Session 16: Lighter Week: A Melody from the Staff

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 is a lighter week, with nothing new for either hand. You read a whole melody of 16 measures from the staff for the first time, the “Staff Melody in C”, four measures a day, and check each day’s four measures against their TAB, which is the answer. You also take one step in three things you already know: the strummed verse of “Down by the Salley Gardens” in the down-up strum, the sixteenth-note strum and the D major scale. The session ends with line 1 of the “Staff Melody in C”, read in the session, and “Down by the Salley Gardens” once through.

Learning Objectives

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

1. Play the Staff Melody in C from the staff in the handout at 55 BPM, with its TAB covered, recorded with the metronome sounding: 16 measures without stopping, at most 3 wrong notes
2. Point to each of the eight staff notes of strings 3, 2 and 1 in the handout and say its letter, its string and its fret: 8 notes, 8 of 8 right
3. Strum the verse of “Down by the Salley Gardens” from its chart in the down-up strum at 60 BPM, one strum of D in its last measure: 16 measures without stopping
4. Play the plain sixteenth-note pattern on one chord at 50 BPM, the metronome clicking eighth notes at twice the figure: 4 measures without stopping
5. Play the D major scale, one octave, up and down in quarter notes at 75 BPM: 3 times in a row with no wrong note

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
• The pile of 18 chord slips from Session 8, a pen and a sheet of paper, for this week’s ear check: no new slip is written
• A pencil, to mark measures in the staff handout
• Staff reading this week: Reading Staff Notation 1, the section “Staff Melody in C”
• 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

Take the change test (Beginner Session 3) for C and G7 (Session 13) in its new form: one strum every two beats, a new chord every 2 beats at 60 BPM, one downstroke on beat 1 and one on beat 3. Eight chords: C G7 C G7 C G7 C G7. The metronome starts again at 60 BPM because the form is new, and stays there all week: take no step this week.

Let each chord ring for one beat and move during the next.

Then the change test for D and Bm (four strings) (Session 15), still one strum to a measure, a new chord every 4 beats at 60 BPM. Eight chords: D Bm D Bm D Bm D Bm.

Tempo: a new chord every 4 beats at 60 BPM

On the practice days this change test may reach 65 BPM this week. Raise the metronome 5 BPM at a time, and only after three clean runs in a row. 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.

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 strings 4 to 1 one at a time, release, and shake out the hand. Two presses of the simplified F, then two of Dm7.

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: One Step in Three Known Skills (10 minutes)

The Verse in the Down-Up Strum

“Down by the Salley Gardens” (Session 15): from this week its strummed verse is played in the down-up strum, not one downstroke to a beat. This is the piece’s Strumming pattern line from now on, with its strum on D under it:

Strumming pattern: the down-up strum in measures 1 to 15 of the strummed verse; in its measure 16, one downstroke on beat 1, left to ring, and the two pick-up notes on beat 4.

"Down by the Salley Gardens" - the strummed verse in the down-up strum
Chord:  D
Count:  1   &   2   &   3   &   4   &
Strum:  D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U

Play this measure on D four times in a row at 60 BPM.

Then play the verse once through from its chart in the down-up strum at 60 BPM, after four clicks counted in. In its last measure, measure 16, strum D once on beat 1, let it ring, and play the two pick-up notes on beat 4. If the change to Bm (four strings) stops the strum, play that measure and the next with one strum to a measure, as in Session 15, and then add the strum again.

Copy of Session 15: “Down by the Salley Gardens” - chords for the strummed verse

"Down by the Salley Gardens" - chords for the strummed verse
Key: D major        Time: 4/4 (four beats in a measure)

Strummed verse, 16 measures:

Measure:   1                   2
         | D                 | G                 |

Measure:   3                   4
         | A7                | D                 |

Measure:   5                   6
         | D                 | G                 |

Measure:   7                   8
         | A7                | D                 |

Measure:   9                   10
         | Bm (four strings) | A                 |

Measure:   11                  12
         | G                 | D                 |

Measure:   13                  14
         | D                 | G                 |

Measure:   15                  16
         | A7                | D                 |

Measure 16: strum D once on beat 1; play the two pick-up notes on beat 4.

The Sixteenth-Note Strum, One Step

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.

Play the plain sixteenth-note pattern (Session 8) on Em eight times in a row at 45 BPM, the metronome at 90.

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

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.

Tempo: 45 BPM, the metronome set to 90 and clicking eighth notes (two strums per click)

On the practice days the “Sixteenth-note strum” row may reach 50 BPM this week, the metronome at 100. 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.

The D Major Scale, One Step

Play the D major scale (Session 15) up and down three times in a row at 70 BPM, one note per click.

Copy of Session 15: D major scale, one octave, open position

D major scale, one octave, open position: up and down, quarter notes
e|----------------------|-------------------|
B|----------------------|-------0---2---3---|
G|------------------0---|---2---------------|
D|------0---2---4-------|-------------------|
A|----------------------|-------------------|
E|----------------------|-------------------|
Count:  1   2   3   4       1   2   3   4
Pick:   D   U   D   U       D   U   D   U
Finger: -   2   4   -       2   -   2   3
Notes:  D   E   F#  G       A   B   C#  D

e|----------------------|-------------------|
B|------2---0-----------|-------------------|
G|--------------2---0---|-------------------|
D|----------------------|---4---2---0-------|
A|----------------------|-------------------|
E|----------------------|-------------------|
Count:  1   2   3   4       1   2   3  (4)
Pick:   D   U   D   U       D   U   D
Finger: 2   -   2   -       4   2   -
Notes:  C#  B   A   G       F#  E   D

In a scale or an arpeggio the pick alternates on every note, down then up, whatever the count: in quarter notes an upstroke falls on counts 2 and 4. In a tune the pick follows the count: down on the numbers, up on the &s.

Tempo: 70 BPM, one note per click (quarter notes)

On the practice days the “D major scale” row may reach 75 BPM this week. Raise the metronome 5 BPM at a time, and only after three clean runs in a row. This week, take one step at most.

---

Segment 3 — New Learning: Reading a Whole Melody from the Staff (15 minutes)

The Eight Staff Notes Again

No staff is printed in a session. Open Reading Staff Notation 1 at its sections “Stage 1: The Notes on Strings 1 and 2” and “Stage 2: String 3 and Eighth Notes”. Between them, their two staff blocks hold the eight notes the melody uses, from the low G on string 3 to the high G on string 1:

Fret 0 is the open string.

Note	String	Fret
G	3	0
A	3	2
B	2	0
C	2	1
D	2	3
E	1	0
F	1	1
G	1	3

G and A on string 3 are the notes of Session 13; B, C and D on string 2 and E, F and G on string 1 are those of Session 10. With no metronome, point to each note on the staff in the handout, say its letter, its string and its fret, and play it: up through the eight and down again, twice.

The melody uses two note values, both in Stage 1 of the handout: the quarter note, which lasts one beat, and the half note, which lasts two beats.

How a Day’s Line Is Read

The melody has four lines of four measures. Read one line of it in these four moves:

1. Say the line’s letter names aloud from the staff, without playing.
2. Play the line four times at the week’s tempo, each time counted in for four clicks.
3. Check it against its TAB under “Answers”.
4. Play the line twice more.

The line’s TAB stays covered until move 3. In the handout each line’s TAB under “Answers” stands in a closed block: covered means the block is closed, and to uncover the TAB is to open its block.

The week: a new line on each of the first four practice days. On the second and third days, play the lines learned so far once through after the new line. On the fourth practice day the ear check takes 2 of the row’s minutes and the row has 4: read line 4 in the four moves, check it against its TAB under “Answers”, and play no other line that day. The four moves of one line take about 3 minutes 24 seconds. On the fifth practice day no line is new: play the whole melody three times, each time counted in for four clicks, then take one step to 55 BPM if the three runs were clean.

The daily lines of the other weeks keep the five steps under “How to Read a Day’s Line” in Reading Staff Notation 1. This melody has a tempo and is played with the metronome, so it takes the four moves above.

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.

Do the drill above once now: nine chords, three seconds each, about a minute. Then read the test’s form, the next paragraph. Its pile is the 18 chord slips of Session 8. You record the test after the session and mark the recording 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: Staff Melody in C (15 minutes)

“Staff Melody in C”

Credits: Written for this course.

What this is: A study: an original exercise written for this course. It is not a song. It is a melody of 16 measures in C major and 4/4 time, in quarter notes and half notes, on strings 1 to 3 in open position, with no sharp, no chord and no rest. You read it from the staff, four measures a day, and check each day’s four measures against their TAB in the Answers section. At 50 BPM the whole melody takes 1 minute 17 seconds. Not yet play-tested.

Key: C major

Time: 4/4

Tempo: Start at 50 BPM, one note per click (quarter notes) and work up to 55. This week, take one step at most.

Picking: Every note is a downstroke: in a tune the pick follows the count, and every note here is on a numbered count.

Read the lines above: nothing is played in this part. The four staff blocks of the melody are in Reading Staff Notation 1, under the heading “Staff Melody in C”, and their TAB is under “Answers” in the same file. Nothing of the melody is printed in this session, as staff or as TAB.

How to Learn This Study

Today, read line 1 (measures 1 to 4) at 50 BPM in the four moves of Segment 3, with the handout open and the Answers covered: say its letter names aloud; play it four times; check it against its TAB; play it twice more. That is six times through line 1.

Step 1 — Say it: With the Answers covered, say the letter names of the day’s line aloud from the staff, without playing.

Step 2 — Play it four times: Play the line four times at the week’s tempo, one note per click, each time counted in for four clicks. Keep going past a wrong note.

Step 3 — Check it, then twice more: Uncover the line’s TAB under “Answers” and compare it with what you played. Cover it again and play the line twice more.

Step 4 — Join the lines: After each new line, play every line learned so far once through. On the fourth practice day read line 4 in the same way; join nothing that day. On the fifth practice day the lines joined are the whole melody, 16 measures.

What it should sound like: Record the day’s line with the metronome sounding and follow the recording on its TAB under “Answers”: 4 measures with no stop. On the same recording, count the wrong notes against the TAB: 1 at most in a line of 4 measures. Count 1 2 3 4 aloud with the recording: each half note lasts 2 counts.

Lines 2, 3 and 4 wait for their own days: do not look at them today. The handout’s rule holds: one line a day, and no looking ahead. The week, day by day:

Practice day	Line read in the four moves	Then
1	Line 1	Nothing more
2	Line 2	Lines 1 and 2 once through
3	Line 3	Lines 1 to 3 once through
4 (the row has 4 minutes)	Line 4	Nothing more
5	No new line	The whole melody three times, each time counted in for four clicks; then one step to 55 BPM if the three runs were clean

A Known Piece: “Down by the Salley Gardens”

Play “Down by the Salley Gardens” (Session 15) once through at 60 BPM, in its order, from its pages in Session 15 and the strum of Segment 2: the counted measure, the melody, the verse in the down-up strum, the melody again, to the rest in the last measure. None of its blocks is printed again here. Then mark the hardest phrase of the melody: the week’s row plays the piece once through and then that phrase again.

---

Segment 5 — Review and Practice Plan (5 minutes)

What You Learned Today

• How a line is read from the staff in four moves, and line 1 of the Staff Melody in C
• The verse of “Down by the Salley Gardens” in the down-up strum
• One step in the sixteenth-note strum and in the D major scale

Common Mistakes

1. Looking at the TAB before the line has been played from the staff — Cover the Answers section with a sheet of paper. Say the letter names, play the line four times, and only then uncover its TAB.
2. Stopping at a note to work out where it is — Go back to the first move: say the letter names of the whole line aloud without the guitar. Then play at 50 BPM with the click and keep going past a wrong note.
3. The down-up strum stops at the change to Bm (four strings) — Play that measure and the next with one strum to a measure, four times, as in Session 15. Then put the strum back and keep the hand swinging through the change.

Self-Check Questions

1. By the end of this week’s practice: play the Staff Melody in C from the staff in the handout at 55 BPM, with the Answers covered, and record it with the metronome sounding. Check: follow the recording on the four TAB blocks under “Answers” and mark each wrong note. Pass: 16 measures with no stop, and at most 3 wrong notes. If not: go back to 50 BPM and read the line with the most wrong notes again in the four moves, under “How to Learn This Study” in Segment 4, and try again after two days.
2. With the staff handout open at its two Stage sections, the two tables there and the table of this session covered with a sheet of paper, point to each of the eight notes in the two staff blocks and say its letter, its string and its fret. Check: uncover the table under “The Eight Staff Notes Again” and compare. Pass: 8 of 8 notes right. If not: point, say and play the eight notes up and down once on each of the next two practice days, under “The Eight Staff Notes Again” in Segment 3, and try again after those two days.
3. Strum the verse of “Down by the Salley Gardens” from its chart at 60 BPM in the down-up strum, and record it with the metronome sounding. Check: listen to the recording with the chart in front of you and count the measures aloud. Pass: 16 measures with no stop, each new chord beginning on count 1, and 1 strum in measure 16. If not: play the measures of Bm (four strings) and A with one strum to a measure, four times, then the verse again, under “The Verse in the Down-Up Strum” in Segment 2, and try again the next day.
4. By the end of this week’s practice: play the plain sixteenth-note pattern on Em for four measures at 50 BPM, the metronome clicking eighth notes at 100, and record it. Check: listen to the recording and count 1 e & a aloud with it. Pass: 4 measures with no stop, 16 strums in each. If not: go back to 45 BPM, the metronome at 90, for two days, under “The Sixteenth-Note Strum, One Step” in Segment 2, and try again after those two days.
5. By the end of this week’s practice: play the D major scale, one octave, up and down in quarter notes at 75 BPM, and record it with the metronome sounding. Check: follow the recording on the scale’s TAB, note by note. Pass: 3 times in a row with no wrong note. If not: go back to 70 BPM and take the step again after three clean runs in a row, under “The D Major Scale, One Step” in Segment 2, and try again after two days.
6. 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 16 (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 80 BPM; Em and B7, a new chord every 2 beats at 75 BPM; Am7 and D7, a new chord every 2 beats at 70 BPM. One of them a day, in turn.
• The Down by the Salley Gardens row: the whole piece at 60 BPM all week, one tempo for melody and verse. It does not go up this week: the verse has a new strum. The melody alone reached 65 BPM last week; the whole piece takes that figure from Session 17.

This week every tempo takes one step at most.

Block	Time	Activity
Warm-Up	4 min	Movement warm-up, tune; then C-G7 at 2 beats and D-Bm at 4 beats, eight chords each; 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, with the Bm (four strings) card. 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 Melody in C	6 min	this week’s staff reading: four measures a day from the staff, then check with its TAB answer
Down by the Salley Gardens	6 min	once through, the strummed verse now in the down-up strum; then its hardest four measures
Giuliani: Andantino	4 min	the whole piece once
D major scale	3 min	quarter notes
Sixteenth-note strum	3 min	the plain pattern, one step up, the metronome clicking eighth notes

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.

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 “Staff Melody in C” row 4 minutes instead of 6.

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 17.

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

The Saga is a dreadnought, and with it on your lap a page laid flat beside you is read by leaning over the guitar’s body. When you read from the staff, stand the page upright in front of you at eye level instead, so that your eyes stay on the staff and you do not lean over the body of the guitar to see it.

After the session (not part of the 50 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. (3 minutes)