Session 25: A Four-String Shape in Time

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 opens Phase 5. You change from D to A (four strings) and back in time: one strum to a measure, with four beats to arrive. Then you put that change inside a line of open chords, in the Fifth-Fret Chord Study, the session’s new piece. You also record the Shuffle Blues in A a second time, as a backing at 60 BPM, and the session ends with the Slur Study in A minor played over it.

Learning Objectives

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

Play A (four strings): press, pluck strings 4 to 1 one at a time, release, with all four strings ringing: 3 times in a row
Play the change drill for D and A (four strings): one strum on each chord, a new chord every 4 beats at 55 BPM: 4 changes in a row (5 chords)
Play the Fifth-Fret Chord Study from its chart at 55 BPM, one strum to a measure, without stopping: 16 measures
Play the Slur Study in A minor at 60 BPM over your own recording of the Shuffle Blues in A made at 60 BPM, from the recording’s second chorus, ending with one A on its last chord: 24 measures and 1 last note
Say aloud, without the page, the reasons this course does its new barre work at fret 5 and not at fret 1: 2 reasons

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
A strip of paper and a pen: for measuring the frets in Segment 3 and for this week’s song map
Handout for this session: Barre Shapes Step By Step (read after the session, 5 minutes)
Staff reading this week: Reading Staff Notation 2, the section “Lines for Week 25”
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 Beginner Session 5: the D D U U D U pattern

Strum:  D     D  U     U  D  U
Count:  1     2  & (3) &  4  &

Play D D U U D U (Beginner Session 5) at 90 BPM on G for four measures and on C for four measures, and then all eight measures a second time.

The pattern starts this week at 90 BPM, where it has stood since Session 19. On the practice days it may take one step in the “Warm-Up” row, to 95 BPM. Raise the metronome 5 BPM at a time, and only after three clean runs in a row. In one week, take two steps at most.

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

Then play the Stop-Time pattern (Session 3) on E5 at 70 BPM for four measures, and make each rest with the rest stop.

Copy of Session 3: the Stop-Time pattern

Chord:  E5
e|--------------------------------------|
B|--------------------------------------|
G|--------------------------------------|
D|--------------------------------------|
A|------2---2---2-------2---------------|
E|------0---0---0-------0---------------|
Count:  1   &   2  (&)  3  (&) [4] [&]
Strum:  D   U   D       D
PM:     PM  PM  PM      O

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.

Segment 2 — Technique Focus: The Change to A (four strings) (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: barre work, 3 minutes: the presses and the drill under “Presses and the Change Drill”.

Limited work today: barre work, 1 minute: the “Fifth-Fret Chord Study” in Segment 4.

Limited work today: slur work, 3 minutes: the Slur Study under “Your Second Backing, and the Slur Study over It” in Segment 4.

Presses and the Change Drill (3 minutes)

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.

First, A (four strings) (Session 19) on its own. Its diagram and its lines are in Session 19, under “Presses at Fret 5”. Place it by the four steps of “How a Barre Works” (Session 19).

Tuner check: Pluck strings 4 to 1 one at a time, slowly. The tuner should show A, C#, E, A. A different letter means a finger is on the wrong string or the wrong fret.

Make 4 presses: place the shape, pluck strings 4 to 1 one at a time, release completely, and shake out the hand after each press. Make the first press with the tuner check above.

Then the change. D to A (four strings): nothing stays down, and the hand moves up the neck. Fingers 2 and 3 keep their shape: finger 2 goes from string 1 fret 2 to string 3 fret 6, and finger 3 from string 2 fret 3 to string 4 fret 7. Finger 1 goes from its tip on string 3 to lying across strings 2 and 1 at fret 5.

Move your whole hand along the neck, thumb travelling with it. This is a shift, not a stretch.

If it pulls, stop that item for today; if it aches, stop playing for today.

Lift all the fingers together, form the new shape in the air and land it as one shape. Do the same on the way back to D.

A (four strings): strum strings 4 to 1 only, as on D. Strings 6 and 5 are not played.

Copy of Session 11: one strum to a measure

Count:  1  (2) (3) (4)
Strum:  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.

Now the drill, at 50 BPM: one strum on each chord, a new chord every 4 beats. Play D, A (four strings), D, A (four strings) and on in turn: 8 chords, once.

This is a change drill, not the change test. You play 8 chords, and its pass mark is four changes in a row with no click missed: 5 chords (Self-Check Question 2). It is not the test’s 8 chords twice.

On the practice days the “Change drill” row plays the 8 chords, then you shake out the hand and play the 8 chords again. The row may reach 55 BPM this week. Raise the metronome 5 BPM at a time, and only after three clean runs in a row. This week, take one step at most.

The Study Read Aloud, and the Dead-String Table (7 minutes)

No playing: rest your fretting hand. The study’s chart is under “Fifth-Fret Chord Study” in Segment 4; it is printed there and not here. Open it now.

Set the metronome to 50 BPM and read the chart aloud box by box. On count 1 say the chord’s name, then say 2, 3, 4; during counts 3 and 4 look at the next box. Read the whole chart twice through: the two readings take 2 minutes 34 seconds.

Then find the four boxes that hold A (four strings): the third box of lines 1 and 3, and the first box of lines 2 and 4. For each one, say which chord stands before it and which after it. Each time it is D on both sides: the change of the drill.

If a string is dead or buzzing:

What you hear	Cause	What to do
String 2 dead	Finger 1 does not reach far enough	Move it a little further across
String 1 dead	It has fallen into a crease of finger 1	Shift the finger slightly up or down and roll onto its edge
String 3 dead or buzzing	That is finger 2, not the barre	Move it closer to the fret wire
String 4 dead or buzzing	That is finger 3, not the barre	Move it closer to the fret wire

If the tuner shows the right letter but the note is dull or buzzing, do not press harder. Move the finger closer to the fret wire and try again.

Read the table aloud, row by row. Do not press: for each row, touch the string it names with the finger it names. Then, if a string was dead in today’s presses, say which row answers it.

Segment 3 — New Learning: Why Fret 5, the Blues Scale in Eighth Notes, and a Solo over a Backing (15 minutes)

Why Fret 5 and Not Fret 1

From Session 19 this course does its new barre work at fret 5, not at fret 1, for two reasons. Close to the nut the string has less give, so it takes more effort to press; and the frets are at their widest next to the nut, so a shape is about one fifth narrower at fret 5 than the same shape at fret 1.

Now measure the second reason, with no pressing. Lay the strip of paper along the neck with its end at the nut, and mark it at the third fret wire: that is the width of the simplified F, whose fingers stand at frets 1 to 3. Then lay the same strip with its end at the fourth fret wire. Its mark lies beyond the seventh fret wire: A (four strings), whose fingers stand at frets 5 to 7, is narrower.

Both shapes are drawn in Chord Chart, under “F (simplified) — Beginner Session 17” and “A (four strings) — Session 19”.

The A Blues Scale in Eighth Notes

Last week the A blues scale ended at 80 BPM, one note per click. This week it is played in eighth notes, two notes per click, and it starts at 40 BPM. Halving the figure is not a step.

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.

Copy of Session 23: A blues scale, two octaves, fifth position

A blues scale, two octaves, fifth position: up and down, eighth notes
e|--------------------------------------|-------------------5---------------|
B|--------------------------------------|-----------5---8-------8---5-------|
G|----------------------------------5---|---7---8-----------------------8---|
D|--------------------------5---7-------|-----------------------------------|
A|--------------5---6---7---------------|-----------------------------------|
E|------5---8---------------------------|-----------------------------------|
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   U
Finger: 1   4   1   2   3   1   3   1       3   4   1   4   1   4   1   4
Notes:  A   C   D   Eb  E   G   A   C       D   Eb  E   G   A   G   E   Eb

e|--------------------------------------|-------------------|
B|--------------------------------------|-------------------|
G|------7---5---------------------------|-------------------|
D|--------------7---5-------------------|-------------------|
A|----------------------7---6---5-------|-------------------|
E|----------------------------------8---|---5---------------|
Count:  1   &   2   &   3   &   4   &       1  (2) (3) (4)
Pick:   D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U       D
Finger: 3   1   3   1   3   2   1   4       1
Notes:  D   C   A   G   E   Eb  D   C       A

A blues scale, in eighth notes: two notes per click. The top A is played once. The last A lasts four beats: let it ring while you count (2) (3) (4).

In fifth position, fret 5 = finger 1, fret 6 = finger 2, fret 7 = finger 3 and fret 8 = finger 4 (little finger).

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 A blues scale up and down three times at 40 BPM, two notes per click.

On the practice days the “Scale ladder” row plays A minor pentatonic at fret 5 first, in eighth notes at 50 BPM, from its block in Session 21, and then this scale at 40 BPM. This week the blues scale may reach 50 BPM, and the pentatonic may rise two steps from its 50 BPM. 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 Solo over a Backing at 60 BPM

No playing in this part. In Segment 4 you record the Shuffle Blues in A a second time, as a backing for the Slur Study in A minor. The study’s performance tempo is 60 BPM, and it is never raised to fit a recording. Your recording of Session 21 was made at 65 BPM, so it is too fast for the study.

The new recording is 38 measures long. This is what you play over each part of it:

Measures of the recording	What the recording plays	What you play
1 to 12	Chorus 1	Nothing: count the measures aloud
13 to 36	Choruses 2 and 3	The study’s twelve measures, twice
37	One D7, then silence	Rest
38	A7	One A on beat 1: string 4, fret 7, finger 3, left to ring

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

Your first recording, made in Session 21, stays the backing for a chorus of your own, in the “Shuffle Blues in A” row.

This Week’s Song Map

This week’s song for listening is “Neele Neele Ambar Par”. It is named under the “Fifth-Fret Chord Study” in Segment 4, and no chart of it is printed.

On one practice day, in place of the “One earlier piece” row, listen to the song once through and write its song map: its sections in order, as in the song map of Session 5.

Prepare the sheet for it now. At the top write the title, “Neele Neele Ambar Par”, the film, Kalaakaar, and the singer, Kishore Kumar. Under them, write numbered lines for the sections. In Session 27 you make a song map again, for a song of your own.

Break: 5 minutes. Guitar down.

Segment 4 — Piece Workshop: Fifth-Fret Chord Study (15 minutes)

“Fifth-Fret Chord Study”

Credits: Written for this course.

For listening only: “Neele Neele Ambar Par” sung by Kishore Kumar, from the film Kalaakaar (1983). Music: Kalyanji–Anandji. Lyrics: Indeevar. Listen for the guitar: an encyclopedia article on the film says that the guitar piece in the song was played by the guitarist Sunil Kaushik. The study below is not that tune.

What this is: A study: an original exercise written for this course. It is not a song. It has sixteen measures in A major and 4/4 time, on the chords A, D, E and A (four strings), with one chord and one strum to a measure. Lines 3 and 4 are lines 1 and 2 again. A (four strings) stands in four of the sixteen measures: the third measure of lines 1 and 3 and the first measure of lines 2 and 4. Each time it has D before it and D after it, which is the change of the change drill, now inside a line of open chords. Not yet play-tested.

Key: A major

Time: 4/4

Tempo: Start at a new chord every 4 beats at 50 BPM and work up to 55. Raise the metronome 5 BPM at a time, and only after three clean runs in a row. This week, take one step at most.

Strumming pattern: one strum to a measure, in every measure.

"Fifth-Fret Chord Study" - measures 1 to 4, one strum to a measure
Chord:  A                   D
Count:  1  (2) (3) (4)  |   1  (2) (3) (4)  |
Strum:  D               |   D               |

Chord:  A (four strings)    D
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.

The strum block shows the first four boxes of the chart below. What you play is the chart: the block is not played as well.

"Fifth-Fret Chord Study" - the sixteen measures

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

Study, 16 measures:

| A                | D                | A (four strings) | D                |
| A (four strings) | D                | E                | A                |
| A                | D                | A (four strings) | D                |
| A (four strings) | D                | E                | A                |

Strum each chord once, on count 1. Lines 3 and 4 are lines 1 and 2 again.

Barre count: 4 of the 16 measures of this study hold a barre chord (A (four strings)), so 1 of its 4 practice minutes count as barre work.

If your hand, wrist or thumb aches during the study, stop playing for today: the pain rule comes before the plan.

Play the study once through at 50 BPM, after one counted measure. One run is what fits today; the second and third runs are for the practice days. Play whole runs only: the change is not looped here.

How to Learn This Study:

Step 1 — One strum to a measure: Play the study as it is written: one downstroke on count 1 of each measure, at the figure the change drill has that week.

Step 2 — Whole runs: Play it through, shake out the hand, and play it through again: two or three runs. Do not loop the change here: that is the Change drill row.

What it should sound like: With the metronome at 50 BPM, the strum of every measure falls with the click of count 1: 16 measures. Count 1 2 3 4 aloud through all 16 measures without stopping. On a recording made with the metronome sounding, follow the chart box by box and count the measures in which the strum comes after its click: 0 of 16.

Your Second Backing, and the Slur Study over It (11 minutes)

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

Pain rule: tender fingertips are normal. Pain in the wrist, forearm, thumb joint or knuckles, numbness or tingling, any sharp pain, or pain that lasts into the next day means stop. The full rule is in START HERE.

Set the metronome down to 60 BPM. This recording alone is made at 60 BPM; the Shuffle Blues in A keeps its own tempo in its row.

Record the “Shuffle Blues in A” a second time, from its chart in Session 20, which is not printed again here: three choruses of the 12-bar form and then the ending, 38 measures as played, once through, with the metronome sounding at 60 BPM. Start the recording, let four clicks pass, and play. Record no introduction.

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.

Name the recording with the date, the tempo, 60, and the words “second backing”, so that you do not take it for your recording of Session 21.

Put the guitar down. Play the recording back once with the chart of Session 20 open. Count each measure aloud, and say ONE at the start of each chorus: measures 1, 13 and 25. As you go, write down the time the phone shows at three places: measure 13, the second ONE, where the study begins; measure 37; and measure 38, the last chord. The recording lasts 2 minutes 36 seconds. If the click or the guitar cannot be heard, move the phone and record again in place of this step.

Slur work: no more than 5 minutes a day in total.

Copy of Session 23: “Slur Study in A minor” - measures 1 to 4, the slur phrase

"Slur Study in A minor" - measures 1 to 4, the slur phrase
e|----------------------|-------------------|
B|----------------------|-------------------|
G|----------------------|-------------------|
D|------7---p5--5---h7--|---7---p5----------|
A|----------------------|-----------7---p5--|
E|----------------------|-------------------|
Count:  1   2   3   4       1   2   3   4
Pick:   D       D           D       D
Finger: 3   1   1   3       3   1   3   1
Notes:  A   G   G   A       A   G   E   D

e|----------------------|-------------------|
B|----------------------|-------------------|
G|----------------------|-------------------|
D|--------------5---h7--|---7---------------|
A|------5---h7----------|-------------------|
E|----------------------|-------------------|
Count:  1   2   3   4       1  (2) (3) (4)
Pick:   D       D           D
Finger: 1   3   1   3       3
Notes:  D   E   G   A       A

Copy of Session 23: “Slur Study in A minor” - measures 5 to 8

"Slur Study in A minor" - measures 5 to 8
e|----------------------|-------------------|
B|----------------------|-------------------|
G|----------------------|---5---h7--7---p5--|
D|--------------5---h7--|-------------------|
A|------5---h7----------|-------------------|
E|----------------------|-------------------|
Count:  1   2   3   4       1   2   3   4
Pick:   D       D           D       D
Finger: 1   3   1   3       1   3   3   1
Notes:  D   E   G   A       C   D   D   C

e|----------------------|-------------------|
B|----------------------|-------------------|
G|----------------------|-------------------|
D|------7---p5----------|---7---------------|
A|--------------7---p5--|-------------------|
E|----------------------|-------------------|
Count:  1   2   3   4       1  (2) (3) (4)
Pick:   D       D           D
Finger: 3   1   3   1       3
Notes:  A   G   E   D       A

Copy of Session 23: “Slur Study in A minor” - measures 9 to 12

"Slur Study in A minor" - measures 9 to 12
e|----------------------|-------------------|
B|----------------------|-------------------|
G|----------------------|-------------------|
D|----------------------|-----------5---h7--|
A|------7---p5--5---h7--|---5---h7----------|
E|----------------------|-------------------|
Count:  1   2   3   4       1   2   3   4
Pick:   D       D           D       D
Finger: 3   1   1   3       1   3   1   3
Notes:  E   D   D   E       D   E   G   A

e|----------------------|-------------------|
B|----------------------|-------------------|
G|----------------------|-------------------|
D|------7---------------|-------------------|
A|----------------------|-------------------|
E|----------------------|-------------------|
Count:  1  (2) (3) (4)     [1] [2] [3] [4]
Pick:   D
Finger: 3
Notes:  A

"Slur Study in A minor" - the ending over a backing
e|----------------------|-------------------|
B|----------------------|-------------------|
G|----------------------|-------------------|
D|----------------------|---7---------------|
A|----------------------|-------------------|
E|----------------------|-------------------|
Count: [1] [2] [3] [4]      1  (2) (3) (4)
Pick:                       D
Finger:                     3
Notes:                      A

The last block is the recording’s measures 37 and 38: a measure of rest, then one A.

Now play the Slur Study in A minor once through over the recording, at 60 BPM. Count chorus 1 aloud without playing. At the second ONE, measure 13 of the recording, come in and play the study’s twelve measures twice. Rest through measure 37 with the rest stop, and play one A on beat 1 of measure 38, left to ring.

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

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.

Play it once only today: that run is the day’s slur work.

Segment 5 — Review and Practice Plan (5 minutes)

What You Learned Today

The change from D to A (four strings) in time: one strum, four beats to arrive
The Fifth-Fret Chord Study, one strum to a measure
Why this course does its new barre work at fret 5 and not at fret 1
A second backing at 60 BPM, with the Slur Study in A minor over it

Common Mistakes

The strum on A (four strings) comes after its click — The hand left D too late. Leave during counts 3 and 4: lift all the fingers together, move the whole hand with the thumb travelling, and land the shape as one. If it is still late, go back to the drill with no metronome and count slowly.
String 2 is dead in A (four strings) after the change — Finger 1 has landed short of string 2: move it a little further across, as the first row of the table says. Do not press harder.
The two measures of the change are played over and over inside the Chord Study row — That row is whole runs only: a loop doubles its barre minutes. The change is looped in the Change drill row and nowhere else.
The Slur Study starts with the recording’s first chorus — The first chorus is for counting. Count its twelve measures aloud and come in at the second ONE, measure 13 of the recording.

Self-Check Questions

Play A (four strings): press, pluck strings 4 to 1 one at a time, release, and shake out the hand. Check: the tuner shows A, C#, E, A, string by string. Pass: all 4 strings ring, 3 times in a row. If not: find the row for the string that failed and do what it says, under “If a string is dead or buzzing” in Segment 2, and try again the next day.
By the end of this week’s practice: play the change drill for D and A (four strings) at 55 BPM: one strum on each chord, a new chord every 4 beats. Check: the metronome clicks the beat; count 1 2 3 4 aloud and strum on each count 1. Pass: 4 changes in a row with no click missed: 5 chords, D first and D last. If not: in the “Change drill” row, make the change 4 times with no metronome, counting slowly aloud, before the drill, under “Presses and the Change Drill” in Segment 2, and try again the next day at 55 BPM, inside that row’s 2 barre minutes.
By the end of this week’s practice: play the Fifth-Fret Chord Study from its chart at 55 BPM, one strum to a measure, after one counted measure, and record it with the metronome sounding. Check: listen to the recording and follow the chart box by box, counting the measures aloud. Pass: 16 measures with no stop, and the strum of each measure is heard with the click of count 1. If not: play Step 1 with no metronome, counting aloud, once a day for two days in the “Fifth-Fret Chord Study” row, under “How to Learn This Study” in Segment 4, and try again after those two days.
Play the Slur Study in A minor over your recording of the Shuffle Blues in A made at 60 BPM: count the first chorus, begin at the second, and end with one A in the recording’s last measure. Check: count the first chorus aloud. 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. Pass: you begin on beat 1 of measure 13 of the recording, you play all 24 measures of the study, and your 1 closing A sounds within 1 beat of the recording’s closing chord. If not: listen to the recording once more with the chart open, saying ONE at the start of each chorus, under “Your Second Backing, and the Slur Study over It” in Segment 4, and try again the next day.
Say aloud, without the page, the reasons this course does its new barre work at fret 5 and not at fret 1. Check: read the statement under the heading and compare it with what you said. Pass: 2 reasons: close to the nut the string has less give, and the frets are widest next to the nut. If not: read the statement aloud twice and measure the frets again with the strip of paper, under “Why Fret 5 and Not Fret 1” in Segment 3, and try again the next day.

Practice Plan for Week 25 (each practice day, 40 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; Am7 and D7, a new chord every 2 beats at 80 BPM; C and G7, a new chord every 2 beats at 75 BPM; D and Bm, a new chord every 4 beats at 80 BPM. One of them a day, in turn.
The Staff reading row: each day, play today’s line from the section “Lines for Week 25” of Reading Staff Notation 2, then check it against its answer there. The lines are printed in the handout, not in this session.
The Slur Study in A minor row: after the run over your second recording, play the slur phrase (measures 1 to 4) alone with the metronome, in quarter notes. Start at 60 BPM and work up to 70 BPM. Raise the metronome 5 BPM at a time, and only after three clean runs in a row. In one week, take two steps at most. The study over the recording stays at 60 BPM.

Before Session 26, listen to Iron Maiden’s recording of “Blood Brothers” three times.

Block	Time	Activity
Warm-Up	4 min	Movement warm-up, tune; then D D U U D U on known chords, one step up, and the Stop-Time pattern for four measures; 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	today’s line from the staff handout, then its answer
A (four strings)	1 min	press, pluck four strings, release
Change drill	3 min	D to A (four strings) and back: one strum on each, a new chord every 4 beats: 8 chords, shake out the hand, 8 chords again
Fifth-Fret Chord Study	4 min	two or three times through, shaking out the hand between runs; one strum to a measure; whole runs only
Slur Study in A minor	4 min	once through over your second recording of the Shuffle Blues (60 BPM), from its second chorus, ending with one A on its last chord; then its four-measure slur phrase in quarter notes four times, two steps up
Shuffle Blues in A	5 min	once through with a chorus of your own over your first recording (the one made in Session 21)
Sixteenth-note strum	3 min	the plain pattern at 50 with the metronome clicking the beat, on any two chords
Scale ladder	4 min	A minor pentatonic at fret 5 and the blues scale, eighth notes
One earlier piece	5 min	Down by the Salley Gardens, once through. On one day, in its place, listen to this week’s song and make its song map: the sections in order

Barre rows this week: “A (four strings)”, 1 minute; “Change drill”, 2 minutes; “Fifth-Fret Chord Study”, 1 minute. Total: 4 minutes a day.

Slur work: no more than 5 minutes a day in total.

Slur rows this week: “Slur Study in A minor”, 4 minutes. Total: 4 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.

Two sittings this week: Sitting 1 is the rows from “Warm-Up” to “Fifth-Fret Chord Study” (19 minutes). Sitting 2 is the rows from “Slur Study in A minor” to “One earlier piece” (21 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: go on to Session 26.

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

Your Saga has dot markers on the fretboard at frets 3, 5, 7 and 9, with a double dot at fret 12. Use the second dot from the nut, at fret 5, to find the place of A (four strings) before your hand leaves D: look at it while D is still ringing. Finger 1 lies across strings 2 and 1 in the fret of that dot, just behind its fret wire, and fingers 2 and 3 land one and two frets above it. Then the change does not begin with counting frets from the nut.

After the session (not part of the 50 minutes)

Read: Barre Shapes Step By Step, the section “The Change to the Four-String Shape”. (5 minutes)