Session 28: The Full Barre: First Presses

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 makes your first presses of A (full barre) at fret 5. You build the shape from A (four strings), and this week it is a press only: press, pluck, release. You learn which notes a minor tune raises. The session ends with the traditional tune “Greensleeves” in 6/8: its melody four measures at a time, and its strummed verse in the plain 6/8 strum.

Learning Objectives

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

Press A (full barre) at fret 5: press, pluck the six strings one at a time, release, and shake out the hand: 4 presses, counting the strings that ring in each: there is no pass mark this week, and it never has to pass
Play the melody of Greensleeves four measures at a time, every note a downstroke, at 110 BPM, the metronome clicking eighth notes: 8 measures: measures 1 to 8 with the pick-up note
Play the strummed verse of Greensleeves from its chart, one downstroke on count 1 and one on count 4, at 110 BPM, the metronome clicking eighth notes: 16 measures
Play the slur phrase in quarter notes with every note picked and cut short by relaxing the fretting finger at 60 BPM: 4 measures: 12 short notes and 1 long one
Say the two notes that Greensleeves raises and play each one after the note it replaces: 2 pairs of notes

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 ruler marked in millimetres, and the two string-height figures you wrote in Sessions 1 and 19
Guitar Setup Check, open at “The String-Height Check” during Segment 2: the check is done from it before the first full barre
Slips of paper and a pen, for this week’s ear check (the 48 note slips of Session 4)
Handout for this session: Barre Shapes Step By Step (read after the session, 10 minutes)
Staff reading this week: Reading Staff Notation 2, the section “Lines for Week 28”
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 20: 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

Tempo: 70 BPM, Swing, two strums per click (swung eighth notes)

Play the shuffle (Session 20) on a palm-muted A5 at 70 BPM, swung: 4 times through the block, a breath, then 4 times again.

There is no barre and no moveable shape in today’s warm-up: your fretting hand is kept for the full barre.

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 Full Barre at Fret 5 (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, 2 minutes: the presses under “Presses at Fret 5: the Full Barre”.

Limited work today: slur work, 1 minute: the legato playing under “The Slur Phrase, Staccato” in Segment 3.

Before You Press (6 minutes)

Do the string-height check now, from Guitar Setup Check, the section “The String-Height Check”. Tune the guitar. With the ruler, measure at the 12th fret under string 6 and under string 1. Write both figures and today’s date under your figures of Sessions 1 and 19. Press one string with a fingertip at fret 1 and then at fret 5, once each. Then read your result off the two outcomes printed under the steps in that section. No chord is pressed.

If the check sends your guitar to a shop, no barre work is done, in this session or in any week’s plan, until the shop has seen the guitar.

Go on with everything else. When the guitar is back, do the part “Presses at Fret 5: the Full Barre” of this session on the next day, in place of that day’s barre rows, and count your weeks of presses from that day.

How a Barre Works

Read the lead-in and the four steps aloud, with your fretting hand off the neck. Nothing is pressed.

A barre is not a squeeze. The pressure comes from the weight of your arm, not from pinching the neck.

Finger: lay finger 1 across the strings just behind the fret wire, rolled slightly onto its bony edge (the side nearer your thumb), with the tip reaching just past the last string it has to cover.
Thumb: rest your thumb lightly on the back of the neck, roughly behind finger 1 or finger 2. It steadies the hand. It does not press.
Arm: let your elbow hang close to your side and let the weight of your arm draw your hand gently back, so the finger sinks into the strings. Your strumming arm resting on the guitar’s body keeps the guitar still.
Press, pluck each string once, release completely, shake out the hand. Never hold a barre against a clock.

In this shape the last string finger 1 has to cover is string 6.

Still nothing is pressed. Read the next three paragraphs.

Full barre chord — A barre chord in which finger 1 lies across all six strings. This course uses one, A (full barre), at fret 5. (Session 28)

The full barre shape is the open E chord moved up the neck. Finger 1 lies across all six strings and does what the nut does for the open chord, and fingers 2, 3 and 4 make the E shape above it. At fret 5 every note of E is five frets higher, and the chord is A.

A (full barre) is the E chord moved up five frets, with finger 1 across all six strings at fret 5 in place of the nut: fingers 2, 3 and 4 make the shape that fingers 1, 2 and 3 make in E.

Your first press is built from A (four strings), the shape you have pressed at this fret since Session 19. Four things change, one finger at a time:

A (full barre): finger 2 stays on string 3 at fret 6; finger 1 lies further across at fret 5, from strings 2 and 1 to all six strings; finger 3 moves one string towards the ceiling at fret 7, from string 4 to string 5; finger 4 lands on string 4 at fret 7.

E (Beginner Session 5) keeps the fingering you have always used. The diagram of A (full barre) is under the next heading, with the presses.

Before the first press, read the table below and the sentence under it aloud, so that you know its rows when a string does not ring.

If a string is dead or buzzing:

What you hear	Cause	What to do
String 6 dead or buzzing	Finger 1 does not reach far enough	Move it a little further across
String 2 or 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 5 or string 4 dead or buzzing	That is finger 3 or finger 4, 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.

Presses at Fret 5: the Full Barre (2 minutes)

Full barre work: no more than 2 minutes a day in the week of Session 28 and 3 minutes a day from Session 29, at fret 5 only. It counts inside the 5 minutes of barre work.

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.

A (full barre)

EADGBe

Finger 1 (index) barres all six strings at fret 5
Finger 2 (middle): string 3 (G), fret 6
Finger 3 (ring): string 5 (A), fret 7
Finger 4 (little finger): string 4 (D), fret 7
Strum all six strings
Notes, string 6 to string 1: A, E, A, C#, E, A

Tuner check: Pluck strings 6 to 1 one at a time, slowly. The tuner should show A, E, A, C#, E, A. A different letter means a finger is on the wrong string or the wrong fret.

Now the presses. Place A (four strings); let finger 1 lie across all six strings; move finger 3 to string 5; land finger 4 on string 4. Pluck the six strings one at a time, release completely and shake out the hand. Make the first press with the tuner check above, then 3 more: 4 presses in all.

This week the full barre is a press only: no strum, no change, no hold.

In each press, count the strings that ring. Write the best count of the four with today’s date. There is no pass mark this week.

The full barre never has to pass: the pain rule comes first.

These 2 minutes are all of today’s full barre work.

The 6/8 Pattern on Em (2 minutes)

A rest for the fretting hand: Em only.

Copy of Session 26: the 6/8 pattern

Count:  1       2   &   3       4       5   &   6
Strum:  D       d   u   d       D       d   u   d
Accent: >                       >

D = strong downstroke on counts 1 and 4, d = softer downstroke, u = softer upstroke, > = accent (play that strum louder)

Tempo: Metronome at 80, clicking eighth notes (one count per click). Work up to 90. Raise the metronome 5 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.

Play the 6/8 pattern (Session 26) on Em at 80 BPM, the metronome clicking eighth notes: 8 times through the block without stopping. On the practice days the pattern climbs in the “Six-Eight Strum Study” row: play the study at the figure the pattern has reached.

Segment 3 — New Learning: Raised Notes, the Lowest Staff Notes and Short Notes (15 minutes)

Raised Notes in a Minor Tune

A tune in a minor key often raises the sixth note or the seventh note of its natural minor scale by a half step, in some measures and not in others. In A minor that turns F into F sharp and G into G sharp, and each raised note is an accidental.

Accidental — A note that is not in the key signature, and the sign in front of it on the staff: a sharp, a flat, or a natural sign, which cancels a sharp or flat. The sign holds for that line or space until the end of its measure. (Session 28)

The natural minor scale here is the A natural minor scale of Session 2, which you know: in it, F and G are not raised. It is not played in this part.

The table gives the notes this session’s tune raises, each under the note it replaces:

Note	String	Fret	Finger
G	3	0 (open)	none
G sharp	3	1	1
F	4	3	3
F sharp	4	4	4
F	1	1	1
F sharp	1	2	2

Play each pair once, the natural note and then the raised one: G then G sharp on string 3; F then F sharp on string 4; F then F sharp on string 1.

Finger 4 at fret 4 is the reach of Session 7. The tune asks for it in two measures.

Staff Reading: String 6, Rests and Ties

No staff is printed in a session: the staff lines are in the handout, read after the session. This week’s lines add three notes on string 6:

Note	String	Fret
E	6	0 (open)
F	6	1
G	6	3

Find each note from the table and play it once.

The staff writes these three notes below its five lines, on ledger lines; the handout draws them.

A rest on the staff has the rest names of Session 3. In a picked line you make it with the rest stop.

Tie — A curved line on the staff that joins two notes of the same pitch. Play the first and let it ring for the length of both. (Session 28)

An accidental is also a sign on the staff, shown in the handout. This week’s daily lines have none.

The Slur Phrase, Staccato

A light new item for the fretting hand: the slur phrase of the “Slur Study in A minor”, now with every note picked and short. First play it in quarter notes at 60 BPM, one note per click.

"Slur Study in A minor" - the slur phrase, every note picked and short
e|----------------------|-------------------|
B|----------------------|-------------------|
G|----------------------|-------------------|
D|------7---5---5---7---|---7---5-----------|
A|----------------------|-----------7---5---|
E|----------------------|-------------------|
Count:  1   2   3   4       1   2   3   4
Pick:   D   D   D   D       D   D   D   D
Finger: 3   1   1   3       3   1   3   1
Short:  .   .   .   .       .   .   .   .

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

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.

Where a short note at fret 7 is followed by a note at fret 5 on the same string, let finger 3 leave the string as soon as its note has stopped: a finger resting on the string at fret 7 would damp the note at fret 5.

Every stroke is a downstroke. Play the phrase 2 times at 60 BPM, one note per click.

Slur 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 play the phrase in eighth notes, legato, as last week: 2 times at 40 BPM, the click on the beat.

Copy of Session 27: “Slur Study in A minor” - the slur phrase in eighth notes

"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

On the practice days this legato form may take one step this week, from 40 BPM to 45 BPM, in the “Slur phrase” 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.

Last, the phrase in eighth notes, staccato:

"Slur Study in A minor" - the slur phrase, eighth notes, picked and short
e|--------------------------------------|-----------------------------------|
B|--------------------------------------|-----------------------------------|
G|--------------------------------------|-----------------------------------|
D|------7---5---5---7---7---5-----------|-----------5---7---7---------------|
A|------------------------------7---5---|---5---7---------------------------|
E|--------------------------------------|-----------------------------------|
Count:  1   &   2   &   3   &   4   &       1   &   2   &   3  (&) (4) (&)
Pick:   D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U       D   U   D   U   D
Finger: 3   1   1   3   3   1   3   1       1   3   1   3   3
Short:  .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .       .   .   .   .

The pick goes down on the numbers and up on the &s, and every note but the last is cut short by relaxing the fretting finger. Finger 3 leaves the string in the same three places as in quarter notes. Play it 2 times at 40 BPM, the click on the beat. This form stays at 40 BPM all week.

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 also one octave of G major pentatonic, from G to G: use the same slips.

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.

The fret number is the finger number: fret 1 = finger 1, fret 2 = finger 2, fret 3 = finger 3.

Play the drill once now, with your pile of 48 note slips from Session 4.

Copy of Session 13: Ear Test 3, the six-note rhythm, six slips as an example

Ear Test 3, the six-note rhythm, six slips as an example
e|------0---------------|-----------3-------|
B|----------------------|-------3-------0---|
G|--------------2-------|---2---------------|
D|----------------------|-------------------|
A|----------------------|-------------------|
E|----------------------|-------------------|
Count:  1  (2)  3  (4)      1   2   3   4
Pick:   D       D           D   D   D   D
Finger: -       2           2   3   3   -
Notes:  E       A           A   D   G   B

The six-note rhythm is two half notes and then four quarter notes: each half note rings through the count in round brackets after it. The TAB shows it with six slips as an example: the notes of your phrases come from your own slips.

Read the form below. You make the recording after the session, and mark it on your fourth practice day.

Test 3, play it back, six notes with the metronome. The pile is 48 note slips, eight for each of these six places: string 3 open, string 3 fret 2, string 2 open, string 2 fret 3, string 1 open, string 1 fret 3. An item is six slips in a row from left to right: play their notes as two half notes and then four quarter notes. Record with the metronome sounding at 60 BPM, one count to a click, and start each playing on a click. Play the phrase twice. If you play a note that is not on its slip, say “again” and play the phrase twice more. Record six items. To answer, listen to both playings of an item, stop the recording, play the phrase back once on the six places of the pile, and write the places you played, in order. If you hear “again”, answer from the two playings after the last “again”. Write each place as two figures, the string then the fret, such as 2-3; an open string is 3-0. To mark, deal the key pile six slips to an item. A phrase is right only if every note matched.

Break: 5 minutes. Guitar down.

Segment 4 — Piece Workshop: Greensleeves (15 minutes)

“Greensleeves” (traditional; the course’s arrangement in A minor)

Credits: Traditional English tune; no known composer. The melody is taken from William Chappell’s Popular Music of the Olden Time, volume 1 (London, about 1859), page 230, where it is headed “Tune of Green Sleeves. Oldest copy”. The arrangement and the chords are written for this course.

What this is: A complete traditional tune in A minor and 6/8 time, arranged for this course. You play the melody, then a strummed verse on Am, G, C and E7, then the melody again. The strummed verse is played with one downstroke on count 1 and one on count 4. It is 48 measures and one pick-up note long: about two and a half minutes at the performance tempo. The melody was read from the oldest copy of the tune in William Chappell’s Popular Music of the Olden Time, volume 1 (London, about 1859), page 230. It is moved from E minor to A minor. The arrangement and the chords are this course’s own. One rhythm is made even: where the printing has a long note, a short note and a middle-length note on three counts, you play three even eighth notes. In measure 8 the last note is followed by a rest on count 6, as printed. The last note of the tune, in measure 16, is held one count longer than printed, to fill the measure. In some measures the tune raises two notes: G sharp (string 3, fret 1) and F sharp (string 4, fret 4, and string 1, fret 2). Neither is in the A natural minor scale. Both are part of the tune as printed. Recordings of the tune differ from this printing in small ways, and may be in another key and at another speed, so do not expect to play along with one. Not yet play-tested.

Key: A minor

Time: 6/8

Techniques: pick-up notes; the plain 6/8 strum

Tempo: Metronome at 100, clicking eighth notes (one count per click). Work up to 110. Raise the metronome 5 at a time, and only after three clean runs in a row. In one week, take two steps at most.

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

Read the lines above first: nothing is played yet. The techniques of this piece are pick-up notes and the plain 6/8 strum. The tune has no barre chord and no power chord.

The melody comes first, at 100 BPM, the metronome clicking eighth notes. Count six clicks aloud and pick the pick-up note on the sixth, count 6; then play measures 1 to 4. Play each block after six counted clicks, then the same again.

Before each block, say its raised notes aloud:

Measures 1 to 4: G sharp in measures 3 and 4.
Measures 5 to 8: G sharp and F sharp in measure 7, the F sharp with finger 4.
Measures 9 to 12: F sharp in measure 9; G sharp in measures 11 and 12.
Measures 13 to 16: F sharp in measure 13; G sharp and F sharp in measure 15, the F sharp with finger 4.

"Greensleeves" - melody, measures 1 to 4 (one pick-up note)
e|----------|---------------0---1---0---|---------------------------|
B|----------|---1-------3---------------|---3-------0-----------0---|
G|------2---|---------------------------|---------------0---2-------|
D|----------|---------------------------|---------------------------|
A|----------|---------------------------|---------------------------|
E|----------|---------------------------|---------------------------|
Count:  6       1  (2)  3   4   5   6       1  (2)  3   4   5   6
Finger: 2       1       3   -   1   -       3       -   -   2   -

e|------------------------------|---------------------------|
B|------1-----------------------|---0-----------------------|
G|--------------2---2---1---2---|-----------1-----------2---|
D|------------------------------|---------------2-----------|
A|------------------------------|---------------------------|
E|------------------------------|---------------------------|
Count:  1  (2)  3   4   5   6       1  (2)  3   4  (5)  6
Finger: 1       2   2   1   2       -       1   2       2

"Greensleeves" - melody, measures 5 to 8
e|------------------0---1---0---|---------------------------|
B|------1-------3---------------|---3-------0-----------0---|
G|------------------------------|---------------0---2-------|
D|------------------------------|---------------------------|
A|------------------------------|---------------------------|
E|------------------------------|---------------------------|
Count:  1  (2)  3   4   5   6       1  (2)  3   4   5   6
Finger: 1       3   -   1   -       3       -   -   2   -

e|------------------------------|---------------------------|
B|------1---0-------------------|---------------------------|
G|--------------2---1-------1---|---2-----------2-----------|
D|----------------------4-------|---------------------------|
A|------------------------------|---------------------------|
E|------------------------------|---------------------------|
Count:  1   2   3   4   5   6       1  (2) (3)  4  (5) [6]
Finger: 1   -   2   1   4   1       2           2

"Greensleeves" - melody, measures 9 to 12
e|------3-----------3---2---0---|---------------------------|
B|------------------------------|---3-------0-----------0---|
G|------------------------------|---------------0---2-------|
D|------------------------------|---------------------------|
A|------------------------------|---------------------------|
E|------------------------------|---------------------------|
Count:  1  (2) (3)  4   5   6       1  (2)  3   4   5   6
Finger: 3           3   2   -       3       -   -   2   -

e|------------------------------|---------------------------|
B|------1-----------------------|---0-----------------------|
G|--------------2---2---1---2---|-----------1---------------|
D|------------------------------|---------------2-----------|
A|------------------------------|---------------------------|
E|------------------------------|---------------------------|
Count:  1  (2)  3   4   5   6       1  (2)  3   4  (5) (6)
Finger: 1       2   2   1   2       -       1   2

"Greensleeves" - melody, measures 13 to 16
e|------3-----------3---2---0---|---------------------------|
B|------------------------------|---3-------0-----------0---|
G|------------------------------|---------------0---2-------|
D|------------------------------|---------------------------|
A|------------------------------|---------------------------|
E|------------------------------|---------------------------|
Count:  1  (2) (3)  4   5   6       1  (2)  3   4   5   6
Finger: 3           3   2   -       3       -   -   2   -

e|------------------------------|---------------------------|
B|------1---0-------------------|---------------------------|
G|--------------2---1-------1---|---2-----------2-----------|
D|----------------------4-------|---------------------------|
A|------------------------------|---------------------------|
E|------------------------------|---------------------------|
Count:  1   2   3   4   5   6       1  (2) (3)  4  (5) (6)
Finger: 1   -   2   1   4   1       2           2

A note with a count in round brackets after it rings through that count. The count in square brackets in measure 8, [6], is a rest: stop the strings on that count.

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.

Finger 4 plays fret 4 in the seventh and the fifteenth measure of the melody. Today that counts as 2 minutes of little-finger work.

Then the strummed verse.

Strumming pattern: the plain 6/8 strum in measures 1 to 15 of the strummed verse; in its measure 16, one downstroke on count 1, left to ring, and the pick-up note on count 6.

"Greensleeves" - the strummed verse, a downstroke on count 1 and on count 4
Chord:  Am
Count:  1  (2) (3)  4  (5) (6)
Strum:  D           D
Accent: >           >

D = strong downstroke on counts 1 and 4, d = softer downstroke, > = accent (play that strum louder)

"Greensleeves" - chords for the strummed verse
Key: A minor        Time: 6/8 (six counts in a measure)

Strummed verse, 16 measures:

Measure:   1        2        3        4
         | Am     | G      | Am     | E7     |

Measure:   5        6        7        8
         | Am     | G      | Am  E7 | Am     |

Measure:   9        10       11       12
         | C      | G      | Am     | E7     |

Measure:   13       14       15       16
         | C      | G      | Am  E7 | Am     |

In measures 7 and 15, play Am on counts 1 to 3 and E7 on counts 4 to 6.

The chords are Am (Beginner Session 3), G (Beginner Session 10), C (Beginner Session 11) and E7 (Session 2). First place each change of the chart once, with no metronome: Am to G, G to Am, Am to E7, E7 to Am, Am to C, C to G and E7 to C. They have no drill of their own: after placing them, you play them inside the chart.

Then play the chart at 100 BPM, the metronome clicking eighth notes, in the plain 6/8 strum: one downstroke on count 1 and one on count 4. In the chart’s measures 7 and 15 the strum on count 1 is Am and the strum on count 4 is E7. In its measure 16 strum Am once, on count 1, and let it ring. Play the chart through, and then once more.

How to Learn This Tune:

Step 1 — The pick-up note and the first four measures: With the metronome at 100 BPM, clicking eighth notes, count one measure and pick the pick-up note on its count 6; then play measures 1 to 4. Every note is a downstroke, and a note with a count in round brackets after it rings through that count.

Step 2 — Four measures at a time: Play measures 5 to 8, then 9 to 12, then 13 to 16, each after one counted measure. Name the raised notes of each group before you play it. The rest on count 6 of measure 8 is made with the rest stop.

Step 3 — The changes of the strummed verse: Place each change of the chart once with no metronome, then play the chart with one downstroke on count 1 and one on count 4. In measures 7 and 15 the strum on count 1 is Am and the strum on count 4 is E7.

Step 4 — The join: In the verse’s measure 16 strum Am once, on count 1, let it ring, and pick the pick-up note on count 6; then begin the melody again. From Session 29 play the whole form: the pick-up note, the melody, the strummed verse, the melody.

What it should sound like: With the metronome at 100 BPM, clicking eighth notes, every note of measures 1 to 4 begins with a click: 4 measures. Count 1 2 3 4 5 6 aloud through the strummed verse without stopping: 16 measures, 2 strums in each of the first 15. On a recording of measures 5 to 8, follow the TAB note by note: 0 wrong notes, and nothing sounds on count 6 of measure 8.

At the join, the pick-up note on count 6 of the verse’s measure 16 is string 3, fret 2. It lies under finger 3 of the Am shape that you are still holding: pick it there, and go on into the melody. The Finger row of the first melody block gives this note finger 2: that is its finger at the start of the piece, where no chord is held.

This week you play the tune in sections, as Steps 1 to 3 have it. Step 4 joins them: from Session 29 you play the tune whole.

Segment 5 — Review and Practice Plan (5 minutes)

What You Learned Today

First presses of A (full barre) at fret 5, built from A (four strings): press, pluck, release.
Which notes a minor tune raises: in A minor, G sharp and F sharp.
“Greensleeves” in 6/8: its melody four measures at a time, and its strummed verse.
The slur phrase played staccato, in quarter notes and in eighth notes.

Common Mistakes

More force is used when a string under the full barre does not ring — Do not press harder. Find the string in the table: string 6 means finger 1 does not reach far enough; string 2 or string 1 means it lies in a crease, so shift the finger slightly and roll onto its edge. Stop when the 2 minutes are over.
The full barre is kept down while reading the page — Press, pluck each string once, release completely and shake out the hand. The work is counted in presses and is never held against a clock.
Upstrokes are used in the melody of Greensleeves — In 6/8 every numbered count is a downstroke, and every note of this tune falls on a numbered count.
The open string 3 is played where the tune has G sharp — Name the raised notes before each four measures: G sharp is string 3, fret 1, finger 1.
In the staccato phrase the finger lifts off the string and an open string sounds — Relax the finger so that it stops pressing and still touches the string. Only where a note at fret 5 follows on the same string does finger 3 leave it, and only after its own note has stopped.
In measures 7 and 15 of the strummed verse the change to E7 waits for the next measure — E7 is the second strum of the measure, on count 4: leave Am as count 3 ends, and come back to Am on count 1 of the next measure.

Self-Check Questions

By the end of this week’s practice: play measures 1 to 8 of the melody of Greensleeves with the metronome at 110 BPM, clicking eighth notes, after one counted measure with the pick-up note on its count 6, and record it. Check: follow the recording on the TAB, note by note. Pass: 8 measures with no stop, at most 2 wrong notes, and nothing sounds on count 6 of measure 8. If not: play the four measures that held the wrong notes with no metronome, saying the count aloud, twice, under “How to Learn This Tune” in Segment 4, and try again the next day.
By the end of this week’s practice: play the strummed verse of Greensleeves from its chart with the metronome at 110 BPM, clicking eighth notes: one downstroke on count 1 and one on count 4. Check: count 1 2 3 4 5 6 aloud and follow the chart; in measures 7 and 15 the second strum is E7. Pass: 16 measures with no stop: 31 strums, each on its count. If not: place each change of the chart once with no metronome, then play one line of the chart at a time, under “How to Learn This Tune” in Segment 4, and try again the next day.
Play the slur phrase in quarter notes at 60 BPM with every note picked and cut short by relaxing the fretting finger, and record it. Check: listen to the recording and follow the TAB: does each short note stop before the next note begins? Pass: all 12 short notes stop before the next note, and the 1 last note rings to the end of its measure. If not: play the first measure alone, 4 times: relax the finger sooner, and keep it touching the string, under “The Slur Phrase, Staccato” in Segment 3, and try again the next day.
Say the two notes that Greensleeves raises, and play each raised note after the note it replaces. Check: the table under the heading: note, string and fret. Pass: 2 of 2: G then G sharp on string 3, and F then F sharp on string 4 or on string 1. If not: read the statement aloud and play the three pairs of the table once each, under “Raised Notes in a Minor Tune” in Segment 3, and try again the next day.
Read the result you wrote when you marked your recording of Test 3, play it back: six phrases of six notes. Check: the key pile, dealt six slips to an item, against the places you wrote. Pass: 4 of 6, a phrase counting only if every note matched. If not: record the test again after your last practice day of this week, play “Ear Drill: The Six Places” in Segment 3 once on each practice day of the week you repeat, and mark the new recording on its fourth practice day.

Practice Plan for Week 28 (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 80 BPM; D and Bm, a new chord every 4 beats at 80 BPM. One of them a day, in turn.
The Staff reading row: string 6 joins this week, with rests and ties. Each day, play today’s line from the section “Lines for Week 28” of Reading Staff Notation 2, then check it against its answer there. The staff lines are printed in the handout, never in a session.

Block	Time	Activity
Warm-Up	4 min	Movement warm-up, tune; then four measures swung on a palm-muted A5 (the shuffle); 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	string 6 joins; rests and ties: today’s line, then its answer
Full barre	2 min	A (full barre) at fret 5: press, pluck six strings, release; shake out the hand
A (four strings)	3 min	the change drill for 1 minute (8 chords), then the Chord Study once
Greensleeves	9 min	melody four measures at a time; then the strummed verse in its plain form: one downstroke on count 1 and one on count 4
Six-Eight Strum Study	4 min	once through
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.
Sixteenth-note strum	3 min	the plain pattern at 50; then the muted strum with the fretting hand on F5, in eighth notes at 50
Slur phrase	3 min	first the phrase in quarter notes, staccato, at 60; then in eighth notes: once legato, one step up; then once staccato at 40, every note picked and cut short by relaxing the fretting finger. The staccato form of the phrase is new this week

Full barre work: no more than 2 minutes a day in the week of Session 28 and 3 minutes a day from Session 29, at fret 5 only. It counts inside the 5 minutes of barre work.

Full barre rows this week: “Full barre”, 2 minutes. Total: 2 minutes a day.

Barre rows this week: “Full barre”, 2 minutes; “A (four strings)”, 2 minutes. Total: 4 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: “Sixteenth-note strum”, 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.

Two sittings this week: Sitting 1 is the rows from “Warm-Up” to “A (four strings)” (16 minutes). Sitting 2 is the rows from “Greensleeves” to “Slur phrase” (24 minutes). Leave at least an hour between them. Begin Sitting 2 with the movements under “Hand Warm-Up” in Segment 1, and tune again: neither is counted in the minutes.

Ear check this week: on your fourth practice day, mark the recording you made after this session. It takes 6 minutes: that day, give the “Greensleeves” row 3 minutes instead of 9.

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 29.

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.

Guitar Tip — Saga SF-600C-BK

Today you measured the string height of your Saga at the 12th fret for the third time. Read the figures of Sessions 1, 19 and 28 side by side, under string 6 and under string 1, to see whether they have changed. The rule for the result is the same each time: if string 6 is clearly more than 3 mm, or a string is much stiffer under your finger at fret 1 than at fret 5, the guitar goes to a shop before any barre work, as Guitar Setup Check says under “The String-Height Check”.

After the session (not part of the 50 minutes)

Read: Guitar Setup Check, the section “A Job for a Guitar Shop”. (5 minutes)
Read: Barre Shapes Step By Step, the section “The Full Barre at Fret 5”. (10 minutes)
Read: Reading Staff Notation 2, the section “Stage 4: String 6, Rests and Ties”. (5 minutes)
Record: this week’s ear check. Use the recorded card test (Session 2) with Test 3, play it back, as Segment 3 gives it. Pass: 4 of 6. (4 minutes)