Session 8: Sixteenth Notes

Duration: 50 minutes

Break: Put the guitar down for 5 minutes at the end of Segment 3. No stretch of playing is then longer than 30 minutes.

Today you count and strum sixteenth notes, four to a beat, with the metronome clicking eighth notes. First you play the plain sixteenth-note pattern on Em; then the “Sixteenth-Note Strum Study in E minor”, a section at a time. The study is today’s piece.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this session you will be able to:

Play the plain sixteenth-note pattern on Em without stopping, counting 1 e & a aloud, at 40 BPM, with the metronome clicking eighth notes at twice the tempo: 4 measures, then 1 more downstroke on the next count 1
Play each section of the Sixteenth-Note Strum Study in E minor from its chart at 35 BPM, every chord beginning on count 1: 4 sections of 4 measures, one section at a time
Count aloud a row of sixteenth notes in 4/4 and a row in 2/4, tapping one tap to a beat: 1 measure of 4/4 and 2 measures of 2/4
Play the course form of the chart of “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” in two halves, in the down-up strum at 70 BPM: 16 measures, then 19 measures
Record Test 6 of the recorded card test and say major, minor or dominant seventh for each strummed chord when you mark it: 10 items, 8 right

Where an objective gives a tempo, it is the figure for the end of this week’s practice.

Materials Needed

Your Saga SF-600C-BK guitar
A guitar pick
A clip-on tuner or phone tuner app
A metronome
A phone that records sound
Slips of paper and a pen, for this week’s ear check
Session 7 open at the chart of “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”, your song map of the song, and a way to play its recording on the two practice days before the last
Handout for this session: Strumming Rests And Sixteenths (read after the session, 10 minutes)
Handout for this session: Rhythm Beyond Eighth Notes (read after the session, 10 minutes)
Reference: Chord Chart, Glossary

Segment 1 — Warm-Up and Stretch (5 minutes)

Hand Warm-Up

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 Your Guitar

Tune all six strings (EADGBE). Before you look at the tuner, guess: too low, too high or right? Then look.

Warm-Up

Play the Stop-Time pattern (Session 3) on E5 at 70 BPM: the measure below, four times in a row, with the rest stop on every count 4.

Copy of Session 3: the Stop-Time pattern

Chord:  E5
e|--------------------------------------|
B|--------------------------------------|
G|--------------------------------------|
D|--------------------------------------|
A|------2---2---2-------2---------------|
E|------0---0---0-------0---------------|
Count:  1   &   2  (&)  3  (&) [4] [&]
Strum:  D   U   D       D
PM:     PM  PM  PM      O

Tempo: 70 BPM, the click on the beat

Spider crawl: frets 5-8, one finger at a time, all six strings, up and down. If it pulls, stop the crawl; if it aches, stop playing for today.

Barre presses:

The simplified F (Beginner Session 17): press, pluck four strings, release, and shake the hand out after each press. Four presses in the minute.

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.

Segment 2 — Technique Focus: Sixteenth-Note Strumming (10 minutes)

The Same Hand, Counted a New Way

Play the down-up strum (Beginner Session 5) on Em at 70 BPM: four measures, then four measures more.

Copy of Beginner Session 5: the down-up strum

Count:  1   &   2   &   3   &   4   &
Strum:  D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U

This is exactly the hand speed of today’s new pattern. Nothing about the hand changes; only the count does.

Sixteenth note — A quarter of a beat in 4/4, 3/4 and 2/4: four to a beat and two to an eighth note. (Session 8)

1 e & a is one beat in four equal parts, the sixteenth notes. The number and the & stay where they are in eighth notes; e (say “ee”) comes between the number and the &, and a (say “uh”) comes between the & and the next number.

Leave the metronome at 70. Its clicks are the same, but for sixteenth notes each one is an eighth note, half a beat. That click has a name of its own:

Eighth-note click (the click as an eighth note) — The metronome set so that each click is one eighth note, not one beat. In 4/4 that is two clicks to a beat: for a beat of 40 BPM the metronome is set to 80. (Session 8)

With the guitar silent, say 1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & a aloud for four measures. Each number and each & falls on a click; each e and each a falls between two clicks.

The Plain Sixteenth-Note Pattern

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.

Count:  1   e   &   a   2   e   &   a   3   e   &   a   4   e   &   a
Strum:  D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U

In sixteenth notes your hand swings down and up twice in every beat: down on each number and on each &, up on each e and on each a.

Tempo: 35 BPM, the metronome set to 70 and clicking eighth notes (two strums per click)

Set the metronome to twice the tempo, so that it clicks eighth notes. Every click is a downstroke, on a number or on an &; every upstroke falls between two clicks.

Play the pattern on Em at 35 BPM, the metronome at 70: one measure of the pattern, then one measure with the strumming hand still while you count it aloud. Do this eight times. Make every strum the same size, and say the count aloud all the time.

Now play the same pattern on Em for four measures in a row without stopping, and after the last measure land one more downstroke on the next count 1. That is one go. Play four goes, and shake the strumming hand out after each. Begin each go with this count-in:

Count one measure in: eight clicks, 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &.

Today the pattern stays at 35 BPM. The line below is for the week’s practice.

Tempo: Start at 35 BPM, the metronome set to 70 and clicking eighth notes (two strums per click) and work up to 40 (the metronome at 80). Raise the metronome 5 BPM at a time, and only after three clean runs in a row. With the metronome set to twice the tempo, a step of 5 BPM is 10 on the metronome. This week, take one step at most.

A run is clean when every note or chord lands on its count, every string that should sound rings, and you do not stop.

Segment 3 — New Learning: Sixteenth Notes on the Page and Chords in the Ear (15 minutes)

Quarter, Eighth and Sixteenth Notes

A sixteenth note lasts a quarter of a beat: four sixteenth notes fill one beat, and two fill one eighth note.

You know the next three words from the beginner course. Here each is said exactly:

Measure — A group of beats: four in 4/4, three in 3/4, two in 2/4. (Session 8)
Quarter note — One beat in 4/4, 3/4 and 2/4, and always as long as two eighth notes. It is one to a click only while the metronome clicks the beat. (Session 8)
Eighth note — Half a beat in 4/4, 3/4 and 2/4, where it is two to a click while the metronome clicks the beat and one to a click with an eighth-note click. (Session 8)

The three note values side by side:

Name	How many fill one beat	How many fill a measure of 4/4	How it is counted
Quarter note	1	4	1 2 3 4
Eighth note	2	8	1 & 2 &
Sixteenth note	4	16	1 e & a

Read the table aloud, row by row.

Two-Four Time

One more time signature is new today: 2/4 time.

2/4 is counted as 4/4 is, with two beats to a measure.

Count:  1   e   &   a   2   e   &   a   |   1   e   &   a   2   e   &   a   |
Strum:  D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U   |   D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U   |

Count the two measures aloud, tapping one tap to a beat: two taps to a measure, on 1 and on 2. Do not strum them. No row of this week’s plan and no piece of this course is in 2/4.

The Song Chart, Second Week

Open Session 7 at the chart of “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”: it is not printed again here. This week you play the chart in its own order, which your song map confirms, in two halves:

Verse 1 and the refrain: 16 measures.
Verse 2, the refrain again and the ending: 19 measures.

Play each half once in the down-up strum at 65 BPM, with four clicks counted in before each half. The last G of the ending is one strum.

Today the song stays at 65 BPM. The line below is for the week’s practice.

Tempo: Start at 65 BPM, strumming D/U (down on the click, up between clicks) and work up to 70. Raise the metronome 5 BPM at a time, and only after three clean runs in a row. In one week, take two steps at most.

On the two practice days before your last, once the metronome has reached 70, play the song once with the recording instead of the metronome. Before you start, count the introduction from your song map, and come in with verse 1 after it. Stop where the recording fades. If the recording sounds out of tune with your guitar, go back to the metronome.

Ear Drill: Major, Minor, Seventh

Strum E, Em and E7 once each, let each ring for three seconds, and say “major”, “minor”, “dominant seventh” as you play them. Then do the same with A, Am and A7, and with D, Dm and D7.

This is a drill, not a test: you know each answer as you play it.

Play the drill once through: nine strums.

Now write the 18 chord slips that the test below names. You make the recording after the session, with the recorded card test (Session 2) and the test below, and you mark it on your fourth practice day.

Test 6, major, minor or dominant seventh. The pile is 18 chord slips: each of these nine names on two slips: E, A, D, Em, Am, Dm, E7, A7, D7. An item is one slip: play one down-strum and let it ring. If you hear a muffled string as you strum, say “again” and strum the same chord once more. Wait about five seconds after each item. Record ten items; eight slips stay in the pile unseen. No metronome. Your answer for each number is “major”, “minor” or “dominant seventh”. To mark, deal the key pile one slip to an item: a name that is a letter alone is major, a name with m is minor, a name with 7 is a dominant seventh.

Break: 5 minutes. Guitar down.

Segment 4 — Piece Workshop: Sixteenth-Note Strum Study in E minor (15 minutes)

“Sixteenth-Note Strum Study in E minor”

Credits: Written for this course.

What this is: A study: an original exercise written for this course. It is not a song. It is 16 measures in 4/4 on three chords you know, Em, G and D, in four sections of four measures. Sections 1, 2 and 4 are in the plain sixteenth-note pattern; Section 3 is in the sixteenth-note pattern with accents. In Sections 1 to 3 each chord lasts two measures; in Section 4 the chord changes in every measure. The last measure is one downstroke on Em, left to ring. Not yet play-tested.

Key: E minor

Time: 4/4

Tempo: 35 BPM, the metronome set to 70 and clicking eighth notes (two strums per click) all week. It does not go up this week: the study is new, and the pattern gains two chords in it.

Strumming pattern: the plain sixteenth-note pattern in Sections 1, 2 and 4; the sixteenth-note pattern with accents in Section 3. Measure 16 is one downstroke, left to ring.

"Sixteenth-Note Strum Study in E minor" - chords

Key: E minor        Time: 4/4 (four beats in a measure)

Section 1, the plain sixteenth-note pattern, 4 measures:

| Em   | Em   | G    | G    |

Section 2, the plain sixteenth-note pattern, 4 measures:

| D    | D    | Em   | Em   |

Section 3, the sixteenth-note pattern with accents, 4 measures:

| Em   | Em   | G    | G    |

Section 4, the plain sixteenth-note pattern, 4 measures:

| Em   | G    | D    | Em   |

Measure 16, the last Em: one downstroke on count 1; let it ring.

"Sixteenth-Note Strum Study in E minor" - the plain pattern
Chord:  Em
Count:  1   e   &   a   2   e   &   a   3   e   &   a   4   e   &   a
Strum:  D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U

"Sixteenth-Note Strum Study in E minor" - the pattern with accents
Chord:  Em
Count:  1   e   &   a   2   e   &   a   3   e   &   a   4   e   &   a
Strum:  D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U
Accent: >               >               >               >

"Sixteenth-Note Strum Study in E minor" - measure 16, the last measure
Chord:  Em
Count:  1  (2) (3) (4)
Strum:  D

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.

Read the chart aloud before you play: nothing is played in this part. It has four sections of four measures, and each section’s heading names its pattern. Section 1, the plain pattern: Em, Em, G, G. Section 2, the plain pattern: D, D, Em, Em. Section 3, the pattern with accents: Em, Em, G, G. Section 4, the plain pattern: Em, G, D, Em. Then the closing line: measure 16, the last Em, is one downstroke on count 1, left to ring.

The pattern of Section 3 is new: the sixteenth-note pattern with accents. It is the same sixteen strokes as the plain pattern, with the strum on each number played louder. Its block is the third under the Strumming pattern line, the one whose title ends “the pattern with accents”, and its Accent row marks the four louder strums:

> = accent: play that strum louder.

How to Learn This Study

Step 1 — The plain pattern on Em: Play the plain sixteenth-note pattern on Em four times at 35 BPM, the metronome set to 70 and clicking eighth notes. It is the row “Sixteenth-note strum”, and the study is never played before it on any day.

This is the study’s own first measure: the second block under the Strumming pattern line, the one whose title ends “the plain pattern”. There is no chord map for this study: Em, G and D are chords you know, so the one new thing in it is the rhythm.

On a day when the “Sixteenth-note strum” row has reached 40 BPM (the metronome at 80), do this before the study:

Set the metronome back to 70 before the study.

Step 2 — Four measures at a time: Play each section after one measure counted in on the eighth-note click, as under “The Plain Sixteenth-Note Pattern” in Segment 2, at 35 BPM: Section 1, Section 2, then the pattern with accents on Em, four times (count ONE e & a, with a bigger strum on each number), then Section 3 with its accents, Section 4 with a change of chord in every measure. Each section two times.

Step 2, part by part: play Section 1, then Section 2, at 35 BPM, the metronome at 70, each after its count-in of one measure. Then play both again, so that you play the 8 measures two times. Here each chord lasts two measures: change on count 1, and keep the hand swinging through the change.

Before Section 3, play the pattern with accents alone on Em, four times, at 35 BPM, the metronome at 70. Count ONE e & a: a bigger strum on each number, with the same loose grip.

Play Section 3, the 4 measures with accents, two times at 35 BPM, the metronome at 70, each after its count-in of one measure.

Play Section 4 two times at 35 BPM, the metronome at 70, each after its count-in of one measure. Here the chord changes in every measure, and the last Em is one downstroke on count 1, left to ring. You play the whole study once through for the first time in Session 9.

What it should sound like: With the metronome at 70 clicking eighth notes, every downstroke on a number or an & falls with a click: count the 8 clicks of each measure through one section. Count 1 e & a aloud through all 4 measures of a section without stopping; each new chord begins on count 1. On a recording of Section 4, measure 16 is 1 downstroke on Em and no strum follows it.

Segment 5 — Review and Practice Plan (5 minutes)

What You Learned Today

Sixteenth notes: four to a beat, counted 1 e & a
The eighth-note click
The plain sixteenth-note pattern, and its form with accents
2/4 time

Common Mistakes

The strumming hand stiffens, or stops between beats — The hand swings down and up without a pause through the whole measure, with a loose grip on the pick. An ache in the hand or forearm means tension: stop playing for today, and next time loosen your grip on the pick.
An upstroke falls on a click — With the metronome at 70 clicking eighth notes, every click is a downstroke, on a number or on an &. Say “down” on each click for two measures with the guitar silent, then strum again.
The accents of Section 3 change the speed of the hand — An accent is a bigger strum, not a quicker one: only the strum on each number grows, and the other three strums of the beat stay as they were. Count ONE e & a aloud at the same 35 BPM.
Starting the study at the higher figure of the pattern’s own row — The study stays at 35 BPM all week, the metronome at 70.

Set the metronome back to 70 before the study.

Self-Check Questions

By the end of this week’s practice: play the plain sixteenth-note pattern on Em for four measures at 40 BPM, the metronome set to 80 and clicking eighth notes, counting 1 e & a aloud, then one more downstroke on the next count 1, and record it with the metronome sounding. Check: listen to the recording and count the measures aloud. Pass: 4 measures with no stop, and the 1 downstroke after them falls with its click. If not: play one measure, rest one measure, eight times, counting aloud; if your strumming hand or forearm aches, stop playing for today, under “The Plain Sixteenth-Note Pattern” in Segment 2, and try again the next day.
Play the four sections of the Sixteenth-Note Strum Study in E minor one at a time, each after one measure counted in (eight clicks of the metronome at 70: 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &), at 35 BPM (the metronome at 70), and record it with the metronome sounding. Check: listen to the recording and count the measures of each section aloud. Pass: all 4 sections with no stop inside a section, and in all 16 measures the chord begins on count 1. If not: play the plain pattern on Em four times, then only the section that stopped, for two days, under “How to Learn This Study” in Segment 4, and try again after those two days.
With the guitar silent, count aloud the count row of the plain sixteenth-note pattern (one measure of 4/4) and the count row in 2/4 (two measures), tapping one tap to a beat; then say how many sixteenth notes fill one beat and how many fill one eighth note. Check: count your taps against the rows, and read the two answers in the statement about the sixteenth note. Pass: 4 taps in the measure of 4/4, 2 taps in each of the 2 measures of 2/4, and both answers right (4 and 2). If not: read the table of the three note values aloud, then count the two rows again, under “Quarter, Eighth and Sixteenth Notes” in Segment 3, and try again the next day.
By the end of this week’s practice: play the course form of the chart of “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” in two halves in the down-up strum at 70 BPM: verse 1 and the refrain, then verse 2, the refrain again and the ending; record it with the metronome sounding. Check: listen to the recording and count the measures of each half aloud. Pass: 16 measures and then 19 measures, each half with no stop, and the last G is 1 strum. If not: go back to 65 BPM and play one section of 8 measures at a time for two days, under “The Song Chart, Second Week” in Segment 3, and try again after those two days.
Read the result you wrote when you marked your recording of Test 6, major, minor or dominant seventh: ten items of one strum. Check: the key pile, dealt one slip to an item, against the answers you wrote. Pass: 8 of 10. If not: record the test again after your last practice day of this week, play “Ear Drill: Major, Minor, Seventh” in Segment 3 once on each practice day of the week you repeat, and mark the new recording on its fourth practice day.

Practice Plan for Week 8 (each practice day, 30 minutes)

Notes on the rows:

Rotation this week, the change-test pairs: G and D7, a new chord every 2 beats at 65 BPM; Em and B7, a new chord every 2 beats at 60 BPM. One of them a day, in turn.
The “Sixteenth-Note Strum Study” row: each section twice, at 35 BPM, the metronome at 70, all week. On the fourth practice day, when the ear check takes 2 of its minutes, play each section once.
Set the metronome back to 70 before the study.
The “G major scale” row: start at 65 BPM and work up to 75. In one week, take two steps at most.
The “Two-Octave Study in G” row: 60 BPM, one note per click (quarter notes) all week. It does not go up this week: the piece stays at the first tempo of the skill it carries, and the tempo rises in that skill’s own row.
Set the metronome back to 60 before the study.
The “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” row: how to play it this week is under “The Song Chart, Second Week” in Segment 3.
The “Scale ladder” row: this is the last week of the ladder of the pentatonic pair. It starts at 50 BPM and may reach 60 BPM, two notes per click (eighth notes). In one week, take two steps at most.

Play the plan in one sitting on each practice day.

Block	Time	Activity
Warm-Up	4 min	Movement warm-up, tune; then the Stop-Time pattern for four measures; then the spider crawl at frets 5 to 8. Then simplified F: press, pluck four strings, release, for 1 minute
Rotation	4 min	One scale card, played twice. One change-test pair, played as the test at the figure its ladder has reached (80 once it is there). Two single chord cards from the pile of E1, as far as its chords have been taught. Each chord card: place the shape once, pluck each string that should sound, let go. These are the cards the end-of-course assessment uses. A chord that holds a barre is not in the pile: it is in the barre rows
Sixteenth-note strum	5 min	the plain pattern on Em with the metronome clicking eighth notes: count 1 e & a aloud
Sixteenth-Note Strum Study	5 min	four measures at a time, each section twice, at 35 BPM (the metronome at 70)
G major scale	3 min	quarter notes
Two-Octave Study in G	2 min	once through at 60 BPM
Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door	4 min	sections of the chart, in the order it prints, which your song map confirms; on the two days before the last once with the recording, the metronome if it sounds out of tune
Scale ladder	3 min	the pentatonic pair in eighth notes

Barre rows this week: “Warm-Up”, 1 minute. Total: 1 minute a day.

Little-finger work: no more than 5 minutes a day in total in the first two weeks at a new fret.

Little-finger rows this week: “G major scale”, 3 minutes; “Two-Octave Study in G”, 1 minute. Total: 4 minutes a day.

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.

Ear check this week: on your fourth practice day, mark the recording you made after this session. It takes 2 minutes: that day, give the “Sixteenth-Note Strum Study” row 3 minutes instead of 5.

This is your plan for the whole week. On your last practice day, answer this session’s Self-Check Questions as you play the rows that hold them: a question adds no minutes to a row and nothing to a daily limit.

All yes: go on to Session 9.

Any no: repeat this week’s plan for up to one more week and check again. If it is still no after the second week, go on, and add that item to your warm-up until it passes.

Guitar Tip — Saga SF-600C-BK

At the start of the “Sixteenth-note strum” row, find the place for your strumming forearm. Sit with the guitar on your leg and lay the forearm on the edge of the lower bout, the wide part of the body below the soundhole. Let the wrist hang free over the soundhole. With the metronome clicking eighth notes, as for the plain pattern, and the pick off the strings, swing the hand down on each click and up between clicks, two swings in every beat: the forearm stays on the edge, and only the wrist moves over the soundhole. If the hand touches the body as it swings, move the forearm a little along the edge and try again.

After the session (not part of the 50 minutes)

Read: Strumming Rests And Sixteenths, the sections “Sixteenth-Note Patterns” and “The Eighth-Note Click”. (10 minutes)
Read: Rhythm Beyond Eighth Notes, the sections “Sixteenth Notes” and “2/4 Time”. (10 minutes)
Record: this week’s ear check. Use the recorded card test (Session 2) with Test 6, major, minor or dominant seventh, as Segment 3 gives it. Pass: 8 of 10. (4 minutes)