shape at fret 3, then at fret 1
• Four-string shapes at other frets, and the minor four-string shapes
• String bends and vibrato; hammer-ons and pull-offs to the little finger; slides on strings other than the first
• Picking through a held chord with the pick, and two-note chords with the pick
• The other pentatonic shapes along the neck, the second position, the A major scale, the harmonic and melodic minor, and the natural minor in two octaves
• Picked triplets and the picked gallop, and faster palm-muted playing: the recordings of “Paranoid”, “Wasted Years” and “Running Free” are far faster than this course goes
• Lower tunings. Many Nirvana recordings are tuned a half step or a whole step low. This course stays in standard tuning
• More chord types (sus, sixth, add9 and slash chords), modes, and the CAGED system
• 12/8 time
• More studies: Carulli’s “Andantino in G” and Sor’s “Leçon no. 1 in C” and “Petite pièce in C” are the natural next pieces after Giuliani’s Andantino
• Working out music by ear from a recording, and naming intervals and chords you did not play yourself. These need supplied audio or a second person
• A graded exam, if you would like a certificate: see Whats Next