Session 17: Power Chords Anywhere
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 moves the three-string power chord of Beginner Session 20 along the neck. You learn the natural notes on strings 6 and 5 and the frets between them, and use them to place the shape by the name of its root, with every root at fret 7 or lower. You write the note-name cards and power-chord cards of the week and start the Root-Finder Study, one chord every four beats. The session ends with “Down by the Salley Gardens”, kept going from Session 15.
Learning Objectives
Section titled “Learning Objectives”By the end of this session you will be able to:
- Place the three-string power chord named on each of the nine power-chord cards, lifting the shape between cards, and pluck its three strings: 7 of the 9 cards, each down by the fifth click of a metronome at 60 BPM
- Say the natural note at ten card-drawn places on strings 6 and 5, frets 0 to 10: 8 of 10 cards
- Play the Root-Finder Study from its chart, one strum on each chord, a new chord every 4 beats, lifting and placing the shape at 60 BPM: 16 measures without stopping, every chord placed by count 1
- Play “Down by the Salley Gardens” once through in its order, recorded with the metronome sounding at 65 BPM: 48 measures after the counted measure, no stop, at most 3 wrong or missed notes in the melody each time
Where an objective gives a tempo, it is the figure for the end of this week’s practice.
Materials Needed
Section titled “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
- 23 blank cards or slips of paper and a pen: fourteen note-name cards and nine power-chord cards are written in this session
- The pile of 48 note slips from Session 4, for this week’s ear check: no new slip is written
- Handout for this session: Notes On The Neck (read after the session, 15 minutes)
- Handout for this session: Moving Along The Neck (read after the session, 20 minutes)
- Staff reading this week: Reading Staff Notation 1, the section “Lines for Week 17”
- Reference: Chord Chart, Glossary
Segment 1 — Warm-Up and Stretch (5 minutes)
Section titled “Segment 1 — Warm-Up and Stretch (5 minutes)”Hand Warm-Up
Section titled “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
Section titled “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
Section titled “Warm-Up”Play the crescendo strum (Session 10) on Em at 70 BPM: the block once through, as its Dyn row marks.
Copy of Session 10: the crescendo strum
Chord: Em Count: 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & | 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & | Strum: D U D U D U D U | D U D U D U D U | Dyn: p cresc. Count: 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & | 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & | Strum: D U D U D U D U | D U D U D U D U | Count: 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & | 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & | Strum: D U D U D U D U | D U D U D U D U | Dyn: f dim. Count: 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & | 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & | Strum: D U D U D U D U | D U D U D U D U |
The Dyn row shows how loud to play: p = soft, mf = medium, f = loud, cresc. = get gradually louder from here, dim. = get gradually softer from here. Each mark stands under the count where it begins; cresc. and dim. last until the next mark in the row, also when the TAB or pattern goes on to a new line, or to the end of the TAB or pattern.
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, 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: Power Chords Anywhere (10 minutes)
Section titled “Segment 2 — Technique Focus: Power Chords Anywhere (10 minutes)”Session day: the daily limits count today too. The limited work you do in this session is all you do of it today, also if you pick up the guitar again later.
Limited work today: three-string power-chord work, 3 minutes: the shape placed at each root under “Placing the Shape at Each Root”.
Limited work today: three-string power-chord work, 1 minute: the first three lines of the “Root-Finder Study” in Segment 4.
Limited work today: barre work, 1 minute: the presses under “Warm-Up” in Segment 1.
Finding the Nine Roots (7 minutes)
Section titled “Finding the Nine Roots (7 minutes)”Nothing is pressed in this part: you read, say and point.
On string 6 the natural notes are E (open), F (fret 1), G (fret 3), A (fret 5), B (fret 7), C (fret 8) and D (fret 10). On string 5 they are A (open), B (fret 2), C (fret 3), D (fret 5), E (fret 7), F (fret 8) and G (fret 10). A sharp note is one fret above its letter; one fret above B is C and one fret above E is F, so no fret lies between those two pairs.
The fourteen places, from the open string to fret 10:
| Note | String | Fret |
|---|---|---|
| E | 6 (low E) | 0 (open) |
| F | 6 (low E) | 1 |
| G | 6 (low E) | 3 |
| A | 6 (low E) | 5 |
| B | 6 (low E) | 7 |
| C | 6 (low E) | 8 |
| D | 6 (low E) | 10 |
| A | 5 (A) | 0 (open) |
| B | 5 (A) | 2 |
| C | 5 (A) | 3 |
| D | 5 (A) | 5 |
| E | 5 (A) | 7 |
| F | 5 (A) | 8 |
| G | 5 (A) | 10 |
E and F are one fret apart, and so are B and C. Every other pair of neighbouring letters is two frets apart, with one fret between them.
A power chord can now be placed by the name of its root, on string 6 or string 5; this week’s nine roots are in the table below. Two terms tell you where:
- Root on string 6, root on string 5 — The two places for the moveable three-string power chord: finger 1 holds the root on string 6 or on string 5, and the chord is named after the note under finger 1. The name of a power chord placed this way says which, as in “G5 (string 6)”; the four of Beginner Session 20 (F5, Bb5, Ab5, Db5) keep their names. (Session 17)
The shape never changes: finger 1 on the root, finger 3 two frets higher on the next string, finger 4 on the same fret as finger 3, one string further. The chord takes its name from the note under finger 1.
A power chord found by its root is written with the string of its root in brackets, as in G5 (string 6). F5, Bb5, Ab5 and Db5 keep the names the beginner course gave them, with no brackets. E5, A5 and D5 with no brackets are the open two-string shapes of the beginner course.
This is the moveable three-string power chord of Beginner Session 20, unchanged: what is new is where it goes. Here is where each power chord you can now place lies:
| Chord | Root note | Finger 1 (root) | Fingers 3 and 4 | Strum strings | Notes | From |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| F5 | F | string 6, fret 1 | strings 5 and 4, fret 3 | 6, 5 and 4 | F, C, F | Beginner Session 20 |
| F#5 (string 6) | F# | string 6, fret 2 | strings 5 and 4, fret 4 | 6, 5 and 4 | F#, C#, F# | Session 17 |
| G5 (string 6) | G | string 6, fret 3 | strings 5 and 4, fret 5 | 6, 5 and 4 | G, D, G | Session 17 |
| Ab5 | Ab | string 6, fret 4 | strings 5 and 4, fret 6 | 6, 5 and 4 | Ab, Eb, Ab | Beginner Session 20 |
| A5 (string 6) | A | string 6, fret 5 | strings 5 and 4, fret 7 | 6, 5 and 4 | A, E, A | Session 17 |
| B5 (string 6) | B | string 6, fret 7 | strings 5 and 4, fret 9 | 6, 5 and 4 | B, F#, B | Session 17 |
| Bb5 | Bb | string 5, fret 1 | strings 4 and 3, fret 3 | 5, 4 and 3 | Bb, F, Bb | Beginner Session 20 |
| B5 (string 5) | B | string 5, fret 2 | strings 4 and 3, fret 4 | 5, 4 and 3 | B, F#, B | Session 17 |
| C5 (string 5) | C | string 5, fret 3 | strings 4 and 3, fret 5 | 5, 4 and 3 | C, G, C | Session 17 |
| C#5 (string 5) | C# | string 5, fret 4 | strings 4 and 3, fret 6 | 5, 4 and 3 | C#, G#, C# | Session 17 |
| Db5 | Db | string 5, fret 4 | strings 4 and 3, fret 6 | 5, 4 and 3 | Db, Ab, Db | Beginner Session 20 |
| D5 (string 5) | D | string 5, fret 5 | strings 4 and 3, fret 7 | 5, 4 and 3 | D, A, D | Session 17 |
| E5 (string 5) | E | string 5, fret 7 | strings 4 and 3, fret 9 | 5, 4 and 3 | E, B, E | Session 17 |
C#5 (string 5) and Db5 are the same three frets: C sharp and D flat are two names for one note.
The nine rows marked “Session 17” are the nine power-chord cards you write in Segment 3.
Finding roots: say a chord’s name from the table, then point with a finger of the picking hand to the fret of its root on string 6 or string 5. Do not press. Go through the nine roots of Session 17 in the table’s order, then all nine again in any order, and check each answer against the table.
Placing the Shape at Each Root (3 minutes)
Section titled “Placing the Shape at Each Root (3 minutes)”Three-string power-chord 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.
These 3 minutes are the first 3 of today’s 4 minutes of three-string power-chord work.
Two diagrams stand for the nine chords, both with the root at fret 3: G5 (string 6) for a root on string 6, and C5 (string 5) for a root on string 5. Every other root takes the same shape at another fret: find its fret in the table under “Finding the Nine Roots”.
- Finger 1 (index): string 6 (low E), fret 3
- Finger 3 (ring): string 5 (A), fret 5
- Finger 4 (little finger): string 4 (D), fret 5
- Do not play strings 3, 2 and 1
- Strum strings 6, 5 and 4 only
- Notes, string 6 to string 4: G, D, G
Tuner check: Pluck strings 6 to 4 one at a time, slowly. The tuner should show G, D, G. A different letter means a finger is on the wrong string or the wrong fret.
- Finger 1 (index): string 5 (A), fret 3
- Finger 3 (ring): string 4 (D), fret 5
- Finger 4 (little finger): string 3 (G), fret 5
- Do not play strings 6, 2 and 1
- Strum strings 5, 4 and 3 only
- Notes, string 5 to string 3: C, G, C
Tuner check: Pluck strings 5 to 3 one at a time, slowly. The tuner should show C, G, C. A different letter means a finger is on the wrong string or the wrong fret.
Rest the pick on string 5, then strum from there.
To go from one root to the next:
Move your whole hand along the neck, thumb travelling with it. This is a shift, not a stretch.
The shape is lifted and placed, never slid along the strings.
With the root on string 5, one more line holds:
String 6 must stay silent: let the tip of finger 1 lean lightly against it.
Now place each of the nine roots once, in the table’s order: F#5 (string 6), G5 (string 6), A5 (string 6) and B5 (string 6), then B5 (string 5), C5 (string 5), C#5 (string 5), D5 (string 5) and E5 (string 5). For each, place the shape, pluck its three strings one at a time, and lift. No metronome and no strumming pattern. No root is above fret 7, so no finger goes above fret 9.
Segment 3 — New Learning: The Notes on Strings 6 and 5 (15 minutes)
Section titled “Segment 3 — New Learning: The Notes on Strings 6 and 5 (15 minutes)”The Frets in Between
Section titled “The Frets in Between”Between the natural notes on strings 6 and 5, up to fret 10, lie eight more frets. Each is named as a sharp, one fret above its letter, and has a flat name too, under “Also called”. Nothing is pressed.
| Note | String | Fret | Also called | Where it is |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| F# | 6 (low E) | 2 | Gb | one fret above F (fret 1) |
| G# | 6 (low E) | 4 | Ab | one fret above G (fret 3) |
| A# | 6 (low E) | 6 | Bb | one fret above A (fret 5) |
| C# | 6 (low E) | 9 | Db | one fret above C (fret 8) |
| A# | 5 (A) | 1 | Bb | one fret above A (the open string) |
| C# | 5 (A) | 4 | Db | one fret above C (fret 3) |
| D# | 5 (A) | 6 | Eb | one fret above D (fret 5) |
| F# | 5 (A) | 9 | Gb | one fret above F (fret 8) |
Two of them are roots of this week’s power-chord cards: F sharp on string 6 at fret 2, the root of F#5 (string 6), and C sharp on string 5 at fret 4, the root of C#5 (string 5). Three of them you already play under their flat names: G sharp on string 6 at fret 4 is the A flat of Ab5, A sharp on string 5 at fret 1 is the B flat of Bb5, and C sharp on string 5 at fret 4 is the D flat of Db5.
Point to each of the eight frets in turn, from the top of the table, and say both its names: “F sharp, G flat”, and so on.
Note-Name Cards
Section titled “Note-Name Cards”Write the cards for this week’s rows and the Phase 3 checkpoint now.
Note-name cards: fourteen, one for each row of the table of the fourteen places under “Finding the Nine Roots”.
A note-name card has the string and the fret on the front and nothing on the back: the answer is the note, and you check it against the table of the fourteen places.
Fretboard Note Map prints the same fourteen places, and the Phase 3 checkpoint checks your cards against that sheet.
Power-chord cards: nine, one for each row of the table of roots marked “Session 17”. On the front write the chord’s name as the table spells it, with the string of its root in brackets, such as “G5 (string 6)”. Write nothing on the back: you check a power-chord card with the tuner and the table, not by its back.
Then the first drill of each pile:
- Note-name cards: shuffle them, draw ten, say the note at each place, and check each against the table.
- Power-chord cards: shuffle them and draw each in turn. Say the string and the fret of its root, and point to that fret. Do not press here: today’s minutes of power-chord work are in Segment 2 and in the study.
Ear Drill: The Six Places
Section titled “Ear Drill: The Six Places”Play the six places of the table from the lowest note to the highest and back, saying each note’s name. Then turn over two note slips, play the two notes, and say which is higher. Put the two slips back and mix the slips. Do this five times.
This is a drill, not a test: you know each answer as you play it.
These six places are the E minor pentatonic notes on strings 3 to 1.
| Note | String | Fret |
|---|---|---|
| G | 3 (G) | 0 (open) |
| A | 3 (G) | 2 |
| B | 2 (B) | 0 (open) |
| D | 2 (B) | 3 |
| E | 1 (high e) | 0 (open) |
| G | 1 (high e) | 3 |
A note slip names one place: write its string and its fret, such as “string 2, fret 3”, or “string 3, open” for an open string.
Play back on the six places of the table only. No two of them sound the same, so a note you hear has one place.
Where two notes in a row are at the same fret on two strings, lift the finger and set its tip on the new string: do not lay it flat across both.
Play the drill once now, with your pile of 48 note slips from Session 4: about a minute.
Copy of Session 13: Ear Test 3, the six-note rhythm, six slips as an example
Ear Test 3, the six-note rhythm, six slips as an example e|------0---------------|-----------3-------| B|----------------------|-------3-------0---| G|--------------2-------|---2---------------| D|----------------------|-------------------| A|----------------------|-------------------| E|----------------------|-------------------| Count: 1 (2) 3 (4) 1 2 3 4 Pick: D D D D D D Finger: - 2 2 3 3 - Notes: E A A D G B
The six-note rhythm is two half notes and then four quarter notes: each half note rings through the count in round brackets after it. The TAB shows it with six slips as an example: the notes of your phrases come from your own slips.
Read the form below. What is new this week: the recording is made with the metronome sounding at 60 BPM, and each playing starts on a click. Make the recording after the session, and mark it on your fourth practice day.
Test 3, play it back, six notes with the metronome. The pile is 48 note slips, eight for each of these six places: string 3 open, string 3 fret 2, string 2 open, string 2 fret 3, string 1 open, string 1 fret 3. An item is six slips in a row from left to right: play their notes as two half notes and then four quarter notes. Record with the metronome sounding at 60 BPM, one count to a click, and start each playing on a click. Play the phrase twice. If you play a note that is not on its slip, say “again” and play the phrase twice more. Record six items. To answer, listen to both playings of an item, stop the recording, play the phrase back once on the six places of the pile, and write the places you played, in order. If you hear “again”, answer from the two playings after the last “again”. Write each place as two figures, the string then the fret, such as 2-3; an open string is 3-0. To mark, deal the key pile six slips to an item. A phrase is right only if every note matched.
Break: 5 minutes. Guitar down.
Segment 4 — Piece Workshop: Root-Finder Study (15 minutes)
Section titled “Segment 4 — Piece Workshop: Root-Finder Study (15 minutes)”“Root-Finder Study”
Section titled ““Root-Finder Study””Credits: Written for this course.
For listening only: “Iron Man” by Black Sabbath, on the album Paranoid (1970). Written by Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi, Ozzy Osbourne and Bill Ward. Listen for the main riff, which you played as single notes in the beginner course: a printed transcription of the song writes it as power chords. The study below is not that song.
What this is: A study: an original exercise written for this course. It is not a song. It is 16 measures of three-string power chords in E minor, one chord to a measure. Each chord is named by its root and the string of its root, and you find its place from the name. You strum each chord once and let it ring, then lift the shape and place it at the next root; you never slide it along the strings. The study uses eight of the nine roots of Session 17. Every root in the study is a note of the E minor scale. C#5 (string 5) is left out because its root, C sharp, is not. At 55 BPM the study takes 1 minute 10 seconds. Not yet play-tested.
Key: E minor
Time: 4/4
Tempo: Start at a new chord every 4 beats at 55 BPM and work up to 60. 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.
Strumming pattern: one strum to a measure, in every measure.
"Root-Finder Study" - the first two measures, one strum to a chord Chord: E5 (string 5) D5 (string 5) Count: 1 (2) (3) (4) | 1 (2) (3) (4) | Strum: D | D |
Strum on beat 1 and let it ring; move during beats 3 and 4.
This shape has no open string, so its sound ends when you lift; that is expected.
"Root-Finder Study" Key: E minor Time: 4/4 (four beats in a measure) | E5 (string 5) | D5 (string 5) | C5 (string 5) | D5 (string 5) | | E5 (string 5) | F#5 (string 6) | G5 (string 6) | A5 (string 6) | | B5 (string 6) | A5 (string 6) | G5 (string 6) | B5 (string 5) | | C5 (string 5) | D5 (string 5) | E5 (string 5) | E5 (string 5) | Strum each chord once, on count 1, and let it ring.
How to Learn This Study:
Three-string power-chord work: no more than 5 minutes a day in total.
Step 1 — Find the roots without pressing: Take one line of the chart. Say each chord’s name aloud and point to the fret of its root on string 6 or string 5, as in “Finding roots”. Do not press.
Step 2 — One strum to a measure: Play the same line at 55 BPM, as the strum block shows: place the shape, strum once on count 1, lift it, and place it at the next root. The sentence under the strum block says when to move.
Step 3 — Join the lines: Play two lines joined, then all four.
In the session, read the lines under the study’s name first, then do Step 1 for all four lines of the chart. Nothing is pressed in Step 1: say each chord’s name aloud, point to the fret of its root on string 6 or string 5, and count 1 2 3 4 aloud for each box. The answer key is the table of roots under “Finding the Nine Roots” in Segment 2.
Then do Step 2 once, on the chart’s first three lines: count in four clicks, then play the 12 measures at 55 BPM, one strum on count 1 of each, lifting and placing the shape with no sliding. That takes about 52 seconds, the last of today’s 4 minutes of power-chord work. Step 3 and the fourth line are for the practice days.
What it should sound like: Record the study with the metronome sounding and count the measures aloud on the recording: 16, with no stop, and each chord begins on count 1. Pluck test: stop on any chord of the chart and pluck its three strings one at a time: 3 strings sound and the tuner shows the root’s letter on the lowest of them. Watch the fretting hand in a mirror, or record it, through one line: the shape leaves the strings and lands again 4 times, and never slides.
”Down by the Salley Gardens” (traditional air; the course’s arrangement in D)
Section titled “”Down by the Salley Gardens” (traditional air; the course’s arrangement in D)”A known piece, from Session 15: play it from the pages of Session 15, with the verse in the down-up strum (Session 16). None of its blocks is printed again here. Today’s power-chord minutes are used up, so this piece fills the rest of the workshop.
First play it once through in its order at 65 BPM, counted in by yourself: the counted measure, the melody, the verse, the melody again, to the rest in the last measure. If the melody did not reach 65 BPM in the week of Session 15, play it at 60 BPM today wherever this part says 65, and take the step to 65 BPM only after three clean runs in a row.
Then the two places that most often stop the piece, each four times in a row at 65 BPM: first the phrase of the melody you marked as the hardest last week; then, in the verse, the measures of Bm (four strings) and A, and the measures of G and A7, in the down-up strum.
Last, play it once through again in its order at 65 BPM, and record it with the metronome sounding. Keep the recording: after the session, follow it on the pages of Session 15 and count the wrong or missed notes of each time through the melody (3 minutes).
Segment 5 — Review and Practice Plan (5 minutes)
Section titled “Segment 5 — Review and Practice Plan (5 minutes)”What You Learned Today
Section titled “What You Learned Today”- The natural notes on strings 6 and 5, and the frets between them
- A power chord found by its root, on string 6 or string 5, lifted and placed
- The Root-Finder Study, one chord every four beats
Common Mistakes
Section titled “Common Mistakes”- The shape is slid along the strings to the next root — Lift the shape off the strings, move the whole hand with the thumb travelling with it, and place it again: a shift, not a slide and not a stretch.
- String 6 sounds under a chord whose root is on string 5 — Read again the line for string 6 under “Placing the Shape at Each Root”: it says what finger 1 does. Strum strings 5, 4 and 3 only.
- A root is one fret out after B or after E — B and C are one fret apart, and so are E and F; every other pair of neighbouring letters is two frets apart. Say the letters aloud as you count the frets.
- The chord stops sounding before the next one and it is taken for a fault — This shape has no open string, so its sound ends when you lift; that is expected. Strum on beat 1, let it ring through beat 2, and move during beats 3 and 4.
Self-Check Questions
Section titled “Self-Check Questions”- On your last practice day, in place of the first 2 minutes of the “Root-Finder Study” row: shuffle the nine power-chord cards face down and lay a sheet of paper over the pile, so that nothing on the top card can be read; draw them one at a time from under the paper, and place the chord named on each, lifting the shape between cards: with the metronome at 60 BPM, draw a card and count the next five clicks. Check: the chord is down when the fifth sounds; then pluck its three strings one at a time and read the tuner for the root. Pass: 7 of the 9 cards, only the three strings sounding. If not: find each failed root in the table under “Finding the Nine Roots” by pointing first, then place it three times, under “Placing the Shape at Each Root” in Segment 2, and try again on your first practice day of Week 18, inside that day’s power-chord minutes.
- Shuffle the fourteen note-name cards, draw ten, and say the natural note at each place. Check: each card against the table of the fourteen places under “Finding the Nine Roots”, or against Fretboard Note Map: the cards have nothing on the back. Pass: 8 of 10 cards. If not: read the table aloud once, string 6 then string 5, then draw ten cards again, under “Note-Name Cards” in Segment 3, and try again the next day.
- By the end of this week’s practice: play the Root-Finder Study from its chart at 60 BPM, one strum on each chord, a new chord every 4 beats, 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, and each chord begins on count 1 of its measure. If not: go back to 55 BPM and to Step 1 and Step 2, one line at a time, under “How to Learn This Study” in Segment 4, and try again after two days.
- Play “Down by the Salley Gardens” once through in its order at 65 BPM, and record it with the metronome sounding. Check: follow the recording on the pages of Session 15 and mark each wrong or missed note. Pass: 48 measures after the counted measure with no stop; at most 3 wrong or missed notes in each time through the melody; and at most 3 measures of the verse in which the chord is wrong, late or not played. If not: play the place that stopped you four times in a row at 60 BPM, then the piece again, under “Down by the Salley Gardens” (traditional air; the course’s arrangement in D) in Segment 4, and try again after two days.
- Read the result you wrote when you marked your recording of Test 3, play it back: six phrases of six notes. Check: the key pile, dealt six slips to an item, against the places you wrote. Pass: 4 of 6, a phrase counting only if every note matched. If not: record the test again after your last practice day of this week, play “Ear Drill: The Six Places” 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 17 (each practice day, 35 minutes)
Section titled “Practice Plan for Week 17 (each practice day, 35 minutes)”Notes on the rows:
- The Rotation row: a power-chord card is one placing, and it adds nothing to the day’s minutes of power-chord work.
- 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; C and G7, a new chord every 2 beats at 60 BPM; D and Bm, a new chord every 4 beats at 65 BPM. One of them a day, in turn.
| Block | Time | Activity |
|---|---|---|
| Warm-Up | 4 min | Movement warm-up, tune; then the crescendo strum; 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 and the nine power-chord cards of E5. 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 |
| Finding roots | 4 min | say the name, point to the fret on string 6 or 5, do not press: all nine roots |
| Root-Finder Study | 4 min | one chord every 4 beats; lift and place, no sliding |
| Note-name cards | 4 min | ten cards: natural notes on strings 6 and 5 |
| Down by the Salley Gardens | 5 min | once through |
| Giuliani: Andantino | 4 min | the whole piece once |
| D major scale | 3 min | quarter notes, the last step before 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.
Three-string power-chord work: no more than 5 minutes a day in total.
Power-chord rows this week: “Root-Finder Study”, 4 minutes. Total: 4 minutes a day.
Two sittings this week: Sitting 1 is the rows from “Warm-Up” to “Root-Finder Study” (19 minutes). Sitting 2 is the rows from “Note-name cards” to “D major scale” (16 minutes). Leave at least an hour between them. Begin Sitting 2 with the movements under “Hand Warm-Up” in Segment 1, and tune again: neither is counted in the minutes.
Ear check this week: on your fourth practice day, mark the recording you made after this session. It takes 6 minutes: that day, leave out the “Down by the Salley Gardens” row and give the “Giuliani: Andantino” row 3 minutes instead of 4.
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 18.
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.
If the item is barre work, slur work, little-finger work or three-string power-chord work, do not add it to your warm-up: play it inside the row of next week’s plan that holds that work, in that row’s minutes. The daily limits do not change.
Guitar Tip — Saga SF-600C-BK
Section titled “Guitar Tip — Saga SF-600C-BK”Use the dot markers on your Saga’s neck at frets 3, 5 and 7 as landmarks for the roots. Six of the nine roots lie at a marked fret: G, A and B on string 6, at frets 3, 5 and 7, and C, D and E on string 5, at the same three frets. F sharp on string 6 and B on string 5 lie one fret below the dot at fret 3, at fret 2, and C sharp on string 5 lies one fret above it, at fret 4.
After the session (not part of the 50 minutes)
- Read: Notes On The Neck, the sections “The Natural Notes on Strings 6 and 5”, “The Frets in Between”, “Finding a Power Chord by Its Root” and “Note-Name Cards”. (15 minutes)
- Read: Moving Along The Neck, the sections “Shifts”, “Power Chords by Root” and “If a Reach Pulls”. (20 minutes)
- Record: this week’s ear check. Use the recorded card test (Session 2) with Test 3, play it back, as Segment 3 gives it. Pass: 4 of 6. (4 minutes)