Session 22: Lighter Week: A Chorus of Your Own

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. You learn to cut a fretted note short by relaxing the fretting finger, on the six places of A minor pentatonic at frets 5 and 7 on strings 5, 4 and 3. You read the staff notes of strings 4 and 5 and the key signature of G, with the staff handout open. The session ends with “Your Own Blues Chorus”: twelve measures of your own over your recording of the “Shuffle Blues in A” from Session 21.

Learning Objectives

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

Play the staccato drill on strings 5, 4 and 3 at 60 BPM so that each dotted note stops before the next begins and no open string sounds: 10 short notes
Play one chorus of your own over the second chorus of your recorded backing, by the task’s rule, and mark its tick list: 12 measures, 5 ticks
Play A minor pentatonic in fifth position, two octaves, up and down in quarter notes at 70 BPM, one note per click: 21 notes, 2 times in a row
Play the fifth day’s staff line of this week, on strings 4 to 2 with the key signature of G, by the handout’s routine, the last of its three playings at 50 BPM: 1 line, with at most 1 wrong note
Say “major”, “minor” or “dominant seventh” for each strummed chord of your own recording of Test 6: 10 items, 8 right

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

Materials Needed

Your Saga SF-600C-BK guitar
A guitar pick
A clip-on tuner or phone tuner app
A metronome
A phone that records sound
Your recording of the “Shuffle Blues in A” (Session 21), and a way to play it back while you play
The pile of 18 chord slips (Session 8) and a pen, for this week’s ear check
Reading Staff Notation 2, open at the section “Stage 3: Strings 4 and 5”
Handout for this session: Blues And Improvising (optional reading, after the session)
Staff reading this week: Reading Staff Notation 2, the section “Lines for Week 22”
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 Am7 (Session 9) and D7 (Session 2), a new chord every 2 beats at 75 BPM: eight chords, once.

Then the change test for C and G7 (Session 13), a new chord every 2 beats at 65 BPM: eight chords, once.

Then the change test for D and Bm (four strings) (Session 15), a new chord every 4 beats at 70 BPM: eight chords, once.

On the practice days the three change tests may reach 80, 70 and 75 BPM this week, in the order above. 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:

A (four strings) (Session 19), at fret 5: place it by the four steps of “How a Barre Works” (Session 19), then press, pluck strings 4 to 1 one at a time, release completely and shake out the hand. 4 presses. Its diagram, its lines and the dead-string table are in Session 19, under “Presses at Fret 5”.

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: Staccato (10 minutes)

A Minor Pentatonic at Fret 5

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

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.

This is last week’s scale, played as a drill. Move your whole hand to fifth position, one finger to each fret, as Session 21, “The Scale and Two Phrases” shows. Then play the scale up and down three times at 65 BPM, one note per click.

Copy of Session 21: A minor pentatonic, two octaves, fifth position

A minor pentatonic, two octaves, fifth position: up and down, quarter notes
e|----------------------|-------------------|-----------5-------|
B|----------------------|-------------------|---5---8-------8---|
G|----------------------|-----------5---7---|-------------------|
D|----------------------|---5---7-----------|-------------------|
A|--------------5---7---|-------------------|-------------------|
E|------5---8-----------|-------------------|-------------------|
Count:  1   2   3   4       1   2   3   4       1   2   3   4
Pick:   D   U   D   U       D   U   D   U       D   U   D   U
Finger: 1   4   1   3       1   3   1   3       1   4   1   4
Notes:  A   C   D   E       G   A   C   D       E   G   A   G

e|----------------------|-------------------|-------------------|
B|------5---------------|-------------------|-------------------|
G|----------7---5-------|-------------------|-------------------|
D|------------------7---|---5---------------|-------------------|
A|----------------------|-------7---5-------|-------------------|
E|----------------------|---------------8---|---5---------------|
Count:  1   2   3   4       1   2   3   4       1  (2) (3) (4)
Pick:   D   U   D   U       D   U   D   U       D
Finger: 1   3   1   3       1   3   1   4       1
Notes:  E   D   C   A       G   E   D   C       A

A minor pentatonic in fifth position, in quarter notes: one note per click. The top A is played once. The last A lasts four beats: let it ring while you count (2) (3) (4).

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: Start at 65 BPM, one note per click (quarter notes) and work up to 70. Raise the metronome 5 BPM at a time, and only after three clean runs in a row. This week, take one step at most.

Staccato

Staccato — Played short: the note or chord is stopped at once, so that there is a silence before the next one. A strummed chord is stopped with the rest stop; a single fretted note by relaxing the fretting finger so that it stops pressing and still touches the string. (Session 22)

To cut a fretted note short, pick it and at once relax the finger that holds it, so that the finger still touches the string but no longer presses it down. Do not lift the finger off the string. A strummed chord marked short is stopped with the rest stop.

The rest stop is the one you learned in Session 3. No note on an open string is marked short anywhere in this course.

Try it on one note, with no metronome. Put finger 1 on string 5 at fret 5. Pick the note, relax the finger at once and keep it touching the string: 8 notes. Then the same with finger 3 on string 5 at fret 7: 8 notes. After each note, listen: the note has stopped, and no open string sounds.

Short row — A row labelled “Short:” under a TAB or pattern. A dot in it means that the note or chord above it is played staccato. (Session 22)

The staccato drill is the six notes of A minor pentatonic on strings 5, 4 and 3 at frets 5 and 7, up and back, with fingers 1 and 3.

e|----------------------|-------------------|-------------------|
B|----------------------|-------------------|-------------------|
G|----------------------|---5---7---5-------|-------------------|
D|--------------5---7---|---------------7---|---5---------------|
A|------5---7-----------|-------------------|-------7---5-------|
E|----------------------|-------------------|-------------------|
Count:  1   2   3   4       1   2   3   4       1   2   3  (4)
Pick:   D   U   D   U       D   U   D   U       D   U   D
Finger: 1   3   1   3       1   3   1   3       1   3   1
Short:  .   .   .   .       .   .   .   .       .   .

A dot in the Short row means that the note or chord above it is played short (staccato): play it, then stop its sound straight away. A note with no dot rings for its full length.

Tempo: 60 BPM, one note per click (quarter notes)

The drill is a scale run, so the pick alternates, as its Pick row shows; its last note has no dot and rings on.

Play the drill once slowly with no metronome. Then play it four times at 60 BPM, letting four clicks pass between plays. It stays at 60 BPM all week: this figure is not raised.

Segment 3 — New Learning: Staff Notes on Strings 4 and 5 (15 minutes)

Staff Notes on Strings 4 and 5

No staff is printed in a session. Open Reading Staff Notation 2 at the section “Stage 3: Strings 4 and 5”. Its first staff and its table hold the six new notes.

Say the six notes in order and find each on the guitar: pluck it and read the tuner. A is string 5, open. B is string 5, fret 2. C is string 5, fret 3. D is string 4, open. E is string 4, fret 2. F is string 4, fret 3.

Then say where each sits on the staff. A, B and C hang below the staff on ledger lines: A on the second ledger line below the staff, B under the first ledger line, C on the first ledger line. D sits under the bottom line, E on the bottom line, F in the first space.

Then cover the handout’s table and name the six notes from the staff alone. Count how many you named right.

The Key Signature of G:

Look at the handout’s second staff and its table. The one sharp at the start of each line stands on the top line, F. It holds for every F of the line, high or low, and no sign is printed beside the note. This is a key signature (Session 7).

Find the two F sharps of this stage. F sharp on string 1 at fret 2, with finger 2: press it, pluck it and read the tuner. F sharp on string 4 at fret 4, with finger 4: point to it without pressing it today, because today’s little-finger work is the scale in Segment 2.

Then find two places in the handout. The routine of the three-minute “Staff reading” row is under “How to Read a Day’s Line”. This week’s five lines are under “Lines for Week 22”: read one line a day, and do not look ahead.

Sixteenth Notes on Two Chords

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.

Play the plain sixteenth-note pattern (Session 8) at 50 BPM, four strums per click.

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

Tempo: 50 BPM, four strums per click (sixteenth notes)

50 BPM is the highest figure this course sets for this pattern, so it does not go up.

New in this week’s row: any two chords, one to a measure. Today play Em and Am: four measures, Em, Am, Em, Am, three times, letting four clicks pass between plays.

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: the nine chords, each strummed once and left to ring, saying its kind aloud.

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.

Read now what happens after the session. The pile is the 18 chord slips you wrote in Session 8, so no slip is new. You record the ten items with the recorded card test (Session 2), in the 3 minutes of the Record line under “After the session”. You mark the recording on your fourth practice day, in 2 minutes taken from the “Your Own Blues Chorus” row. Nothing is recorded or marked in the session.

Break: 5 minutes. Guitar down.

Segment 4 — Piece Workshop: Your Own Blues Chorus (15 minutes)

“Your Own Blues Chorus”

Credits: Written for this course.

What this is: A task, not a piece: you make up twelve measures of your own over your recording of the “Shuffle Blues in A”, with the six notes of A minor pentatonic at frets 5 and 7 on strings 5, 4 and 3, by the rule printed below. Not yet play-tested.

Key: A major

Your solo uses A minor pentatonic: the minor pentatonic on the home note of your backing, which is in A major.

Time: 4/4

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

Strumming pattern: the shuffle in measures 1 to 10 of the 12-bar form; in measure 11, the shuffle for three beats and the rest stop on beat 4; in measure 12 and in the first measure of the ending, one downstroke on beat 1 and the rest stop on beat 2; in the last measure, one downstroke on beat 1, left to ring.

The task has no tempo of its own: you play it at the tempo of your recording.

The Backing

The backing is the recording of the “Shuffle Blues in A” that you made in Session 21. You do not record it again today, unless it did not get its three ticks (below). These are its chart and its strum:

Copy of Session 20: “Shuffle Blues in A” - the chords, one to a measure

"Shuffle Blues in A" - the chords, one to a measure

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

The 12-bar form, 12 measures:

| A5 | A5 | A5 | A5 |
| D5 | D5 | A5 | A5 |
| E5 | D5 | A5 | E7 |

Ending, 2 measures:

| D7 | A7 |

Play the 12-bar form three times, then the ending: 38 measures as played.

Copy of Session 20: “Shuffle Blues in A” - one measure of the shuffle

"Shuffle Blues in A" - one measure of the shuffle
Chord:  A5
e|--------------------------------------|
B|--------------------------------------|
G|--------------------------------------|
D|------2---2---2---2---2---2---2---2---|
A|------0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0---|
E|--------------------------------------|
Count:  1   &   2   &   3   &   4   &
Strum:  D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U
PM:     PM  PM  PM  PM  PM  PM  PM  PM

What you need to know about the recording:

One chorus is twelve measures: A5 for four measures; D5 for two and A5 for two; E5, D5, A5 and E7.
In measure 11 the recording stops on beat 4. In measure 12 it plays one E7 chord on beat 1 and is silent for three beats. That is how you hear a chorus end.
The three choruses are measures 1 to 12, 13 to 24 and 25 to 36 of the recording.

If your recording did not get its three ticks under “Hear It Back” in Session 21, record it again now, as Session 21, “Record Your Backing” says.

If you lose your place while recording, stop, let four clicks pass, and start again from measure 1.

If your phone cannot record while its metronome app is sounding, listen to eight clicks, stop the metronome, and keep that beat with your foot.

Recording it again takes 2 minutes 24 seconds, so in that case leave Step 3 of “How to Learn This Task” for your first practice day.

The Note Pool

You play six notes: the notes of A minor pentatonic on strings 5, 4 and 3, at frets 5 and 7.

Note	String	Fret	Finger
D	5 (A)	5	1 (index)
E	5 (A)	7	3 (ring)
G	4 (D)	5	1 (index)
A	4 (D)	7	3 (ring)
C	3 (G)	5	1 (index)
D	3 (G)	7	3 (ring)

The home note A is string 4, fret 7.

The pool is six places and not the whole pattern because none of these six notes needs the little finger, and the week’s plan counts no little-finger minutes for this task.

Play the six places from the lowest to the highest and back, saying each note’s name, and let every note ring for its full length. These are the notes of the staccato drill in Segment 2, now with no note cut short.

The Model Phrases

Four model phrases to start from. The table says where each one fits in a chorus:

Phrase	Length	Where it fits in a chorus	The recording plays	Notes	Last note
1	2 measures	measures 1 and 2	A5, A5	A C D C, A	A, the root of A5, held four beats
2	2 measures	measures 5 and 6	D5, D5	D C A C, D	D, the root of D5, held four beats
3	1 measure	measure 9	E5	E G E	E, the root of E5, held two beats
4	2 measures	measures 10 and 11	D5, A5	D E G, A	A, the root of A5, on beat 1 of measure 11, held four beats

"Your Own Blues Chorus" - model phrase 1
e|----------------------|-------------------|
B|----------------------|-------------------|
G|----------5---7---5---|-------------------|
D|------7---------------|---7---------------|
A|----------------------|-------------------|
E|----------------------|-------------------|
Count:  1   2   3   4       1  (2) (3) (4)
Pick:   D   D   D   D       D
Finger: 3   1   3   1       3
Notes:  A   C   D   C       A

"Your Own Blues Chorus" - model phrase 2
e|----------------------|-------------------|
B|----------------------|-------------------|
G|------7---5-------5---|---7---------------|
D|--------------7-------|-------------------|
A|----------------------|-------------------|
E|----------------------|-------------------|
Count:  1   2   3   4       1  (2) (3) (4)
Pick:   D   D   D   D       D
Finger: 3   1   3   1       3
Notes:  D   C   A   C       D

"Your Own Blues Chorus" - model phrase 3
e|----------------------|
B|----------------------|
G|----------------------|
D|----------5-----------|
A|------7-------7-------|
E|----------------------|
Count:  1   2   3  (4)
Pick:   D   D   D
Finger: 3   1   3
Notes:  E   G   E

"Your Own Blues Chorus" - model phrase 4
e|----------------------|-------------------|
B|----------------------|-------------------|
G|----------------------|-------------------|
D|--------------5-------|---7---------------|
A|------5---7-----------|-------------------|
E|----------------------|-------------------|
Count:  1   2   3  (4)      1  (2) (3) (4)
Pick:   D   D   D           D
Finger: 1   3   1           3
Notes:  D   E   G           A

Play each model phrase two times at 65 BPM, the tempo of your recording, each time after four clicks.

The Rule

The map is one chorus made only of the model phrases:

Measures of the chorus	Your recording plays	You play
1 and 2	A5, A5	Model phrase 1
3 and 4	A5, A5	Nothing new: count the eight beats
5 and 6	D5, D5	Model phrase 2
7 and 8	A5, A5	Nothing new: count the eight beats
9	E5	Model phrase 3
10 and 11	D5, then A5, stopping on beat 4	Model phrase 4: your last note is A, on beat 1 of measure 11
12	one E7 chord, then silence	Nothing

One chorus of your own is:

Twelve measures: one chorus, over the second chorus of your recording. During the first chorus you listen and count, and move your hand to fret 5.
These notes only: the six notes of A minor pentatonic at fret 5 and fret 7 on strings 5, 4 and 3, with finger 1 at fret 5 and finger 3 at fret 7; one note at a time, every note picked, and no note shorter than one beat.
Short phrases: a phrase is six notes at most, and it ends on a note that lasts two beats or longer.
Empty measures: at least three of the twelve measures have no new note. Measure 12 is one of them.
The ending: your last note is A, the home note (string 4, fret 7), on beat 1 of measure 11.

These are the rules for a solo that you met in Beginner Session 22 and in Session 4, with numbers you can count: short phrases, empty measures, and the home note at the end. Read them now; nothing is played.

The Tick List

I played over the second chorus of my recording, and I played nothing new after beat 1 of measure 11.
Every note was at fret 5 or fret 7 on strings 5, 4 and 3, and I picked every note, no more than one to a click.
No phrase had more than six notes.
At least three measures had no new note, and measure 12 was one of them.
My last note was A (string 4, fret 7), on beat 1 of measure 11.

Five ticks is a pass.

If one is missing, play the map once more, then try again.

If your phone cannot play the backing and record you at the same time, play with the backing sounding and judge it as you play; checking it on a recording then needs a second device.

In the second tick, the place of each note is marked from what you saw your hand do as you played, and so is whether it was picked: a recording does not show the place a note was played at, or whether it was picked.

With a second device, record your chorus while the recording of the backing plays, and count on playback with the chart in front of you. The rest of the second tick and the other four ticks are counted on playback. The recording’s stop in measure 11 and its E7 chord in measure 12 show where a chorus ends.

How to Learn This Task

Steps 1 and 2 are one pass of your recording, at 65 BPM, the tempo you recorded it at. Step 3 is a second pass.

Step 1 — Listen and count through the first chorus: Start the recording. Through its first chorus play nothing: count the twelve measures and move your hand to fret 5.

Step 2 — The map: Over the second chorus play the four model phrases where the map puts them. In this chorus no note is your own.

Play the map from the table under “The Rule”. Then let the third chorus and the ending run, and keep counting.

Stop your last A on beat 1 of measure 12. In Session 3 you made a rest after a strummed chord with the rest stop.

In a picked line a rest is made with the same rest stop: lay the edge of your picking-hand palm across the strings you have played.

If you lose your place while playing, stop, listen for the next ONE on the recording, and come in again there.

Step 3 — A chorus of your own: On the next pass of the recording, play a chorus of your own over its second chorus, by the rule. Then mark the tick list.

Start the recording again, and listen and count through the first chorus. Stop the recording after the E7 chord of measure 24, at the end of your chorus, and mark the tick list at once.

What it should sound like: Count the twelve measures of the second chorus aloud as you play: your last note is A on beat 1 of measure 11. Count the measures in which you played no new note: at least 3, and measure 12 is one of them. With a second device, record your chorus while the backing plays and count the notes of each phrase on playback: no phrase has more than 6.

Segment 5 — Review and Practice Plan (5 minutes)

What You Learned Today

Staccato on a fretted note, by relaxing the fretting finger
The Short row and its dot
Six staff notes on strings 4 and 5, and the key signature of G
Twelve measures of your own over your recording, by a rule with five ticks

Common Mistakes

An open string sounds between two staccato notes — The finger left the string. Let it relax and stay touching the string, so that the string is stopped and cannot ring open.
The short note is stopped by the pick or by the picking hand — In a single fretted note the fretting finger does the stopping: pick, then relax that finger at once. The rest stop is for a strummed chord and for a rest.
The solo begins in the first chorus of the recording — The first chorus is for listening and counting. Count its twelve measures, hear the one E7 chord and its three silent beats, and come in on the next ONE.
One phrase runs into the next with no empty measure — End each phrase on a note that lasts two beats or longer, then count eight beats before the next: the rule asks for at least three measures with no new note.

Self-Check Questions

Play the staccato drill once at 60 BPM, one note per click, and record it with the metronome sounding. Check: listen to the recording and count the short notes. Pass: all 10 dotted notes stop before the next note begins, and 0 open strings sound between them. If not: play single short notes with no metronome, 8 on each of the six places: let the finger relax and stay touching the string, under “Staccato” in Segment 2, and try again the next day.
Play one chorus of your own over the second chorus of your recording of the Shuffle Blues in A, by the rule, and mark the tick list at once. Check: count the ticks; with one device only, judge it as you play, and with a second device count on a recording. Pass: 5 ticks. If not: play the map once more, under “How to Learn This Task” in Segment 4, and try again the next day.
By the end of this week’s practice: play A minor pentatonic in fifth position, two octaves, up and down in quarter notes at 70 BPM, one note per click, and record it with the metronome sounding. Check: follow the recording on the scale’s TAB. Pass: 21 notes with no wrong note, 2 times in a row. If not: go back to 65 BPM for two days, inside the day’s little-finger minutes, under “A Minor Pentatonic at Fret 5” in Segment 2, and try again after those two days.
Read the fifth day’s line under “Lines for Week 22” in the staff handout by its routine, and record the last of its three playings, with the metronome at 50 BPM. Check: follow the recording on the line’s TAB under “Answers” in the handout. Pass: no stop and at most 1 wrong note. If not: name the six notes from the handout’s first staff once a day for three days, finding each on the guitar, under “Staff Notes on Strings 4 and 5” in Segment 3, and try again on the fifth practice day of the week you repeat, with the same line.
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 22 (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 80 BPM. One of them a day, in turn.
The Staff reading row: read one line a day from the section “Lines for Week 22” of Reading Staff Notation 2, by the routine under “How to Read a Day’s Line”.
The Your Own Blues Chorus row: two passes of the recording, the map first and then a chorus of your own; on the ear-check day one pass only, a chorus of your own, with its tick list.
The Staccato row: the drill at 60 BPM, which is not raised.

This week every tempo that rises takes one step at most.

Block	Time	Activity
Warm-Up	4 min	Movement warm-up, tune; then Am7-D7 and C-G7 at 2 beats and D-Bm at 4 beats, eight chords each; then the spider crawl at frets 5 to 8
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	strings 4 and 5 join; the key signature of G: today’s line, then its answer
Barre presses	3 min	A (four strings) at fret 5: press, pluck four strings, release, 2 minutes; simplified F and Dm7 the same way, 1 minute
Your Own Blues Chorus	7 min	twelve measures over your shuffle backing, on strings 5, 4 and 3 (frets 5 and 7, fingers 1 and 3); mark the tick list
Staccato	3 min	the pentatonic on strings 5, 4 and 3, each note cut short by relaxing the fretting finger; the finger stays on the string
A minor pentatonic at fret 5	3 min	quarter notes
Sixteenth-note strum	3 min	the plain pattern at 50 with the metronome clicking the beat, on any two chords

Barre rows this week: “Barre presses”, 3 minutes. Total: 3 minutes a day.

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

Little-finger rows this week: “A minor pentatonic at fret 5”, 3 minutes. Total: 3 minutes a day.

Fast strumming: if your strumming hand or forearm aches, that is tension. Stop playing for today, and next time loosen your grip on the pick.

Ear check this week: on your fourth practice day, mark the recording you made after this session. It takes 2 minutes: that day, give the “Your Own Blues Chorus” row 5 minutes instead of 7.

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 23.

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

This week’s solo and drill use six places: strings 5, 4 and 3 at frets 5 and 7. Your Saga has dot markers on the fretboard at frets 3, 5, 7 and 9, so you can find frets 5 and 7 by eye, without counting up from the nut: finger 1 goes just behind the fret wire at the fifth fret, beside its dot, and finger 3 at the seventh. Check the place with the tuner before you start: string 4 at fret 7 shows A, the home note.

After the session (not part of the 50 minutes)

Read: Reading Staff Notation 2, the section “How to Read a Day’s Line”. (5 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)
Optional: Blues And Improvising, the sections “The Fifth Position” and “Your Own Blues Chorus”. (10 minutes)