Session 29: Sixteenth Notes with a Push

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 gives the strumming hand one new rhythm: the pushed pattern, sixteenth notes with muted strums and a chord that arrives early, on the a before beat 3. You clap it first, then strum it on muted strings, then on F5, and then play the first line of the Push Study with it. The 6/8 pattern changes its click this week to two clicks a measure. The session ends with Greensleeves, played once through and recorded.

Learning Objectives

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

Strum the pushed pattern on F5 with the click on the beat at 45 BPM: the chord strokes, the muted strums and the early upstroke on the a of 2; 4 measures, then 1 more downstroke on the next beat 1
Play the first four measures of the Push Study, one chord to a measure, at 45 BPM: 4 measures
Strum the 6/8 pattern on Em and on G with the metronome clicking twice a measure at 30 BPM, the strong strums on counts 1 and 4: 8 measures
Play Greensleeves once through from your own count-in, with the metronome at 120 BPM, clicking eighth notes: the pick-up note, the melody, the strummed verse, the melody; 48 measures
Clap back and write down a two-measure rhythm that holds one push cell, from your own recording of Test 5: 3 rhythms of 8 cells

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 metronome that goes down to 30, or a metronome app on your phone
Slips of paper and a pen, for this week’s ear check (the 60 cell slips of Session 15, and 6 new slips)
Handout for this session: Strumming Rests And Sixteenths (read after the session, 10 minutes)
Staff reading this week: Reading Staff Notation 2, the section “Lines for Week 29”
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

Play the shuffle (Session 20) on a palm-muted A5 (Beginner Session 9) at 70 BPM, Swing: 4 times through the block, take a breath, then 4 times again.

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

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

Then, for today’s new pattern, play the plain sixteenth-note pattern (Session 8) on Em (Beginner Session 2) at 50 BPM, four strums per click (sixteenth notes): 4 times through the block. Your hand swings down on each number and each &, and up on each e and each a. The pushed pattern keeps exactly this swing.

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

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 Pushed Pattern (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: three-string power-chord work, 4 minutes: the pattern and the study’s first line under “The Pattern on F5, and the Study’s First Line”.

Limited work today: three-string power-chord work, 1 minute: the “Push Study” in Segment 4.

The Pattern Clapped, Then on Muted Strings (6 minutes)

No guitar yet: put it down while you clap.

Pushed chord — A chord that arrives early, just before the beat it belongs to. In this course it is strummed on the “a” before the beat. It is a kind of syncopation. (Session 29)

Here is the pushed pattern as a clapped rhythm: one measure of sixteenth notes, with a clap on 1, on the & of 1, on 2, on the e of 2, on the a of 2, on the & of 3, on 4 and on the e of 4. Every other count is a rest, in square brackets.

The pushed pattern, clapped
Count:  1  [e]  &  [a]  2   e  [&]  a  [3] [e]  &  [a]  4   e  [&] [a]

Clap on every count that is written, and stay silent on a count in brackets. Say the count aloud as you clap, including the counts in brackets.

A count in square brackets, such as [4], is a rest: stop the strings on that count and keep counting. The silence lasts through every count in square brackets after it.

Set the metronome to 40 BPM, the click on the beat. Say 1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & a aloud and clap the written counts: 8 times through the row in all, with a breath after the fourth.

Look at the clap on the a of 2: it comes just before beat 3, and beat 3 itself is silent.

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.

Now pick up the guitar. Lay your fretting hand lightly across all six strings, touching them and not pressing, with no chord shape.

In sixteenth notes your hand swings down and up twice in every beat: down on each number and on each &, up on each e and on each a.

chk = a muted strum: a strum on strings that are being held still, so that you hear a dry “chk” and no note.

A chk is a stroke like any other: down or up as its count says.

Play the same clapped row on the muted strings at 40 BPM, the click on the beat: every clap is now a muted strum, down on each number and each &, up on each e and each a. On the counts in brackets the hand keeps swinging and passes the strings without touching them. Play it 4 times through, take a breath, then 4 times again.

No chord is placed here, so these minutes are not three-string power-chord work.

The Pattern on F5, and the Study’s First Line (4 minutes)

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

This is the pushed pattern on a muted F5 (Beginner Session 20), with a chk in place of every chord stroke:

Chord:  F5
Count:  1  [e]  &  [a]  2   e  [&]  a  [3] [e]  &  [a]  4   e  [&] [a]
Strum:  chk     chk     chk chk     chk         chk     chk chk

Here the fretting hand holds the strings still: keep the chord shape, relax your fretting fingers so they touch the strings without pressing, and strum the same three strings.

Place F5, then relax the fingers so that they touch the three strings without pressing. Strum the pattern as muted strums at 40 BPM, the click on the beat: 4 times through.

Now today’s hard new skill, for the strumming hand: the pushed pattern with the chord.

Chord:  F5                          Bb5
Count:  1  (e)  &  (a)  2   e  [&]  a  (3) (e)  &  (a)  4   e  [&] [a]
Strum:  D       D       chk chk     U           D       chk chk

A chord name over the count “a” means that the chord arrives early: change to it for that upstroke and let it ring through the beat that follows.

A count in round brackets, such as (2), is a count on which you play nothing new: keep counting and let the note or chord ring on.

Here a rest needs no rest stop: your relaxed fretting fingers are already holding the strings still.

The metronome clicks the beat. On beat 3 you play nothing: the chord you struck one count earlier, on the “a” of 2, is still ringing.

Tempo: Start at 40 BPM, the click on the beat and work up to 45. 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.

45 BPM is as fast as this pattern goes in the course.

Today play it on F5 alone at 40 BPM and leave the second chord name aside, in two stages:

Play counts 1 to the e of 2 and stop: two chord strokes with the fingers pressing, then two muted strums with the fingers relaxed. Do this 4 times. This press and relax is the riff of Beginner Session 20, played slower.
Play the whole measure 4 times through. With one chord to a measure the strokes are the same, and the upstroke on the a of 2 is the same chord, struck early: press again for that upstroke.

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

Then play the first line of the Push Study, one chord to a measure (F5, Bb5, Ab5 and Db5, the power chords of Beginner Session 20), from its first strum block in Segment 4, where it is printed: once, at 40 BPM, the click on the beat, after one counted measure.

Between two chords, ease the pressure, keep your fingertips just touching the strings as a guide, move, then press again.

Segment 3 — New Learning: Where the Push Falls, and 6/8 with Two Clicks (15 minutes)

Where the Push Falls

No playing here: the fretting hand rests from the power chords. Read this table against the pushed pattern’s block under “The Pattern on F5, and the Study’s First Line” in Segment 2, count by count.

Count	Stroke	What is heard
1	D	the chord
(e)	no stroke	the chord rings on
&	D	the chord
(a)	no stroke	rings on
2	chk	a muted strum
e	chk	a muted strum
[&]	no stroke	silence
a	U	the next chord, early: the pushed chord
(3)	no stroke	rings on
(e)	no stroke	rings on
&	D	the chord
(a)	no stroke	rings on
4	chk	a muted strum
e	chk	a muted strum
[&]	no stroke	silence
[a]	no stroke	silence

Syncopation, a term of the beginner course, is an accent off the beat. In D D U U D U the upstroke on the & of 2 rings through beat 3. Here the stroke before beat 3 is one sixteenth note later still, on the a of 2.

There is no push into beat 1, so every measure begins with a downstroke on the click.

6/8 with Two Clicks to the Measure

The click of the 6/8 pattern changes this week; the strum does not.

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: >                       >

The metronome clicks twice a measure, on counts 1 and 4: three counts to each click.

Three counts per click at 30 is exactly as fast as one count per click at 90.

Changing the click is not a tempo step.

Tempo: Metronome at 30, two clicks to the measure (three counts per click), all week. It does not go up this week: the click is new this week.

If your metronome does not go down to 30, use a metronome app on your phone.

If your 6/8 pattern has not yet reached 90 BPM with the metronome clicking eighth notes, stay with that click this week and take its steps one at a time; change to two clicks a measure on the day after 90 BPM has had three clean runs in a row.

Count 1 2 3 4 5 6 aloud over 4 clicks before you strum. Then play the pattern on Em 4 times through and on G (Beginner Session 10) 4 times through, and then the same again.

Ear Drill: Clap the Cells

Clap each kind of cell on four clicks in a row, one kind after another, with the metronome at the test’s tempo, saying the count aloud. Then turn over four cell slips in a row and clap the row twice.

This is a drill, not a test: you know each answer as you play it.

Copy of Session 3: The quarter cell on each beat of a measure

The quarter cell on each beat of a measure
Count:  1   2   3   4

Clap on every count that is written, and stay silent on a count in brackets. Say the count aloud as you clap, including the counts in brackets.

Copy of Session 3: The two-eighths cell on each beat of a measure

The two-eighths cell on each beat of a measure
Count:  1   &   2   &   3   &   4   &

Copy of Session 3: The rest cell on each beat of a measure

The rest cell on each beat of a measure
Count: [1] [2] [3] [4]

On a click, quarter = one clap, two eighths = two even claps, the first on the click, and rest = no clap: the click sounds alone.

Copy of Session 9: The four-sixteenths cell on each beat of a measure

The four-sixteenths cell on each beat of a measure
Count:  1   e   &   a   2   e   &   a   3   e   &   a   4   e   &   a

On a click, four sixteenths = four even claps, the first on the click.

The push cell is new this week:

The push cell on each beat of a measure
Count:  1  [e] [&]  a   2  [e] [&]  a   3  [e] [&]  a   4  [e] [&]  a

On a click, push = two claps: one on the click and one on the a, just before the next click.

The push cell of the test is two claps, on the number and on the a. It is not the whole strumming pattern of Segment 2.

This is a worked rhythm of two measures, made from eight slips:

Ear Test 5, two measures built from eight cell slips
Count:  1  [e] [&] [a]  2   e   &   a   3  [e]  &  [a] [4] [e] [&] [a]  |

Count:  1  [e]  &  [a]  2  [e] [&] [a]  3  [e] [&] [a]  4   e   &   a   |

Beside a shorter cell, the silent parts of a cell are printed as counts in square brackets: a quarter cell on beat 2 may be printed 2 [&], and it is still one clap, on the number.

Play the drill once now, with the metronome at 50 BPM, the click on the beat, and your pile of 60 cell slips: the push cell is one of the kinds you clap on four clicks. After the session, write 6 new slips marked “push” and keep them apart from the pile of 60. The recording is made after the session too, from the words below.

Test 5, rhythm recall, two measures with one push cell. Use the pile of 60 cell slips, and keep 6 slips marked “push” apart from it. For each item take seven slips from the pile and one push slip, shuffle the eight face down, and turn them over in a row from left to right: the eight beats of two measures. Record with the metronome sounding at 50 BPM, one cell to a click. For each item say “1, 2, 3, 4” with four clicks, then clap the row twice through without a break. Count in your head while you clap: if you said the count aloud, the recording would tell you the answer. Record three items. On each click the claps name the cell: none is “rest”, one is “quarter”, two even claps are “two eighths”, four are “four sixteenths”, and two claps of which the second comes just before the next click are “push”. To answer, listen to an item, stop the recording, clap the rhythm back once, and write the cells you clapped, in order. Write each cell as the number of claps on its click: 0, 1, 2 or 4, and P for a push. To mark, deal the key pile eight slips to an item. A rhythm is right only if every cell matched. When you have marked the recording, take the three push slips out of the key pile and keep all six push slips apart.

Break: 5 minutes. Guitar down.

Segment 4 — Piece Workshop: Push Study (15 minutes)

The Push Study, Then Greensleeves (15 minutes)

“Push Study”

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

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.

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

Credits: Written for this course.

What this is: A study: an original exercise written for this course. It is not a song. It has sixteen measures in F minor and 4/4 time, on the four three-string power chords F5, Bb5, Ab5 and Db5, in the pushed pattern. In measures 1 to 4 each chord lasts a whole measure. In measures 5 to 14 there are two chords to a measure, and the second arrives early, on the “a” of 2. Measure 15 is F5 alone, and in measure 16 you strum F5 once, on count 1, and let it ring. The four chords, and the order they come in, are those of Beginner Session 20. Not yet play-tested.

Key: F minor

Time: 4/4

Tempo: Start at 40 BPM, the click on the beat and work up to 45. 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: the pushed pattern in every measure but the last; in the last measure, one downstroke on beat 1, left to ring.

"Push Study" - measures 1 to 4, one chord to a measure
Chord:  F5
Count:  1  (e)  &  (a)  2   e  [&]  a  (3) (e)  &  (a)  4   e  [&] [a]  |
Strum:  D       D       chk chk     U           D       chk chk         |

Chord:  Bb5
Count:  1  (e)  &  (a)  2   e  [&]  a  (3) (e)  &  (a)  4   e  [&] [a]  |
Strum:  D       D       chk chk     U           D       chk chk         |

Chord:  Ab5
Count:  1  (e)  &  (a)  2   e  [&]  a  (3) (e)  &  (a)  4   e  [&] [a]  |
Strum:  D       D       chk chk     U           D       chk chk         |

Chord:  Db5
Count:  1  (e)  &  (a)  2   e  [&]  a  (3) (e)  &  (a)  4   e  [&] [a]  |
Strum:  D       D       chk chk     U           D       chk chk         |

"Push Study" - the sixteen measures

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

Study, 16 measures:

Measure:   1          2          3          4
         | F5       | Bb5      | Ab5      | Db5      |

Measure:   5          6          7          8
         | F5   Bb5 | Ab5  Db5 | F5   Bb5 | Ab5  Db5 |

Measure:   9          10         11         12
         | F5   Bb5 | Ab5  Db5 | F5   Bb5 | Ab5  Db5 |

Measure:   13         14         15         16
         | F5   Bb5 | Ab5  Db5 | F5       | F5       |

In measure 16, strum F5 once, on count 1, and let it ring.

"Push Study" - measures 5 to 8, two chords to a measure
Chord:  F5                          Bb5
Count:  1  (e)  &  (a)  2   e  [&]  a  (3) (e)  &  (a)  4   e  [&] [a]  |
Strum:  D       D       chk chk     U           D       chk chk         |

Chord:  Ab5                         Db5
Count:  1  (e)  &  (a)  2   e  [&]  a  (3) (e)  &  (a)  4   e  [&] [a]  |
Strum:  D       D       chk chk     U           D       chk chk         |

Chord:  F5                          Bb5
Count:  1  (e)  &  (a)  2   e  [&]  a  (3) (e)  &  (a)  4   e  [&] [a]  |
Strum:  D       D       chk chk     U           D       chk chk         |

Chord:  Ab5                         Db5
Count:  1  (e)  &  (a)  2   e  [&]  a  (3) (e)  &  (a)  4   e  [&] [a]  |
Strum:  D       D       chk chk     U           D       chk chk         |

"Push Study" - measures 13 to 16, with the ending
Chord:  F5                          Bb5
Count:  1  (e)  &  (a)  2   e  [&]  a  (3) (e)  &  (a)  4   e  [&] [a]  |
Strum:  D       D       chk chk     U           D       chk chk         |

Chord:  Ab5                         Db5
Count:  1  (e)  &  (a)  2   e  [&]  a  (3) (e)  &  (a)  4   e  [&] [a]  |
Strum:  D       D       chk chk     U           D       chk chk         |

Chord:  F5
Count:  1  (e)  &  (a)  2   e  [&]  a  (3) (e)  &  (a)  4   e  [&] [a]  |
Strum:  D       D       chk chk     U           D       chk chk         |

Chord:  F5
Count:  1  (2) (3) (4)  |
Strum:  D               |

A chord name over the count “a” means that the chord arrives early: change to it for that upstroke and let it ring through the beat that follows.

That sentence is true of measures 5 to 14, where a measure has two chords. The third line of the chart, measures 9 to 12, is the second strum block again.

Play measures 1 to 4 once more at 40 BPM, the click on the beat, after one counted measure. This is the day’s fifth and last minute of three-string power-chord work. The other lines are for the practice days: four measures a day.

How to Learn This Study:

Step 1 — The pattern on F5: Play measure 1 alone: the pushed pattern on F5, as the first measure of the first strum block shows. This week, do this before the study on every practice day.

Step 2 — Four measures a day: Play measures 1 to 4 with one measure counted in: one chord to a measure. On the next days take measures 5 to 8, then measures 9 to 12, then measures 13 to 16; on the fifth day play measures 1 to 4 again: they are Self-Check Question 2.

Step 3 — Once through: From Session 30, play the sixteen measures with one measure counted in. In measure 16, strum F5 once, on count 1, and let it ring.

Step 3 begins next week.

What it should sound like: With the metronome at 40 BPM, the downstroke on beat 1 of every measure falls with its click: 4 measures. Count 1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & a aloud through 4 measures without stopping. On a recording of 4 measures, count the muted strums that have a note in them: 0 of 16.

Greensleeves, Once Through

“Greensleeves” (Session 28) has no power chord. Its blocks are not printed again: play it from its pages in Session 28.

Tempo: Metronome at 110, clicking eighth notes (one count per click). Work up to 120. Raise the metronome 5 at a time, and only after three clean runs in a row. In one week, take two steps at most. The performance tempo is the metronome at 40, two clicks to the measure (three counts per click).

This week the click of the tune stays on eighth notes.

In each melody, finger 4 plays fret 4 in measures 7 and 15.

Today you play the whole form, in order: the pick-up note, the melody, the strummed verse, the melody.

Set the metronome to 110 BPM, clicking eighth notes, and start the recording with the metronome sounding. Count six clicks aloud and pick the pick-up note on the sixth, count 6. Play all 48 measures once through. At the join, in the last measure of the strummed verse, strum Am once on count 1 and pick the pick-up note on count 6.

Then, with the guitar still, listen to the recording with the pages of Session 28 open. Mark in pencil each wrong note, each missed note and each stop. Count the marks, and write the number and the date. Choose the four measures in a row that hold the most marks: they are this week’s hardest four measures.

Play those four measures three times at 110 BPM, the metronome clicking eighth notes, each time after six counted clicks.

Segment 5 — Review and Practice Plan (5 minutes)

What You Learned Today

The pushed pattern: clapped, on muted strings, and with the chord
A pushed chord arrives on the a before the beat
The 6/8 pattern with two clicks to the measure
Greensleeves played whole

Common Mistakes

A muted strum has a note in it — Relax the fretting fingers further, so that they touch the three strings without pressing. Keep the shape, and strum the same three strings.
The early upstroke is played on beat 3 — Count 1 e & a 2 e & a aloud: the stroke is the last count of beat 2, the a, and it is an upstroke. On beat 3 the hand swings down past the strings and touches nothing.
The strumming hand stops on the counts in brackets — Keep the hand swinging down and up on all sixteen counts. On a count in brackets it passes the strings without touching them; clap the row again if the swing is lost.
With two clicks to the measure the 6/8 strum grows a third strong strum — Say ONE two three FOUR five six aloud. The two clicks are counts 1 and 4, and no other count is strong.
The pattern and the study are played on after their minutes — Together they are the day’s 5 minutes of three-string power-chord work. When the minutes are used, stop. If the strumming hand or forearm aches before then, stop playing for today, and next time loosen the grip on the pick.

Self-Check Questions

By the end of this week’s practice: play the pushed pattern on F5 for four measures at 45 BPM, the click on the beat, then one more downstroke on the next beat 1, and record it with the metronome sounding. Check: listen to the recording and count 1 e & a aloud with it. Pass: 4 measures with no stop, the 1 downstroke after them comes with its click, and 0 of the 16 muted strums has a note in it. If not: if a muted strum has a note in it, relax the fretting fingers further, so that they touch the strings without pressing, and go back to the pattern on a muted F5, under “The Pattern on F5, and the Study’s First Line” in Segment 2, and try again the next day, inside the Push pattern row.
By the end of this week’s practice: play measures 1 to 4 of the Push Study at 45 BPM, the click on the beat, after one counted measure. Check: count 1 e & a aloud; watch that each chord is in place for the downstroke on beat 1. Pass: 4 measures with no stop, and 4 of 4 chords in place on beat 1. If not: play Step 1 four times, then the four measures two at a time, under “How to Learn This Study” in Segment 4, and try again the next day, inside the Push Study row.
Strum the 6/8 pattern for four measures on Em and four on G with the metronome at 30 BPM, two clicks to the measure, and record it. Check: listen to the recording and count 1 2 3 4 5 6 aloud: the clicks are counts 1 and 4. Pass: 8 measures with no stop, and the 2 loudest strums of every measure are counts 1 and 4. If not: go back for one day to the metronome at 90 BPM, clicking eighth notes, saying ONE and FOUR aloud, and then change the click again, under “6/8 with Two Clicks to the Measure” in Segment 3, and try again after that day.
By the end of this week’s practice: play Greensleeves once through with the metronome at 120 BPM, clicking eighth notes, from your own count-in, and record it. Check: follow the recording on the pages of Session 28 and mark each wrong note, missed note and stop. Pass: 48 measures with no stop, and at most 6 marks. If not: play the four measures with the most marks three times a day for two days, under “Greensleeves, Once Through” in Segment 4, and try again after those two days.
Read the result you wrote when you marked your recording of Test 5, rhythm recall: three rhythms of two measures. Check: the key pile, dealt eight slips to an item, against the cells you wrote. Pass: 2 of 3, a rhythm counting only if every cell matched. If not: record the test again after your last practice day of this week, play “Ear Drill: Clap the Cells” 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 29 (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: today’s line is in Reading Staff Notation 2, the section “Lines for Week 29”; play it, then check it against its answer there. The staff lines are printed in the handout and never in a session.
The Full barre row: it stays at 2 minutes of presses at fret 5 this week, as last week.
The A song of your own row: this week the section you play may hold no three-string power chord, as the row says. The day’s 5 minutes of that work are in the “Push pattern” and “Push Study” rows.

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	today’s line from the staff handout, then its answer
Full barre	2 min	presses at fret 5, as last week
A (four strings)	3 min	the change drill for 1 minute (8 chords), then the Chord Study once
Push pattern	3 min	clap and count it; then on a muted F5; then with the chord. The muted F5 and the chord are played at the pattern’s figure for the week, 40 to 45, with the click on the beat
Push Study	2 min	four measures a day
Greensleeves	10 min	once through with the metronome still clicking eighth notes, then its hardest four measures
6/8 pattern	4 min	the pattern on Em and G with the metronome now clicking twice a measure
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. This week the section may hold no three-string power chord: 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.

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 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.

Barre rows this week: “Full barre”, 2 minutes; “A (four strings)”, 2 minutes. Total: 4 minutes a day.

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

Power-chord rows this week: “Push pattern”, 3 minutes; “Push Study”, 2 minutes. Total: 5 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 “Push Study” (21 minutes). Sitting 2 is the rows from “Greensleeves” to “A song of your own” (19 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 4 minutes: that day, give the “Greensleeves” row 6 minutes instead of 10.

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 30.

Any no: repeat this week’s plan for up to one more week and check again. If it is still no after the second week, go on, and add that item to your warm-up until it passes.

If the item is barre work, slur work, little-finger work or three-string power-chord work, do not add it to your warm-up: play it inside the row of next week’s plan that holds that work, in that row’s minutes. The daily limits do not change.

Guitar Tip — Saga SF-600C-BK

This week’s metronome has to go down to 30 for the 6/8 pattern; a phone metronome app does, if your metronome stops above 30. Set it where you can hear its click while you strum the Saga: in front of you, beside the music, and not behind the guitar’s body or under the strumming arm. When you record, put the phone where it picks up both the click and the guitar. Before you record Greensleeves once through, record a few seconds of strumming with the metronome sounding and play them back: if the click cannot be heard under the strums, turn the metronome up or move the phone closer to it.

After the session (not part of the 50 minutes)

Read: Strumming Rests And Sixteenths, the sections “The Pushed Pattern with Muted Strums” and “The 6/8 Pattern”. (10 minutes)
Record: this week’s ear check. Use the recorded card test (Session 2) with Test 5, rhythm recall, as Segment 3 gives it. Pass: 2 of 3. (4 minutes)