Session 18: Phase 3 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 3 and teaches nothing new for either hand. You take the D major scale into eighth notes, and you walk through the items of the Phase 3 checkpoint that are new in kind: an unseen TAB passage of four measures, the course’s first unseen chord chart, two unseen measures of staff notation, the theory cards and the two ear tests. The session ends with the programme of the phase, Giuliani’s Andantino and “Down by the Salley Gardens”, one of them from memory: rehearsed in sections, then recorded as one take.

Learning Objectives

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

Record a programme of two pieces in one take, Giuliani’s Andantino and “Down by the Salley Gardens”, each from your own count-in to its written ending, one of them from memory: 2 pieces, no stop, at most 3 wrong or missed notes in either
Play a four-measure TAB passage you have not seen, after 30 seconds of study, recorded at 55 BPM: 4 measures, no stop, at most 1 wrong note
Strum a four-measure chord chart you have not seen, after 30 seconds of study, one strum on each chord at 60 BPM: 4 measures, no stop, every chord on count 1
Play the D major scale, one octave, up and down in eighth notes, from memory at 50 BPM: 2 times in a row with no wrong note
Pass the change test for each of Em and B7, Am7 and D7, and C and G7, a new chord every 2 beats, and for D and Bm (four strings), a new chord every 4 beats: 8 chords with no click missed, for each of the 4 pairs: Em and B7 at 80, Am7 and D7 at 75 and C and G7 at 65 every 2 beats; D and Bm (four strings) at 70 every 4 beats

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 11, 14 and 15 open at Giuliani’s Andantino and “Down by the Salley Gardens”: their blocks are not printed again here
Your pile of theory cards from Phases 1 to 3: the Phase 3 cards are the ones printed at the ends of the sections you read after Sessions 13, 15 and 17
The fourteen note-name cards and the nine power-chord cards of Session 17
The pile of 48 note slips (Session 4) and the pile of 60 cell slips (Session 15), a pen and paper: the recordings for the checkpoint are made after this session
Handout for this session: Performing A Programme (read after the session, 5 minutes)
Staff reading this week: Reading Staff Notation 1, the section “Lines for Week 18”
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

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.

Play the crescendo strum (Session 10) on Em once through the block at 70 BPM, the figure it reached in Session 15.

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. Their diagrams are not printed again here.

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: The Scale in Eighth Notes, and Four Change Tests (10 minutes)

The D Major Scale in Eighth Notes

No new skill here: the D major scale of Session 15 goes from one note to a click to two. Its block in eighth notes, printed first in Session 15, stands below.

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

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

D major scale, in eighth notes: two notes per click. The top D is played once. The last D lasts a full beat.

Now two notes per click (eighth notes): set the metronome to 40 BPM. That is exactly as fast as one note per click at 80 BPM.

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.

Play the block up and down three times at 40 BPM, two notes per click. Then play it once more from memory, with the block out of sight: scrolled off the screen, or the printed page turned over.

Tempo: 40 BPM, two notes per click (eighth notes)

On the practice days the “D major scale” row may reach 50 BPM this week. 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.

The Change Tests of Phase 3

This is the change test (Beginner Session 3) for the four pairs of this phase. Start with Em and B7 (Session 4), a new chord every 2 beats at 75 BPM: one downstroke on beat 1 and one on beat 3. Play eight chords in a row, rest, then eight more.

Then Am7 and D7 (Session 10) the same way, a new chord every 2 beats at 70 BPM: eight chords, twice.

Then C and G7 (Session 13), a new chord every 2 beats at 60 BPM, as you took it in Session 16: eight chords, twice.

Last, D and Bm (four strings) (Session 15), a new chord every 4 beats at 65 BPM: eight chords, once. This pair is never asked every 2 beats.

These four pairs and G and D7 are the five pairs of exit criterion E3 in Course Overview. G and D7 finished its ladder at 80 BPM in Session 13, and you play it in this week’s “Rotation” row.

Each pair starts the week at the figure given here and may reach, by the end of the week, the figure that objective 5 under “Learning Objectives” gives it, in the “Change test” row. 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.

Segment 3 — New Learning: The Phase 3 Checkpoint, Item by Item (15 minutes)

Unseen TAB

The checkpoint asks you to play a four-measure TAB passage you have not seen, in quarter and eighth notes, with a longer note where a phrase ends, at frets 0 to 3. You play it after 30 seconds of study, and you record it. The pass mark is no stop and at most 1 wrong note.

You take an unseen TAB passage by the routine of Session 6, here, on your practice days and in the 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.

Take the passage below now, once, by the routine at 50 BPM.

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

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

Unseen Chart

The checkpoint asks you to strum a four-measure chord chart you have not seen, one chord to a measure, after 30 seconds of study, with one strum on each chord. The pass mark is no stop, and every chord in its measure. This is the first unseen chart of the course.

Strum on beat 1 and let it ring; move during beats 3 and 4.

You take it by one routine, here, on your practice days and in the checkpoint alike:

The unseen chart routine: (1) Set the metronome to 60 BPM. (2) Study the chart for 30 seconds without playing: its Key and Time line, each chord, any measure that holds two chords, and any repeat signs or endings. (3) Start the recording. (4) Count one measure aloud. (5) Strum the chart once, to the end, without stopping, one strum on each chord. (6) Follow the recording on the chart and count the chords that do not fall in their measure.

Take the chart below now, once, by the routine at 60 BPM.

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

The chart for today

Unseen chart 1

Key: G major        Time: 4/4 (four beats in a measure)

Chart 1, 4 measures:

| G  | C  | G  | D7 |

Two Unseen Staff Measures

No staff notation is printed in a session, so nothing is played here: this part says what the checkpoint asks and how you practise it this week.

The checkpoint asks you to play two measures of staff notation you have not seen, on strings 1 to 3, in half, quarter and eighth notes, at 50 BPM, after 30 seconds of study, and to record them. You check the recording against their TAB under “Answers” at the end of the checkpoint file. The pass mark is no stop and at most 1 wrong note. The routine:

The unseen staff routine: (1) Set the metronome to 50 BPM. (2) Study the passage for 30 seconds without playing: its first note and its last, its lowest note and its highest, and any eighth notes. (3) Start the recording. (4) Count one measure aloud. (5) Play the passage once, to the end, without stopping. (6) Check the recording against the passage’s TAB under “Answers” and count the wrong notes.

On the third practice day this is the item of the “Checkpoint items” row, and it is done inside the “Staff reading” row: on that day the two rows are one piece of work. Begin the “Staff reading” row with that day’s line of the staff handout, under “Lines for Week 18”: take its first two measures once by the routine above, at 50 BPM, recorded, then compare them with the line’s answer. Then read the whole line by its usual five steps. Nothing more is done in the “Checkpoint items” row that day.

Theory Cards

The theory cards of Phases 1 to 3 come back today: the cards you wrote from the theory handouts after their sessions, each with the question on the front and the handout’s answer on the back.

The Phase 3 cards are the fifteen that the handouts print at the ends of their sections: in Keys And Their Chords, three under “The Chords of a Key”, two under “The Turnaround” and three under “The Key of D”; in Notes On The Neck, three under “The Natural Notes on Strings 6 and 5”, two under “The Frets in Between” and two under “Finding a Power Chord by Its Root”. If one of them is not yet written, write it this week, after the session, from the question printed there: no card is written in the session’s minutes.

Now shuffle the whole pile and keep it question side up. Draw ten cards, one at a time: answer each aloud, then turn it over and read the answer on its back. The checkpoint asks ten cards and passes at 8.

The note-name cards of Session 17 are another day’s item of the “Checkpoint items” row: ten cards drawn, each checked against the table of the fourteen places under “Finding the Nine Roots” in Session 17, because the cards have nothing on the back; 8 to pass. Do not draw them now.

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.

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.

Do the drill once now.

You make the recording of Test 3 after the session, and you do not mark it this week: you mark it when you take the Phase 3 checkpoint. The paragraph below is for that recording.

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.

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 too, and you do not mark it this week: you mark it when you take the Phase 3 checkpoint. The paragraph below is for that recording.

Test 5, rhythm recall, two measures. The pile is 60 cell slips: the 38 of Session 9 and 22 more: 6 marked “quarter”, 6 marked “two eighths”, 4 marked “four sixteenths” and 6 marked “rest”. An item is eight slips in a row from left to right: the eight beats of two measures. 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 eight slips to an item. A rhythm is right only if every cell matched.

Kept for Your Practice Days

The passage and the chart below are for the “Checkpoint items” row of this week’s plan: the passage on the first practice day, the chart on the second. On its day, take each once by its routine, under “Unseen TAB” or “Unseen Chart”, with the metronome at the figure the “Checkpoint items” row of the week’s table gives it, in place of the figure in step (1) of the routine, and record it. Self-Check Questions 1 and 2 are answered from those two recordings. Neither is printed in any other file, and the Phase 3 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 2
e|----------------------|-----------------------------------|
B|----------------------|-------0---3-------0---------------|
G|----------0---2---0---|---2-----------------------2-------|
D|------2---------------|-----------------------------------|
A|----------------------|-----------------------------------|
E|----------------------|-----------------------------------|
Count:  1   2   3   4       1   &   2       3       4
Pick:   D   D   D   D       D   U   D       D       D
Finger: 2   -   2   -       2   -   3       -       2
Notes:  E   G   A   G       A   B   D       B       A

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

The chart for practice day 2

Unseen chart 2

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

Chart 2, 4 measures:

| Em | Am | Em | B7 |

Break: 5 minutes. Guitar down.

Segment 4 — Piece Workshop: The Phase 3 Programme (15 minutes)

Your Programme

The programme of this phase is two pieces: Giuliani: “Andantino”, Op. 50 no. 1 (Sessions 11 and 14) and “Down by the Salley Gardens” (traditional air; the course’s arrangement in D) (Session 15). Neither is printed again here: play each from its own pages. They are the two pieces this week rehearses, and the programme of the Phase 3 checkpoint is the same two.

Choose the order of the two pieces, and which of them you play from memory. Write both choices down.

In a programme 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.

That count-in is what “your own count-in” means. The two performance tempos are 55 BPM for the Andantino and 65 BPM for “Down by the Salley Gardens”.

A piece that begins with pick-up notes is counted in as its page prints it: the tune’s own counted measure is the count-in.

For “Down by the Salley Gardens” the measure you count aloud is the tune’s own counted measure: say 1, 2, 3, and play the two pick-up notes on 4 and &.

The two pieces are one take: the recording is not stopped between them.

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.

In this programme that holds in the strummed verse of “Down by the Salley Gardens”.

The checkpoint’s pass mark for the programme: no stop; each piece reaches its written ending; at most 3 wrong or missed notes in either piece.

The Andantino is also tested on its own at the checkpoint, with the metronome sounding at 55 BPM, as item 14. That item closes the piece: once you pass it, it is tested again only if you choose it for your final programme.

Sections First

This week’s “Programme” row works on sections on four practice days and records one take on the last. Today, the sections.

The Andantino first: measures 1 to 8 twice, then measures 17 to 24 twice, at 55 BPM with the metronome sounding. If the Andantino is your memory piece, play the first of each pair from the page and the second with the page out of sight.

Your memory piece is learnt by the routine named “How to memorise a piece” in Beginner Session 6, which Performing A Programme prints under “Playing from Memory”: you read it after this session. A piece counts as memorised when you have played it from memory, start to finish, on three different days, so begin the routine on your first practice day.

Then “Down by the Salley Gardens” at 65 BPM: the hardest phrase of the melody, the one you marked in Session 16, then the measures of Bm (four strings) and A in the verse, each three times in a row. If the tune is your memory piece, play the third time with the page out of sight.

One Take

Now make today’s one take, in the order you chose. The steps here take the Andantino first: if you chose the other order, take them the other way round.

Start the recording and say the name of the piece. Count in as “Your Programme” sets out, at 55 BPM: in 3/4 the measure you count aloud is three counts. Then play the Andantino, all of it, to the C that is left to ring. No click sounds while you play. Keep the count through a slip and come in on the next beat 1; if you stop, the take ends at the stop.

Without stopping the recording, count in “Down by the Salley Gardens” at 65 BPM. Its own counted measure is your count-in: say 1, 2, 3 aloud and play the two pick-up notes on 4 and &; no other measure is counted before it. Then play the tune in its order, the melody, the strummed verse and the melody again, to the rest in its last measure. No click sounds while you play.

Stop the recording. Write down, from memory of the take, the places where you slipped. Listen to the recording after the session, with each piece’s page in front of you, and mark it as the checkpoint marks a take. This take is practice: the take that is marked is made at the checkpoint. It is today’s one take: make no second take today.

Segment 5 — Review and Practice Plan (5 minutes)

What You Achieved in Phase 3

G7 and C7, and the chords of a key
The whole of Giuliani’s Andantino
Bm on four strings, and a complete tune in D
A melody read from the staff
A power chord found anywhere by its root

Common Mistakes

Stopping an unseen passage to put a wrong note right — The pass mark allows a wrong note and does not allow a stop. Keep counting aloud and come in again on the next count 1.
Starting the second piece of the programme at the first piece’s tempo — Each piece has its own count-in at its own tempo, as “Your Programme” in Segment 4 gives it.
The memory piece is only ever played from its first measure — Practise starting it from measure 9, from measure 17 and from measure 25 with the page out of sight, so that a slip does not send you back to the beginning.

Self-Check Questions

Read the mark you gave the unseen TAB passage under “Kept for Your Practice Days” on the first practice day, when you opened its block: studied for 30 seconds without playing, then played once at 55 BPM by the routine and recorded. Check: that day’s recording, followed on the TAB, with the wrong notes counted. Pass: 4 measures with no stop, and at most 1 wrong note. If not: read the line of its routine aloud, then play the same passage again at 50 BPM, under “Unseen TAB” in Segment 3, and try again the next day, before you take the checkpoint, which has a passage of its own that you have not seen.
Read the mark you gave the unseen chart under “Kept for Your Practice Days” on the second practice day, when you opened its block: studied for 30 seconds without playing, then strummed once at 60 BPM, one strum on each chord, and recorded with the metronome sounding. Check: listen to the recording with the chart in front of you and count 1 2 3 4 aloud. Pass: 4 measures with no stop, and each of the 4 chords begins on count 1. If not: say the four chord names aloud and place each change once without strumming, then strum the chart again, under “Unseen Chart” in Segment 3, and try again the next day, before you take the checkpoint, which has a chart you have not seen.
By the end of this week’s practice: play the D major scale, one octave, up and down in eighth notes at 50 BPM, from memory, and record it with the metronome sounding. Check: follow the recording on the scale’s TAB, note by note. Pass: 2 times in a row with no wrong note. If not: go back to 40 BPM and take one step of 5 BPM after three clean runs in a row, under “The D Major Scale in Eighth Notes” in Segment 2, and try again after two days, before you take the checkpoint.
By the end of this week’s practice: pass the change test for Em and B7 at 80 BPM, Am7 and D7 at 75 and C and G7 at 65, a new chord every 2 beats, and for D and Bm (four strings) at 70, a new chord every 4 beats. Check: the metronome clicks the beat; one strum on each chord, counted aloud. Pass: 8 chords with no click missed, for each of the 4 pairs. If not: take the pair that failed back to the figure printed for it and climb 5 BPM at a time, under “The Change Tests of Phase 3” in Segment 2, and try again the next day, before you take the checkpoint.
On the last practice day, record your programme in one take: Giuliani’s Andantino and “Down by the Salley Gardens”, each from your own count-in (eight clicks of the metronome before each piece, then one measure counted aloud, and no click while you play), one of them from memory. Check: follow the recording on the page of each piece and mark each wrong or missed note; in the strummed verse, 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, and at most 3 wrong or missed notes in either. If not: work on the sections where the marks are, in the “Programme” row (one take a day: a take with a stop ends at the stop, and the next begins with the first piece), under “Sections First” in Segment 4, and try again on a later day, before you take the checkpoint.
On its day in the “Checkpoint items” row: shuffle your theory cards of Phases 1 to 3, draw ten, and answer each aloud before you turn it over. Check: turn each card over and read the answer written on its back. Pass: 8 of 10 cards. If not: read the back of each card you missed aloud, and find its statement in the theory handout it came from, under “Theory Cards” in Segment 3, and try again the next day, with ten cards drawn again, before you take the checkpoint.

Practice Plan for Week 18 (each practice day, 35 minutes)

Notes on the rows:

The “Warm-Up” row: on the last two practice days, end it with eight measures of D D U U D U on G and C, at 80 BPM on the first of the two days and at 85 BPM on the second, as the Phase 3 checkpoint asks.
Rotation this week, the change-test pair: G and D7, a new chord every 2 beats at 80 BPM, every day.
The “Checkpoint items” row: one item a day. Day 1, the unseen TAB passage under “Kept for Your Practice Days” in Segment 3; day 2, the unseen chart under the same heading; day 3, the first two measures of the day’s staff line, taken the checkpoint’s way at the start of the “Staff reading” row; day 4, ten theory cards; day 5, ten note-name cards.

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
Programme	12 min	Giuliani’s Andantino and Down by the Salley Gardens, one from memory: sections on four days, one recorded take on the last
Root-Finder Study	3 min	once through
D major scale	3 min	now in eighth notes
Change test	3 min	Em-B7, Am7-D7 and C-G7 at 2 beats; D-Bm at 4 beats
Checkpoint items	3 min	one of these a day: unseen TAB at 55; an unseen four-measure chart at 60, one strum to a chord; two unseen staff measures at 50; ten theory cards; ten note-name cards. (Tests 3 and 5 are recorded after this session and marked at the checkpoint.)

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”, 3 minutes. Total: 3 minutes a day.

Two sittings this week: Sitting 1 is the rows from “Warm-Up” to “Programme” (23 minutes). Sitting 2 is the rows from “Root-Finder Study” to “Checkpoint items” (12 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.

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 3 Checkpoint next, on another day, before you start Session 19.

Any no: take the Phase 3 checkpoint all the same: its own rule decides what happens next.

Guitar Tip — Saga SF-600C-BK

Before you start a take, find the phone’s place. Lay it about an arm’s length in front of the soundhole of the Saga, so that the playback shows every string. If a second device gives the metronome’s clicks, set that device on another surface, not beside the phone. Record a few seconds first: pluck each open string once, from string 6 to string 1, and play the recording back. If a string cannot be heard on the playback, move the phone and record the few seconds again. Then leave the phone where it is until the last note of the second piece.

After the session (not part of the 50 minutes)

Read: Phase 3 Checkpoint, the section “How to Use This Checkpoint”. (5 minutes)
Read: Performing A Programme, the section “Playing from Memory”. (5 minutes)
Record: the recordings for the Phase 3 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 3, play it back; and Test 5, rhythm recall, as Segment 3 gives them. (8 minutes)