Session 27: Lighter Week: A Song 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, and nothing is new for either hand. You learn how to learn a song from a published chart that you own: you read four things on the chart, screen its chords, make its song map, and practise one section a day in its first form at 60 BPM. The session ends with “A song of your own choice, from a published chart you own”: the first eight measures of one section of your own song, three runs at 60 BPM.

Learning Objectives

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

Name the four things to read on a published chart before playing, and point to each on the made-up example chart of the handout: 4 things
Screen a chart: write down each different chord name and decide by the four questions how the chart is played, or that the song waits: 5 chord names on the example chart, 8 lines of names in the handout’s table, then every chord name on your own chart
Make the song map of your own song (tuning, key, capo, the sections in order and the measures in each) and check it against the chart by adding up its measures: 1 map, with its sum of measures the same as the chart’s
Play one section of your own song in its first form at 60 BPM, one downstroke on each chord, on the count where the chart puts it: 3 runs in a row
Play the Six-Eight Strum Study once through from its chart at 80 BPM, the metronome clicking eighth notes: 16 measures

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
One published chart of a song you want to learn, which you own (a page of a songbook), and the song’s recording
The handout Learning A Song, open during Segment 3 and Segment 4 (Rule 1 and Rule 2 are read in the session; the other rules, 30 minutes, are read before the first practice day, and the worked example, 15 minutes, before the last)
Your capo, a pencil and a sheet of paper for the song map
Slips of paper and a pen, for this week’s ear check
Handout for this session: Learning A Song (read after the session, 30 minutes)
Handout for this session: Learning A Song (read after the session, 15 minutes)
Handout for this session: Reading A Chord Chart (read after the session, 5 minutes)
Handout for this session: Reading A Chord Chart (optional reading, after the session)
Staff reading this week: Reading Staff Notation 2, the section “Lines for Week 27”
Reference: Chord Chart, Glossary

Segment 1 — Warm-Up and Stretch (5 minutes)

Hand Warm-Up

Open and close both hands loosely five times. Circle each wrist five times each way. Touch your thumb to each fingertip in turn. Shake the hands out.

Tune Your Guitar

Tune all six strings (EADGBE). Before you look at the tuner, guess: too low, too high or right? Then look.

Warm-Up

Take the change test (Beginner Session 3) for C and G7 (Session 13), a new chord every 2 beats at 75 BPM: eight chords, and then the same eight again.

This is the last week of this pair’s climb: on the practice days it may reach 80 BPM. 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.

Then play the plain sixteenth-note pattern (Session 8) on Em at 50 BPM, the click on the beat and four strums to each click: four times through the block.

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

Three-string power-chord work: no more than 5 minutes a day in total.

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

Then the muted strum with the fretting hand on F5 (Session 26), in eighth notes at 50 BPM: four times through the block, once only today.

Copy of Session 26: the muted strum with the fretting hand alone, in eighth notes on F5

Chord:  F5
Count:  1   &   2   &   3   &   4   &
Strum:  chk chk chk chk chk chk chk chk

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: Three Drills You Know (10 minutes)

Barre Shapes

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.

Both shapes are drills you know. Their diagrams are in Session 19 and Session 9, and in Chord Chart; they are not printed again here.

A (four strings) (Session 19): place it by the four steps of “How a Barre Works” (Session 19), then press, pluck strings 4 to 1 one at a time, and release completely. 3 presses, and shake out the hand after each.

Dm7 (Session 9): press it once, pluck strings 4 to 1 one at a time, and release.

Then the change drill for D and A (four strings) (Session 25) at 60 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. Shake out the hand, then play the 8 chords again. With the presses, this is all of today’s barre work.

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.

60 BPM is where this drill’s climb ended last week. It goes no higher.

The Slur Phrase in Eighth Notes

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

This is the slur phrase of the “Slur Study in A minor” (Session 23), its measures 1 to 4, now in eighth notes, two notes per click. In eighth notes it is two measures long.

"Slur Study in A minor" - the slur phrase in eighth notes
e|--------------------------------------|-----------------------------------|
B|--------------------------------------|-----------------------------------|
G|--------------------------------------|-----------------------------------|
D|------7---p5--5---h7--7---p5----------|-----------5---h7--7---------------|
A|------------------------------7---p5--|---5---h7--------------------------|
E|--------------------------------------|-----------------------------------|
Count:  1   &   2   &   3   &   4   &       1   &   2   &   3  (&) (4) (&)
Pick:   D       D       D       D           D       D       D
Finger: 3   1   1   3   3   1   3   1       1   3   1   3   3
Notes:  A   G   G   A   A   G   E   D       D   E   G   A   A

Picking: The pick follows the count on every note that is picked: down on the numbers, up on the &s. A note under a slur (h or p) is not picked.

Last week the phrase ended at 80 BPM, one note per click. This week it starts at 40 BPM, two notes per click.

To change from one note per click to two notes per click, halve the number first: two notes per click at 40 is exactly as fast as one note per click at 80.

Halving is not a step. The phrase stays at 40 BPM all week.

If the phrase did not reach 80 BPM last week, halve the figure it reached and round it down to a 5 (35 BPM for 70 or 75 BPM), and play it there all week.

Play it legato only: the pick plays the notes on the numbers, and each hammer-on or pull-off lands on an &.

The hammered note should be clearly audible. On an acoustic guitar it will be a little quieter than a picked note, and that is correct. If it is faint, make the tap quicker and land closer to the fret.

Play the phrase at 40 BPM 6 times through, and rest for one counted measure after each.

The 6/8 Pattern at 75 BPM

This is Step 3, “Once through”, of “How to Learn This Study” in Session 26: the Six-Eight Strum Study, in 6/8, once through from its chart. Its strum blocks are in Session 26 and are not printed again here.

Copy of Session 26: “Six-Eight Strum Study” - the sixteen measures

"Six-Eight Strum Study" - the sixteen measures

Key: E minor        Time: 6/8 (six counts in a measure)

Study, 16 measures:

Measure:   1    2    3    4
         | Em | Em | G  | D  |

Measure:   5    6    7    8
         | Em | Em | C  | D  |

Measure:   9    10   11   12
         | G  | D  | Em | Em |

Measure:   13   14   15   16
         | C  | D  | Em | Em |

In measure 16, strum Em once, on count 1, and let it ring.

Tempo: Metronome at 75, clicking eighth notes (one count per click). Work up to 80. Raise the metronome 5 at a time, and only after three clean runs in a row. This week, take one step at most.

First play the 6/8 pattern (Session 26) on Em, one measure at a time, until it runs with no stop. Then count one measure in and play the sixteen measures once through. In measure 16, strum Em once, on count 1, and let it ring.

Segment 3 — New Learning: A Published Chart (15 minutes)

A Published Chart

No playing in this part: you read, find and say.

Published chart — A chord chart of a song made by someone other than this course, such as a page of a songbook you own. Read four things on it before you play: how it is tuned, its key, its capo line and the names of its sections. (Session 27)
Section names — The labels a published chart gives to the parts of a song. Besides intro, verse and chorus you may meet pre-chorus (a short part that leads into the chorus), post-chorus (a short part that follows the chorus), bridge (a part with new music), interlude or instrumental (a part with no singing), solo, and outro (the ending). (Session 27)

Open Learning A Song and read its section “Rule 2: Read Four Things on the Chart” (about 380 words). It ends with two definitions: section names, and the capo line you met in Session 9.

Then turn to its section “A Worked Example: A Made-Up Chart”. The chart there is made up: it is not a song. Find the four things on that chart and say each aloud as you point to it:

How it is tuned: its last line says standard.
Its key: its key line.
Its capo line: it has none.
The names of its sections, and the order they are played in: its last line gives the order.

On your own chart, these four things go at the head of its song map, the list you met in Session 5.

The Screening Step

Screening a chart — Checking a published chart before you start to learn its song. Every chord in it must be one this course has taught so far, or be replaced by the power chord on its root, or be reached with a capo; if not, the song waits. (Session 27)

No playing. Open the handout at “Rule 3: The Screening Step” and find its four numbered questions. Read the first sentence of each aloud, in their order.

The definition above names the three ways in no order. The handout’s four questions give the order in which they are asked: the way that asks least of the hand comes first.

Then follow the worked example for rule 3, with the handout open: under “A Worked Example: A Made-Up Chart”, the part that begins “Rule 3, the screening step”, with its tables (about 360 words). Find its 5 chord names, the one name that is not in the chord chart, and the question at which its screening stops.

You read the whole of rule 3 (about 770 words) after the session.

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.

The pile is the 18 chord slips you wrote in Session 8. You record the ten items after the session, with the recorded card test (Session 2), as the Record line under “After the session” says, and you mark the recording on your fourth practice day.

Break: 5 minutes. Guitar down.

Segment 4 — Piece Workshop: A Song of Your Own (15 minutes)

A song of your own choice, from a published chart you own

This is not a piece but a method, and nothing of your song is printed here. Its row, “A song of your own”, has 5 minutes a day in the weeks of Sessions 27 to 32: one section a day.

The method is in Learning A Song, in eight rules, each under its own heading there: “Rule 1: Choose the Chart”, “Rule 2: Read Four Things on the Chart”, “Rule 3: The Screening Step”, “Rule 4: Make the Song Map”, “Rule 5: Choose the Day’s Section and Count Its Loads”, “Rule 6: Practise the Day’s Section”, “Rule 7: The Tempo Ladder” and “Rule 8: When the Song Has Been Through the Row”. None of them is printed here.

Rules 1 to 4 are done once for a song. Rules 5 to 7 are done on every practice day. Rule 8 is done at the end.

In this row you never play along with the recording.

Rule 1 and Rule 2 on Your Own Chart

No playing. Put your own chart beside the handout and read “Rule 1: Choose the Chart” (about 270 words). Then answer its two questions about your chart: does it show measures, and does it print a time signature that is 4/4, 3/4, 2/4 or 6/8? If either answer is no, the song waits for a chart that does.

Then rule 2, which you read in Segment 3. Write the tuning, the key and the capo line at the top of a new sheet: that sheet becomes your song map. Read the names of the sections as the chart prints them. By rule 4 you list them on the map under the time signature, in the order they are played.

With one chart only, write “one chart, not compared” at the top of the sheet, as rule 1 says.

If you have no chart to hand today, do this part before the first practice day, and go on today with the verse of the handout’s made-up example.

Rule 3 on Your Own Chart: the First Question

No playing. Open the handout at “Rule 3: The Screening Step” and read only its lines on how a chord name is read: the five points before the four questions (about 230 words).

Write down every different chord name on your chart, once each. Tick each name that stands in the course’s chord chart, Chord Chart, letter for letter.

If every name is ticked, the chart is played as it is printed.

If a name is not ticked, stop here. You work questions 2 to 4 with the whole of rule 3 after the session, before the first practice day, and today’s section is taken from the verse of the handout’s made-up example.

The Day’s Section

Three-string power-chord work: no more than 5 minutes a day in total.

Keep the handout open. Rules 5 to 7 are read in full after the session, and none of their sentences is printed here. Today read only step 1 of “Rule 7: The Tempo Ladder”, the first form (about 100 words): it says on which count a second chord in a box comes.

Read the row “A song of your own” of this week’s plan, under “Practice Plan for Week 27” in Segment 5. Its sentences on a barre chord and on three-string power chords are the rule for today’s section too.

By “Rule 5: Choose the Day’s Section and Count Its Loads”, choose a section, and count its barre measures and its three-string power-chord measures.

Today take the first eight measures of the section. By step 1 of “Rule 6: Practise the Day’s Section”, place each of their chords once, in order, and say its name, with no metronome. Then, by its step 2, play them in the first form of “Rule 7: The Tempo Ladder” at 60 BPM, three times, with one counted measure before each run. The whole section is for the practice days.

Where a measure holds one chord, the first form is one strum to a measure: the one-strum block under “Barre Shapes” in Segment 2 of this session.

In 4/4, three runs, each with its counted measure, are 108 beats: 1 minute 48 seconds at 60 BPM. In this lighter week the section’s 60 BPM rises by one step at most, and only as “Rule 7: The Tempo Ladder” allows.

Before the First Practice Day

Finish these with the handout, away from the guitar and outside the practice minutes:

Before the first practice day: the first Read line under “After the session” (the whole of rule 3, and rules 4 to 8); rule 3 on your own chart, if a chord name was left unticked; and steps 1 and 2 of rule 4: the time signature, the sections in the order they are played, and the measures of each, counted on the chart.
On any day before Session 30: steps 3 and 4 of rule 4, the check of the map against the recording. Tap eight clicks with the recording, then listen through twice, counting the measures of each section. For a song of four minutes this is about 10 minutes of listening; nothing is played.
Before the last practice day: the worked example, the second Read line under “After the session”. Self-Check Questions 1 and 2 use it.

The Phase 5 checkpoint, after Session 30, asks for one map that has passed.

Segment 5 — Review and Practice Plan (5 minutes)

What You Learned Today

What to read on a published chart before you play: its tuning, its key, its capo line and its section names
The screening step, and the order of its four questions
The song map of a song, checked by adding up its measures
One section a day, in its first form at 60 BPM

Common Mistakes

A chord name is ticked because it looks like a chord you know — Read each name letter for letter against the chord chart: Dsus4 is not D, and Em7 is not Em. A name that is not there goes on to the next question.
The whole song is played through in the row — The row is one section a day: place each of its chords once, then runs of that section only, in its first form at 60 BPM.
The section is played along with the recording — The recording is for listening and for counting the map. In this row the metronome is the only thing you play with.
A section with a barre chord is practised in these weeks — It waits: the day’s barre minutes are already planned. Choose another section, or give that chord the power chord on its root and count its measures by rule 5.
In the slur phrase in eighth notes a slurred note comes before its & — Count 1 & 2 & aloud: the pick plays on the numbers, and the hammer-on or pull-off lands on the &. If a slurred note is faint, make the tap quicker and land closer to the fret.

Self-Check Questions

With the made-up example chart of the handout in front of you, say the four things to read on a published chart and point to each. Check: compare with the answers under Rule 2 in the handout’s worked example. Pass: 4 of 4: the tuning, the key, the capo line and the names of the sections. If not: read the two definitions aloud and find the four things on the example again, under “A Published Chart” in Segment 3, and try again the next day.
After you have read rule 3 of the handout, take the table “What rule 3 says for other names” at the end of its worked example, cover every column but the first, and work out for each of its 8 lines of chord names how the screening ends. Check: uncover the column headed The end and compare, line by line. Pass: 6 of the 8 ends right. If not: work rule 3 through once more with the handout open, question by question, on the lines you missed, under “The Screening Step” in Segment 3, and try again the next day.
Make the song map of your own song by steps 1 and 2 of rule 4 of the handout: the tuning, the key, the capo line, the sections in the order they are played and the measures of each, counted on the chart. Check: add the measures of the sections and compare the sum with the measures you count on the chart from its first bar line to its last. Pass: every section of the chart is on the map with its number of measures, and the 2 sums are the same. If not: count the measures of each section on the chart once more and correct the map, under “Before the First Practice Day” in Segment 4, and try again the next day.
Play one section of your own song in its first form at 60 BPM, one downstroke on each chord, after one counted measure, and record the third run with the metronome sounding. Check: listen to the recording and follow your chart: each chord on the count where the chart puts it. Pass: 3 runs in a row with no stop and every chord on its count, and 0 late chords on the recording of the third. If not: take a shorter section, or half of this one, and place each chord once before every run, under “The Day’s Section” in Segment 4, and try again the next day.
By the end of this week’s practice: play the Six-Eight Strum Study once through with the metronome at 80 BPM, clicking eighth notes, after one counted measure, and record it. Check: listen to the recording and follow the chart, counting 1 2 3 4 5 6. Pass: 16 measures with no stop, and in measure 16 Em is strummed 1 time, on count 1. If not: play the line of the chart that stopped you, after one counted measure, four times, under “The 6/8 Pattern at 75 BPM” in Segment 2, and try again the next day.
Play the slur phrase in eighth notes at 40 BPM, two notes per click, legato, and record the third playing. Check: listen to the recording and follow the TAB: count the notes under an h or a p that can be heard. Pass: 3 times in a row with no stop, and all 6 slurred notes heard on the recording. If not: play the phrase in quarter notes at 80 BPM twice, then in eighth notes again; make each tap quicker and closer to the fret, under “The Slur Phrase in Eighth Notes” in Segment 2, and try again the next day.
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 27 (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; Am7 and D7, a new chord every 2 beats at 80 BPM; D and Bm, a new chord every 4 beats at 80 BPM. One of them a day, in turn.
The Rotation row: write the card “A blues scale, two octaves, fifth position” today. It joins the pile of scale cards this week, and the pile then has its eight cards, the eight of the end-of-course assessment.
The Staff reading row: each day, play today’s line from the section “Lines for Week 27” of Reading Staff Notation 2, then check it against its answer there. The lines are printed in the handout, not in this session.
The “A song of your own” row: on the fourth practice day it has 3 minutes: one minute of placing, then two minutes of runs.

Block	Time	Activity
Warm-Up	4 min	Movement warm-up, tune; then C-G7 at 2 beats for eight chords, its last step, the plain sixteenth-note pattern for four measures, and the muted strum with the fretting hand on F5 in eighth notes at 50 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
Barre shapes	5 min	A (four strings): presses 1 minute, the change drill 2 minutes (8 chords, shake out the hand, 8 chords again), the Chord Study once; Dm7 once
6/8 pattern	3 min	the Six-Eight Strum Study, once through
Slur phrase	3 min	the slur phrase of the Slur Study (its measures 1 to 4), now in eighth notes, where it is two measures long at the same speed, legato only: every hammer-on and pull-off heard
A song of your own	5 min	one section a day from your own chart, after the screening step. In these weeks choose sections with no barre chord: a section that has one waits, because the day’s barre minutes are already planned. If every section has one, choose another song for now. Count the measures of the section that hold a three-string power chord: this week they may be at most 4 in every 5. In a section that holds more, play a three-string power chord in your own song as its root note alone, or let that section wait. The open E5, A5 and D5 do not count. If no section fits, choose another song for now.
Your chorus	3 min	clap and count 1 trip let for two measures; play four measures straight and four swung on a palm-muted A5; then one chorus of your own over your first shuffle backing (the one recorded in Session 21)

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

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

Slur rows this week: “Slur phrase”, 3 minutes. Total: 3 minutes a day.

Three-string power-chord work: no more than 5 minutes a day in total.

Power-chord rows this week: “Warm-Up”, 1 minute. Total: 1 minute a day.

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

Ear check this week: on your fourth practice day, mark the recording you made after this session. It takes 2 minutes: that day, give the “A song of your own” row 3 minutes instead of 5.

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 28.

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

When your chart has a capo line, fit the capo to the Saga as in Session 9 and in Guitar Setup Check. Tune the six strings with the capo off, and only then fit it: lay it close behind the fret wire of the fret the line names, square across all six strings. Then pluck the six strings one at a time: each one rings, with no buzz. Do not check a string with the tuner while the capo is on: it then shows the notes the capo makes, so a string that is in tune looks wrong.

After the session (not part of the 50 minutes)

Read: Learning A Song, the sections “What You Need”, “Rule 3: The Screening Step”, “Rule 4: Make the Song Map”, “Rule 5: Choose the Day’s Section and Count Its Loads”, “Rule 6: Practise the Day’s Section”, “Rule 7: The Tempo Ladder” and “Rule 8: When the Song Has Been Through the Row”. (30 minutes)
Read: Learning A Song, the section “A Worked Example: A Made-Up Chart”. (15 minutes)
Read: Reading A Chord Chart, the section “A Published Chart”. (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: Reading A Chord Chart, the sections “First and Second Endings”, “The Capo Line” and “Strumming a Chart You Have Not Seen”. (10 minutes)