Session 12: Phase 2 Showcase

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.

This session closes Phase 2 and teaches nothing new. You play the ten chord cards as the Phase 2 checkpoint plays them, take the three change-test pairs and the first half of Giuliani’s Andantino through once more, and walk through the checkpoint, which you take after this week: an unseen TAB passage, the second pile of theory cards and the two ear drills whose recordings the checkpoint marks. The session ends with the programme of the phase, rehearsed and then recorded as one take: “Evening Sevenths” from its page, then the “Seventh-Chord Blues in A” from memory.

Learning Objectives

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

1. Perform a programme of two pieces one after another in one recorded take, with no metronome sounding while you play, each from your own count-in to its written ending: Evening Sevenths from its page, then the Seventh-Chord Blues in A from memory: 2 pieces, 26 and 38 measures
2. Form each of the ten seventh chords taught so far from its card, with the metronome at 60 and the chord down by the third click: 10 cards
3. Play a two-measure TAB passage you have not seen, after 30 seconds of study, at 50 BPM: 2 measures, with at most 1 wrong note
4. Play measures 1 to 16 of Giuliani’s Andantino once through from the TAB at 55 BPM without stopping: 16 measures
5. Pass the change test for G and D7, for Em and B7 and for Am7 and D7, a new chord every 2 beats, each pair at the figure its ladder has reached: 8 chords, twice on the same day, for each of the 3 pairs

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
• Sessions 10, 2 and 11 open at “Evening Sevenths”, the “Seventh-Chord Blues in A” and Giuliani’s Andantino: their blocks are not printed again here
• Your ten chord cards, your pile of theory cards, your 38 cell slips (Sessions 3 and 9) and your 18 chord slips (Session 8), with paper and a pen
• Handout for this session: Performing A Programme (optional reading, after the session)
• Staff reading this week: Reading Staff Notation 1, the section “Lines for Week 12”
• Reference: Chord Chart, Glossary

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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

Copy of Session 8: the plain sixteenth-note pattern

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

Play the plain sixteenth-note pattern (Session 8) on Em at 40 BPM, the metronome set to 80 and clicking eighth notes: four measures, counting 1 e & a aloud, then one more downstroke on the next count 1. This is the form and the tempo the Phase 2 checkpoint asks for.

Tempo: 40 BPM, the metronome set to 80 and clicking eighth notes (two strums per click)

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), then Dm7 (Session 9): press, pluck four strings, release. Two presses of each in the minute, and shake the hand out after each press.

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.

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Segment 2 — Technique Focus: Cards, Changes and the Andantino (10 minutes)

The Ten Chord Cards

No chord is new this week: this is how the Phase 2 checkpoint tests the seventh chords. Lay out your ten chord cards: A7, D7, E7 and B7 from Phase 1, and Em7, Am7, Dm7, Cmaj7, Amaj7 and Dmaj7 from Phase 2. Shuffle them face down and lay a sheet of paper over the pile, so that the back of the top card cannot be read; draw them one at a time from under the paper.

With the metronome at 60, draw a card and count the next three clicks: the chord is down when the third sounds.

Each chord card: place the shape once, pluck each string that should sound, let go.

Dm7, the one card with a small barre, is pressed once and released, as in the checkpoint. In this week’s “Rotation” row it stays out of the pile.

When all ten are drawn, count the cards on which every string rang.

If the shape will not come: look it up in the chord chart, place it three times, and put the card back in the pile.

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.

Change Test: Three Pairs at Two Beats

This is the change test (Beginner Session 3) for three pairs. Start with G and D7, a new chord every 2 beats at 70 BPM: 8 chords in a row, then 8 more.

Tempo: Start at a new chord every 2 beats at 70 BPM and work up to 75. 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.

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

Then Em and B7, a new chord every 2 beats at 65 BPM: 8 chords in a row, then 8 more.

Tempo: Start at a new chord every 2 beats at 65 BPM 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.

Then Am7 and D7, a new chord every 2 beats at 60 BPM: 8 chords in a row, then 8 more.

Tempo: Start at a new chord every 2 beats at 60 BPM and work up to 65. 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.

The checkpoint tests each pair at the figure its own ladder has reached. No pair is pushed to another pair’s figure.

The Andantino, Measures 1 to 16, Once Through

Put the pick down. Play measures 1 to 16 of Giuliani’s Andantino (Session 11) from the TAB in Session 11, which is not printed again here, at 55 BPM: once through without stopping, after three clicks counted in, with the metronome sounding. 55 BPM is the piece’s performance tempo and the figure of the Phase 2 checkpoint, which asks for the click during this piece. If a note slips, play on: you count the slips afterwards. A stop is not allowed.

Tempo: 55 BPM in 3/4, the click on the beat all week. It does not go up this week: 55 is the piece’s performance tempo.

The week’s row for the piece is the same: once through, once a day.

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Segment 3 — New Learning: Checkpoint Walk-Through (15 minutes)

How the Checkpoint Works

You take the Phase 2 checkpoint after the last practice day of Week 12 and before Session 13, in two sittings: on one day with at least an hour between them, or on two days. Each sitting is shorter than 30 minutes. It holds, in this order:

1. The chord cards
2. The change test
3. The plain sixteenth-note pattern
4. The crescendo strum
5. The G major scale from memory
6. The first half of the Andantino
7. An unseen TAB passage
8. Ten theory cards
9. The two ear recordings
10. The programme of two pieces

Every item has a number to count and its own “If not”. What follows the checkpoint is decided by its own rule, in Phase 2 Checkpoint, the section “Overall Phase Assessment”.

Unseen TAB

You take an unseen TAB passage by one routine, here and in the Phase 2 checkpoint alike:

The unseen TAB routine: (1) Set the metronome to 50 BPM. (2) Study the passage for 30 seconds without playing: the strings it uses, its lowest and highest fret, any eighth notes, and the count of its last note. (3) Start the recording. (4) Count one measure aloud. (5) Play the passage once, to the end, without stopping. (6) Follow the recording on the TAB and count the wrong notes.

The pass mark, as the Phase 2 checkpoint has it: 2 measures with no stop and at most 1 wrong note.

This phase a passage is two measures of 4/4 with one pair of eighth notes in each, at frets 0 to 3. The pick follows the count: down on the numbers, up on the &.

Take the passage below now, by the routine at 50 BPM. When you have counted its wrong notes, play its two measures once more.

The block below is closed. Open it at step (2) of the routine, when the 30 seconds begin, and not before.

The passage for today

Unseen TAB, passage A
e|--------------------------------------|-----------0-----------------------|
B|----------------------0---------------|---0---3-----------3---------------|
G|------0-------2-----------2---0-------|---------------------------0-------|
D|--------------------------------------|-----------------------------------|
A|--------------------------------------|-----------------------------------|
E|--------------------------------------|-----------------------------------|
Count:  1       2       3   &   4           1   &   2       3       4
Pick:   D       D       D   U   D           D   U   D       D       D
Finger: -       2       -   2   -           -   3   -       3       -
Notes:  G       A       B   A   G           B   D   E       D       G

Unseen TAB for Your Practice Days

The two passages below are for the two days on which the “Checkpoint items” row of this week’s plan is an unseen TAB passage: passage B for practice day 1, passage C for practice day 4. On its day, play the passage once by the routine under “Unseen TAB”, and not again: a passage you have played is no longer unseen. The Phase 2 checkpoint has passages of its own. Open neither block today.

Each passage or chart below is in a closed block. Open a block only on its day, when its routine tells you to study it.

In a week you repeat, open the same blocks again on their days. They are no longer unseen, and that is expected: the routine is still the practice, and the next unseen passage is in the next session or assessment.

The passage for practice day 1

Unseen TAB, passage B
e|--------------------------------------|-----------------------------------|
B|----------------------0---------------|---3-------0-----------------------|
G|--------------0---2-----------2-------|-------------------2---0-----------|
D|------2-------------------------------|---------------------------2-------|
A|--------------------------------------|-----------------------------------|
E|--------------------------------------|-----------------------------------|
Count:  1       2   &   3       4           1       2       3   &   4
Pick:   D       D   U   D       D           D       D       D   U   D
Finger: 2       -   2   -       2           3       -       2   -   2
Notes:  E       G   A   B       A           D       B       A   G   E

The passage for practice day 4

Unseen TAB, passage C
e|----------------------0-------1---0---|-----------------------------------|
B|------1-------3-----------------------|---3-------1---0---1---------------|
G|--------------------------------------|-----------------------------------|
D|--------------------------------------|-----------------------------------|
A|--------------------------------------|-----------------------------------|
E|--------------------------------------|-----------------------------------|
Count:  1       2       3       4   &       1       2   &   3      (4)
Pick:   D       D       D       D   U       D       D   U   D
Finger: 1       3       -       1   -       3       1   -   1
Notes:  C       D       E       F   E       D       C   B   C

The Second Pile of Theory Cards

The second pile is the cards you wrote from the theory handouts read after Sessions 7 to 10: the key of G, sixteenth notes and 2/4 time, minor sevenths, major sevenths and the three kinds of seventh chord. They are in your one pile of theory cards: take them out for today, and put them back when you have marked the ten.

Each handout section ends with its questions. A card has the question on the front and the handout’s answer on the back. If a card of those readings is not yet written, write it now.

Then shuffle the second pile, draw ten cards, answer each aloud, turn it over, and count the right answers. Nothing is played.

Ear Drill: Clap the Cells

Clap each kind of cell on four clicks in a row, one kind after another, with the metronome at the test’s tempo, saying the count aloud. Then turn over four cell slips in a row and clap the row twice.

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

Copy of Session 3: The quarter cell on each beat of a measure

The quarter cell on each beat of a measure
Count:  1   2   3   4

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.

Copy of Session 3: The two-eighths cell on each beat of a measure

The two-eighths cell on each beat of a measure
Count:  1   &   2   &   3   &   4   &

Copy of Session 3: The rest cell on each beat of a measure

The rest cell on each beat of a measure
Count: [1] [2] [3] [4]

On a click, quarter = one clap, two eighths = two even claps, the first on the click, and rest = no clap: the click sounds alone.

Copy of Session 9: The four-sixteenths cell on each beat of a measure

The four-sixteenths cell on each beat of a measure
Count:  1   e   &   a   2   e   &   a   3   e   &   a   4   e   &   a

On a click, four sixteenths = four even claps, the first on the click.

Clap the drill once now, with the metronome at 50 BPM.

You make the recording of Test 5 after the session, and you do not mark it this week: you mark it when you take the checkpoint. The paragraph below is for that recording.

Test 5, rhythm recall, one measure with the four-sixteenths cell. The pile is 38 cell slips: the 30 of Session 3 and 8 marked “four sixteenths”. An item is four slips in a row from left to right: the four beats of one measure. 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 four slips to an item. A rhythm is right only if every cell matched.

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 now: nine strums, each left to ring while you say its kind. The pile for the recording is your 18 chord slips of Session 8. You make this recording after the session too, and mark it at the checkpoint.

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.

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Segment 4 — Piece Workshop: Your Phase 2 Programme (15 minutes)

The Programme

The programme of this phase is two pieces: “Evening Sevenths” (Session 10), played from its page, and the “Seventh-Chord Blues in A” (Session 2), played from memory. Neither is printed again here. This week rehearses these two, and the programme of the Phase 2 checkpoint is the same two.

A take is one recording that holds both pieces, one after the other. You play each piece alone, as its page writes it, with no backing sounding.

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 tempo is 70 BPM for both pieces. That count-in, at 70 BPM, is what “your own count-in” means.

A stop is a break in the count inside a piece: going back, beginning a measure again, or waiting a whole measure or longer before coming in. Keeping the count and coming in on the next beat 1 is not a stop: its notes are counted as missed.

A take with a stop has not passed and ends at the stop. One take a day: the next is made on a later day and begins with the first piece.

In a strummed piece, and in the strummed verse of a tune, one wrong or missed note is one measure in which the chord is wrong, late or not played.

Both pieces of this programme are strummed, so every mark in this take is a measure of that kind.

Evening Sevenths at Its Performance Tempo

This is a rehearsal, so the metronome sounds; in a take it does not. Play “Evening Sevenths” (Session 10) once through from its page at 70 BPM: the 26 measures as written, with the marks of its Dyn row, after four clicks counted in. 70 BPM is the top of its ladder and the piece’s performance tempo.

The Blues in A from Memory

Close the chart in Session 2 and leave the guitar silent. Write the twelve measures of the “Seventh-Chord Blues in A” (Session 2) from memory as a chart on paper, with A7, D7 and E7. They are the twelve measures of the beginner course’s 12-bar form (Beginner Session 8), each letter now with a 7. Then say the whole form aloud: the twelve measures three times round, then the ending of two measures. Open Session 2 and compare your chart with its chart, measure by measure; correct yours.

Then a rehearsal, with the metronome sounding. Close the page again and play the piece from memory at 70 BPM: the 38 measures in the D D U U D U pattern, after four clicks counted in. Say “one”, “two”, “three” aloud at the first measure of each time round. The third time round leads to the ending, not back to measure 1.

A Practice Take

Now make today’s one take, as “The Programme” says, and record it. Start the recording. First “Evening Sevenths” from its page: the count-in at 70 BPM, then the piece to its written ending. At 70 BPM the piece lasts 1 minute 29 seconds, and the clicks and the count about 10 seconds.

Then, with the recording still running, the same count-in again at 70 BPM, and the “Seventh-Chord Blues in A” from memory to its written ending: 2 minutes 10 seconds of playing. If you stop, the take ends at the stop: do not begin again today.

This take is not marked in the session: note only whether there was a stop. You need not listen back to it; if you do, do it after the session. The take that is marked is the one of your last practice day (Self-Check Question 1).

The “Programme” row of this week’s plan divides the same way. On the first four practice days it is sections: the middle part of “Evening Sevenths” (measures 5 to 12), and the Blues in A once round from memory. On the last practice day it is one recorded take, which is that day’s one take.

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Segment 5 — Review and Practice Plan (5 minutes)

What You Achieved in Phase 2

• A two-octave scale with the little finger at fret 4
• Sixteenth-note strumming to an eighth-note click
• Six new seventh chords, and the capo
• A complete strummed piece with crescendo and diminuendo
• Two strings plucked together, in the first half of a study by Giuliani

Common Mistakes

1. Stopping in a take to correct a slip — A stop ends the take: “The Programme” in Segment 4 says what a stop is. Keep the count, let the notes go and come in on the next beat 1: the take goes on.
2. Losing count of the rounds in the Blues in A played from memory — Say “one”, “two”, “three” aloud at the first measure of each time round. The third time round leads to the ending.
3. Playing during the 30 seconds before an unseen passage — The 30 seconds are for the eyes and the count: look at what step 2 of the routine under “Unseen TAB” lists, and sound nothing. The first note you play is the test.
4. Starting the second piece without a count-in — Each piece has its own count-in, as “The Programme” in Segment 4 gives it.

Self-Check Questions

1. On your last practice day, record your programme in one take, with no metronome sounding while a piece is played: before each piece listen to eight clicks at 70 BPM, stop the metronome and count one measure aloud; then play Evening Sevenths from its page to its written ending, and the Seventh-Chord Blues in A from memory to its written ending. Check: follow the recording on the page of each piece and mark each measure in which the chord is wrong, late or not played. Pass: no stop; each of the 2 pieces reaches its written ending; in any one piece at most 3 measures with the chord wrong, late or not played. If not: play sections in the “Programme” row for two more days: the middle part of Evening Sevenths, and the Blues in A once round from memory, under “A Practice Take” in Segment 4, and try again after those two days, with one new take, which begins with the first piece, before you take the checkpoint.
2. Shuffle your ten chord cards face down, lay a sheet of paper over the pile and draw them one at a time from under it; for each, set the metronome to 60, place the chord by the third click, then pluck each string that should sound and let go; Dm7 is pressed once and released. Check: the metronome’s third click, and each string plucked one at a time. Pass: 8 of the 10 cards, every string that should sound ringing. If not: for each card that failed, look the shape up in the chord chart, place it three times, and put the card back in the pile, under “The Ten Chord Cards” in Segment 2, and try again the next day, before you take the checkpoint.
3. On the first and on the fourth practice day, study that day’s unseen TAB passage for 30 seconds without playing, then play it once at 50 BPM by the routine and record it. Check: follow the recording on the passage and count the wrong notes. Pass: 2 measures with no stop and at most 1 wrong note, on at least 1 of the 2 days. If not: in the 30 seconds of the routine, say the string and the fret of every note aloud in order before you play, under “Unseen TAB” in Segment 3, and try again at the checkpoint, which has a passage you have not seen.
4. Play measures 1 to 16 of Giuliani’s Andantino once through at 55 BPM, after three clicks counted in, and record it with the metronome sounding. Check: follow the recording on the TAB in Session 11 and mark each wrong or missed note. Pass: 16 measures with no stop, and at most 3 wrong or missed notes. If not: play the phrase with the most marks four measures at a time, twice a day for two days, then the 16 measures again, under “The Andantino, Measures 1 to 16, Once Through” in Segment 2, and try again after those two days, before you take the checkpoint.
5. By the end of this week’s practice: pass the change test (Beginner Session 3) at a new chord every 2 beats for G and D7 at 75 BPM, for Em and B7 at 70 BPM and for Am7 and D7 at 65 BPM. Check: the metronome clicks the beat; each chord lands on its click with every string that should sound ringing. Pass: all 8 chords, twice on the same day, for each of the 3 pairs. If not: drop the pair that failed by 10 BPM and climb back 5 BPM at a time, under “Change Test: Three Pairs at Two Beats” in Segment 2, and try again the next day, before you take the checkpoint.
6. Play the plain sixteenth-note pattern on Em for four measures at 40 BPM, the metronome set to 80 and clicking eighth notes, 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: go back to 35 BPM, the metronome at 70, for two days; if your strumming hand or forearm aches, stop playing for today, under “Warm-Up” in Segment 1, and try again after those two days, before you take the checkpoint.
7. Shuffle your second pile of theory cards, draw ten, answer each aloud and turn it over. Check: the answer written on the back of each card. Pass: 8 of 10. If not: read again the handout section of each card you missed, then draw ten again, under “The Second Pile of Theory Cards” in Segment 3, and try again the next day, before you take the checkpoint.
8. Play the G major scale in two octaves from memory, up and down, in eighth notes at 60 BPM, twice, and record it with the metronome sounding. Check: follow the recording on the scale’s eighth-note TAB in Session 7. Pass: 2 runs in a row with no wrong note. If not: make the G major card the day’s scale card: once from its TAB, then twice from memory, under “Practice Plan for Week 12” in Segment 5, and try again the next day, before you take the checkpoint.

Practice Plan for Week 12 (each practice day, 30 minutes)

Notes on the rows:

• The “Warm-Up” row: on the last two practice days, end it with the crescendo strum (Session 10) on Em, played once at 65 BPM, as the Phase 2 checkpoint asks.
• The “Rotation” row: the scale card of the G major scale joins the pile. On the first, third and fifth practice days it is that day’s scale card, without drawing, because the Phase 2 checkpoint asks for this scale from memory; on the second and fourth, shuffle the pile and draw as always.
• Rotation this week: no change-test pair; every pair has its own row.
• The “Staff reading” row: today’s line is from the section “Lines for Week 12” of the staff handout.
• The “Programme” row: sections on four days and one recorded take on the last, as “A Practice Take” in Segment 4 sets them out. Its Phase 1 piece is the “Seventh-Chord Blues in A” (Session 2).
• The “Checkpoint items” row: one item a day: unseen TAB passage B on the first day, the plain sixteenth-note pattern at 40 BPM on the second and the fifth, ten theory cards on the third, unseen TAB passage C on the fourth. The two passages stand under “Unseen TAB for Your Practice Days” in Segment 3.

Block	Time	Activity
Warm-Up	4 min	Movement warm-up, tune; then the plain sixteenth-note pattern, four measures; then the spider crawl at frets 5 to 8. Then simplified F and Dm7: 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, and that keeps Dm7 out: it is a barre chord, practised as presses, not as a card
Staff reading	3 min	today’s line from the staff handout, then its answer
Programme	9 min	Evening Sevenths, and one Phase 1 piece from memory: sections on four days, one recorded take on the last
Giuliani: Andantino, measures 1 to 16	4 min	once through
Change test	3 min	G-D7, Em-B7 and Am7-D7 at 2 beats
Checkpoint items	3 min	one of these a day: an unseen TAB passage at 50; the plain sixteenth-note pattern at 40 with the eighth-note click; ten theory cards. (Tests 5 and 6 are recorded after this session and marked at the checkpoint.)

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.

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

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: take the Phase 2 Checkpoint next, on another day, before you start Session 13.

Any no: take the Phase 2 checkpoint all the same: its own rule decides what happens next.

Guitar Tip — Saga SF-600C-BK

A take is lost if the recording cannot be followed, so find the phone’s place before the first piece. Lay the phone where it will stay for the whole take, and record five seconds: say “test”, strum the first chord of “Evening Sevenths” once, and let the metronome click. Listen. If you cannot hear your voice, the strum and the click, move the phone and record the five seconds again. Then start the take with the phone in the place where all three were heard, and leave it there until the last chord of the second piece has rung out.

After the session (not part of the 50 minutes)

• Read: Phase 2 Checkpoint, the section “How to Use This Checkpoint”. (5 minutes)
• Record: the recordings for the Phase 2 checkpoint. Use the recorded card test (Session 2), but do not mark them this week: you mark them when you take that checkpoint, at least one day later. Test 5, rhythm recall; and Test 6, major, minor or dominant seventh, as Segment 3 gives them. (5 minutes)
• Optional: Performing A Programme, the section “Playing from Memory”. (5 minutes)