Session 31: The Full Barre in a Change

Duration: 50 minutes

Break: Put the guitar down for 5 minutes at the end of Segment 3. No stretch of playing is then longer than 30 minutes.

This session opens Phase 6. You make your first change to the full barre chord and back, E to A (full barre), as a drill of one strum to a chord. You learn the three questions asked of every piece you perform, and you choose the first piece of your final programme. Then you play the introduction and chorus chords of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” in the pushed pattern of the Push Study, and the session ends with the Fifth-Fret Chord Study, once through.

Learning Objectives

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

Change from E to A (full barre) and back in the change drill, one downstroke on each chord, a new chord every 4 beats at 55 BPM: 4 changes without stopping (5 chords)
Play palm-muted eighth notes with down-up strokes on E5 and on A5 at 75 BPM without stopping: 8 measures
Write the key, the time signature and two techniques of one complete piece, and check them against the lines printed with the piece: 3 answers for 1 piece
Play the introduction and chorus chords of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” from its chart in the pushed pattern at 45 BPM, to the written ending: 24 measures and the 1 strum of the ending
Play D D U U D U on G and on C at 100 BPM without stopping: 8 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
Paper and a pen, for the three answers and for the name of your first programme piece
A way to play Nirvana’s recording of “Smells Like Teen Spirit”: listen to it three times before the session, as its “Listen first” paragraph asks
Handout for this session: Barre Shapes Step By Step (read after the session, 5 minutes)
Handout for this session: Performing A Programme (read after the session, 10 minutes)
Staff reading this week: Reading Staff Notation 2, the section “Lines for Week 31”
Reference: Chord Chart, Glossary

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

Hand Warm-Up

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

Tune Your Guitar

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

Warm-Up

Copy of Beginner Session 5: the D D U U D U pattern

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

Play D D U U D U (Beginner Session 5) at 95 BPM on G for four measures and on C for four measures, and then all eight measures a second time.

This is the pattern’s last step. On the practice days the “Warm-Up” row may take it to 100 BPM, the figure of the end-of-course assessment, and it goes no higher. Raise the metronome 5 BPM at a time, and only after three clean runs in a row. In one week, take two steps at most.

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

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

Copy of Session 3: the Stop-Time pattern

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

Spider crawl: frets 5-8, one finger at a time, all six strings, up and down. If it pulls, stop the crawl; if it aches, stop playing for today.

There are no barre presses in today’s warm-up: all of today’s full barre work is in Segment 2.

Segment 2 — Technique Focus: The Change to the Full Barre (10 minutes)

Session day: the daily limits count today too. The limited work you do in this session is all you do of it today, also if you pick up the guitar again later.

Limited work today: barre work, 3 minutes: the presses and the drill under “The Change Drill: E to A (Full Barre)”.

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

Limited work today: three-string power-chord work, 3 minutes: the chart under “Smells Like Teen Spirit” (introduction and chorus chords, in the Push Study’s pattern) in Segment 4.

The Change Drill: E to A (Full Barre) (3 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.

First, presses of A (full barre) at fret 5, as in Sessions 28 to 30. Its diagram and its lines are in Session 28, under “Presses at Fret 5: the Full Barre”. Place it by the four steps of “How a Barre Works” (Session 19).

Make 4 presses: press, pluck the six strings one at a time, release completely, and shake out the hand after each press.

Then the change. E to A (full barre): nothing stays down, and the hand moves up the neck. Every finger takes a new place. Finger 1 lies across all six strings at fret 5. Finger 2 goes from string 5 fret 2 to string 3 fret 6. Finger 3 goes from string 4 fret 2 to string 5 fret 7. Finger 4 lands on string 4 fret 7.

E (Beginner Session 5) keeps the fingering you have always used.

Nothing stays down, so lift all the fingers together, form the new shape in the air and land it as one shape. Do the same on the way back to E.

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

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

This is a change drill, not the change test: it passes on 4 changes without stopping (5 chords).

Each chord is one downstroke.

Strum on beat 1 and let it ring; move during beats 3 and 4.

Of the two chords, A (full barre) has no open string; E has three.

This shape has no open string, so its sound ends when you lift; that is expected.

One set is E, A (full barre), E, A (full barre), E: five measures, one chord to a measure. Play the set at 50 BPM, shake out the hand, and play the set a second time.

Tempo: a new chord every 4 beats at 50 BPM

On the practice days the “Full barre change drill” row may reach 55 BPM this week. Raise the metronome 5 BPM at a time, and only after three clean runs in a row. This week, take one step at most.

Palm-Muted Eighth Notes and the Three Questions (7 minutes)

For listening only: “Wasted Years” by Iron Maiden, on the album Somewhere in Time (1986). Written by Adrian Smith. Listen for the power chords: a printed transcription of the song names E5, D5, G5, C5 and A5. The pattern below is not that song.

Copy of Beginner Session 9: palm-muted eighth notes

e|--------------------------------------|
B|--------------------------------------|
G|--------------------------------------|
D|--------------------------------------|
A|------2---2---2---2---2---2---2---2---|
E|------0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0---|
Count:  1   &   2   &   3   &   4   &
Strum:  D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U
PM:     PM  PM  PM  PM  PM  PM  PM  PM

PM = palm muted. O = let the string ring (palm lifted).

Play palm-muted eighth notes with down-up strokes (Beginner Session 9) at 70 BPM, two strums per click, on the two open shapes: E5 for four measures, as the block shows, and A5 (Beginner Session 9) for four measures, and then all eight measures a second time. Neither shape has a barre, so the fretting hand rests from the barre here.

On the practice days the “Palm-muted eighth notes” row may reach 75 BPM this week. 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.

For every piece you perform you can say three things: its key, its time signature and two techniques it uses.

The three answers are printed with each of the eleven complete pieces: the lines that begin “Key:”, “Time:” and “Techniques:”.

An answer is right when the key and the time signature are as those lines print them, and when the two techniques are any two of the names on the Techniques line, spelled as it spells them.

Now write the three answers for “Greensleeves” (Session 28) from memory, on paper, and keep the paper. Its three lines are printed with it in Segment 4, and you check your answers there, after playing it. Nothing is played here.

Segment 3 — New Learning: Choosing Your Programme (15 minutes)

The Programme and Its Rule

Nothing is played in this segment.

Programme — The pieces you perform one after another in a single recorded take. The final programme is three complete pieces. (Session 6)
Complete piece — A piece printed whole, which you play from your own count-in to its written ending. An exercise, or a part of a song, is not a complete piece. (Session 1)

The final programme is three different complete pieces, played one after another, each from your own count-in to its written ending, recorded in one take. Of the three:

at most one is from Phase 1;
at least one is from Phases 4 to 6;
at least one is Giuliani’s Andantino, “Down by the Salley Gardens” or “Greensleeves”;
at least one is played from memory.

One piece may meet two of these: “Greensleeves” is from Phase 5 and is one of the three named.

In the programme each piece is played alone, as its page writes it, from your own count-in, with no backing sounding.

The pass mark, as exit criterion E26 words it: no stop; each piece reaches its written ending; at most 3 wrong or missed notes in any one piece.

It is counted on the recording of the take. Listen to the take once for each piece with its page in front of you, and make one stroke on paper for every wrong or missed note. Count the strokes piece by piece.

The Eleven Complete Pieces

Piece	Phase	Kind	Measures	Time	Performance tempo	Length	From Phase 1	From Phases 4 to 6	One of the three named
”Seventh-Chord Blues in A”	1	course piece	38	4/4	70 BPM	2 min 10 s	yes	no	no
”Stop-Time Study in E”	1	course piece	26	4/4	70 BPM	1 min 29 s	yes	no	no
”Seventh-Chord Blues in E”	1	course piece	38	4/4	70 BPM	2 min 10 s	yes	no	no
”Amazing Grace” (traditional; the course’s arrangement in G)	1	traditional tune	42	3/4	70 BPM	1 min 48 s	yes	no	no
”Evening Sevenths”	2	course piece	26	4/4	70 BPM	1 min 29 s	no	no	no
Giuliani: “Andantino”, Op. 50 no. 1	2	public-domain study	32	3/4	55 BPM	1 min 45 s	no	no	yes
”Down by the Salley Gardens” (traditional air; the course’s arrangement in D)	3	traditional tune	48	4/4	65 BPM	2 min 57 s	no	no	yes
”Shuffle Blues in A”	4	course piece	38	4/4	70 BPM	2 min 10 s	no	yes	no
”Slur Study in A minor”	4	course piece	24	4/4	60 BPM	1 min 36 s	no	yes	no
”Greensleeves” (traditional; the course’s arrangement in A minor)	5	traditional tune	48	6/8	two clicks to the measure at 40	2 min 24 s	no	yes	yes
”Fifth-Fret Rock Study”	6	course piece	32	4/4	60 BPM	2 min 08 s	no	yes	no

The eleventh piece, the “Fifth-Fret Rock Study”, is taught in Session 32, so it cannot be this week’s choice.

The Length column counts each piece from its measure 1 to its last measure, at its performance tempo; a pick-up note or a counted measure before measure 1 adds a few seconds at most.

Choosing Your First Piece

These are the first three of the steps for choosing a programme:

Look at the table. Only these eleven pieces can be in the programme.
Choose one piece that has “yes” in the column “One of the three named”.
Choose one piece that has “yes” in the column “From Phases 4 to 6”. If the piece of step 2 is “Greensleeves”, it has “yes” here too, and you may choose any other piece in this step.

This week you take them for one piece only. Choose one piece that has “yes” in the column “One of the three named” or in the column “From Phases 4 to 6”, and write its name on the paper. It is the piece of this week’s “One programme piece” row.

You choose a second piece in Session 32, and the three are fixed in Session 33. Which piece you play from memory is decided in Session 33 too.

The list of every allowed programme is in Performing A Programme, under “Every Allowed Programme”. It is a list in which a set of three pieces is looked up, at step 6 of the handout’s steps for choosing, and it is not part of this week’s reading.

Break: 5 minutes. Guitar down.

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

Known Pieces, Inside Today’s Limits (15 minutes)

Greensleeves, Once Through

Play “Greensleeves” (Session 28) once through, at its performance tempo: the metronome at 40 BPM, two clicks to the measure (three counts per click). Count it in as in Session 30 and pick the pick-up note on count 6; then play the melody, the strummed verse in the plain 6/8 strum (one downstroke on count 1 and one on count 4), and the melody again. The whole form takes 2 minutes 24 seconds.

Finger 4 plays fret 4 in the seventh and the fifteenth measure of the melody.

Key: A minor

Time: 6/8

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

Copy of Session 28: “Greensleeves” - melody, measures 1 to 4 (one pick-up note)

"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

Copy of Session 28: “Greensleeves” - melody, measures 5 to 8

"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

Copy of Session 28: “Greensleeves” - melody, measures 9 to 12

"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

Copy of Session 28: “Greensleeves” - melody, measures 13 to 16

"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

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.

Copy of Session 28: “Greensleeves” - the strummed verse, a downstroke on count 1 and on count 4

"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: >           >

Copy of Session 28: “Greensleeves” - chords for the strummed verse

"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.

After playing, check the three answers you wrote in Segment 2 against the Key, Time and Techniques lines above the melody.

”Smells Like Teen Spirit” (introduction and chorus chords, in the Push Study’s pattern)

Credits: Written by Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl. Recorded by Nirvana on Nevermind (1991).

Listen first: Find Nirvana’s recording of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” (Nevermind, 1991) and listen to the introduction and the first chorus three times before you pick up the guitar. Listen for: (1) the introduction: the guitar plays the four chords alone, twice round, then the band comes in and they go round four more times; (2) the chorus: the same four chords in the same order, six times round; (3) two chords to a measure all the way: F5 and Bb5, then Ab5 and Db5.

What this is: A simplified chord accompaniment for the introduction and the chorus only: four three-string power chords, two to a measure, in the strumming pattern of the Push Study. That pattern is this course’s own; it is not the rhythm of the recording. The publisher’s full transcription writes the introduction with fuller four-string shapes on the same four roots, and a strum of the open strings on the way from one measure to the next. A tab posted by users writes the chorus with the three-string shapes printed here. The order of the chords in the introduction is the same in that transcription (Hal Leonard’s guitar book of the album) and in the tab. For the chorus it is the same in the tab and in a chord analysis, both posted by users. No publisher’s page for the chorus was seen. The verse, the pre-chorus, the post-chorus and the solo are not printed. In the verse and the pre-chorus the tab writes two single notes for the guitar, not chords. For the post-chorus the sources differ, and the solo was read in one source only. By the published transcription the recording is in standard tuning in this key, so these chords should be at its pitch; nobody has checked that with a tuner. By the same transcription the recording runs at about 116 BPM, more than twice as fast as you play this chart, so do not try to play along with it yet. The ending is written for the course. Not yet play-tested.

Key: F minor

Time: 4/4

Tempo: 45 BPM, the click on the beat all week. It does not go up this week: the chart is new.

The published transcription and the tab put the second chord of each measure of the recording on the ”&” of 3, as Beginner Session 20 says. The pushed pattern puts it earlier, on the “a” of 2. The pattern is this course’s own, not the rhythm of the recording.

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.

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.

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

Read these lines first: nothing is played yet. The three listenings were done before the session.

How to learn this chart:

Read the two steps now, with the two strum blocks below in view. You play them once the blocks and the chart below have been read.

Step 1 — The chords, one strum each: Play the first two measures of the chart with one downstroke on each chord, on counts 1 and 3: F5 and Bb5, then Ab5 and Db5. Play them twice.

Step 2 — The whole chart in the pushed pattern: Count one measure in and play the chart from its first measure in the pushed pattern: the second chord of each measure arrives on the “a” of 2. In the last measure strum F5 once, on count 1, and let it ring.

What it should sound like: With the metronome at 45 BPM, the downstroke on count 1 of every measure falls with a click: 24 measures. Count 1 e & a 2 e & a aloud through the first two measures: the second chord is strummed on the “a” of 2, before the click of beat 3. On a recording, count the chords: 2 in every measure for 24 measures, then 1 strum of F5.

Strumming pattern: the pushed pattern in every measure but the last. Measure 25 is one downstroke, left to ring.

"Smells Like Teen Spirit" - the two measures in the pushed pattern
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         |

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.

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.

For Step 1, one strum every two beats, on counts 1 and 3:

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

Let each chord ring for one beat and move during the next.

This shape has no open string, so its sound ends when you lift; that is expected.

"Smells Like Teen Spirit" - introduction and chorus chords (simplified)

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

Introduction, 12 measures:

| F5   Bb5 | Ab5  Db5 | F5   Bb5 | Ab5  Db5 |
| F5   Bb5 | Ab5  Db5 | F5   Bb5 | Ab5  Db5 |
| F5   Bb5 | Ab5  Db5 | F5   Bb5 | Ab5  Db5 |

Chorus, 12 measures:

| F5   Bb5 | Ab5  Db5 | F5   Bb5 | Ab5  Db5 |
| F5   Bb5 | Ab5  Db5 | F5   Bb5 | Ab5  Db5 |
| F5   Bb5 | Ab5  Db5 | F5   Bb5 | Ab5  Db5 |

Ending (written for the course), 1 measure:

| F5       |

Strum the last F5 once. Verse, pre-chorus, post-chorus, solo: not printed.

Now play Step 1 and Step 2, both at 45 BPM, the click on the beat. First Step 1: measures 1 and 2 of the chart with one downstroke on each chord, and the same again. Then Step 2: count one measure in and play the whole chart in the pushed pattern, to the one strum of F5.

These 3 minutes are all of today’s three-string power-chord work. The Push Study itself is not played today: on the practice days the “Push Study” row plays the study or this chart.

Fifth-Fret Chord Study, Once Through

Copy of Session 25: “Fifth-Fret Chord Study” - the sixteen measures

"Fifth-Fret Chord Study" - the sixteen measures

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

Study, 16 measures:

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

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

Copy of Session 25: “Fifth-Fret Chord Study” - measures 1 to 4, one strum to a measure

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

Chord:  A (four strings)    D
Count:  1  (2) (3) (4)  |   1  (2) (3) (4)  |
Strum:  D               |   D               |

Strum on beat 1 and let it ring; move during beats 3 and 4.

Of the study’s four chords, only A (four strings) has no open string.

This shape has no open string, so its sound ends when you lift; that is expected.

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

Play the “Fifth-Fret Chord Study” (Session 25) once through from its chart, one strum to a measure, at 60 BPM, the figure where its change drill ended, after one counted measure. This run is today’s fourth barre minute: play it once only, and do not loop the change.

Segment 5 — Review and Practice Plan (5 minutes)

What You Learned Today

The change from E to A (full barre) and back, as a drill of one strum to a chord
The three questions: the key, the time signature and two techniques of a piece
The rule of the final programme, and your first programme piece
The “Smells Like Teen Spirit” chart in the pushed pattern

Common Mistakes

A (full barre) is built one finger at a time and arrives late — Lift all the fingers together, form the shape in the air and land it as one shape. Move the whole hand along the neck, thumb travelling with it. Keep the metronome at 50 BPM.
A string of A (full barre) is dull after the change — Do not press harder. Find the string in the table “If a string is dead or buzzing” (Session 28) and move the finger it names: further across, or closer to the fret wire.
In “Smells Like Teen Spirit” the second chord of a measure is strummed on beat 3 — In the pushed pattern it comes one count earlier, on the “a” of 2. Count 1 e & a 2 e & a aloud at 45 BPM and change on the “a”.
An answer to the third question names a technique the piece’s Techniques line does not have — Only the names on the piece’s Techniques line count. Copy two of them as the line spells them.

Self-Check Questions

By the end of this week’s practice: play palm-muted eighth notes with down-up strokes on E5 for four measures and on A5 for four measures at 75 BPM, and record it with the metronome sounding. Check: listen to the recording and count the measures aloud. Pass: 8 measures with no stop, and 0 strokes in which a string rings on unmuted. If not: go back to 70 BPM for two days, under “Palm-Muted Eighth Notes and the Three Questions” in Segment 2, and try again after those two days.
Write the key, the time signature and two techniques of the piece you chose for your programme this week. Check: compare what you wrote with the Key, Time and Techniques lines printed with the piece. Pass: all 3 answers right: the key, the time signature, and 2 techniques that its Techniques line names. If not: read the three lines printed with the piece aloud, close the page and write them again, under “Palm-Muted Eighth Notes and the Three Questions” in Segment 2, and try again the next day.
Play the “Smells Like Teen Spirit” chart in the pushed pattern at 45 BPM, from one counted measure to the written ending, and record it with the metronome sounding. Check: listen to the recording with the chart in front of you and count the measures aloud. Pass: 24 measures with no stop, then the 1 strum of F5. If not: play Step 1 and Step 2 on two days, inside the “Push Study” row, under “How to learn this chart” in Segment 4, and try again after those two days.
By the end of this week’s practice: play D D U U D U on G for four measures and on C for four measures at 100 BPM, then one more downstroke on the next beat 1, and record it with the metronome sounding. Check: listen to the recording and count the measures aloud. Pass: 8 measures with no stop, and the 1 downstroke after them falls with its click. If not: go back to 95 BPM for two days, under “Warm-Up” in Segment 1, and try again after those two days.

Practice Plan for Week 31 (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 31”; play it, then check it against its answer there.
The “Full barre change drill” row: it is the two sets of Segment 2, E, A (full barre), E, A (full barre), E, with the hand shaken out between them, and no more.
The “A song of your own” row: this week a three-string power chord may stand in at most 2 of every 5 measures of the section you play, as the row says.
The “One programme piece” row: it is the piece you chose in Segment 3. Write its three answers, its key, its time signature and two techniques, and check them against the lines printed with the piece.

Before Session 32, listen to Black Sabbath’s recording of “Paranoid” three times.

Block	Time	Activity
Warm-Up	4 min	Movement warm-up, tune; then D D U U D U on known chords, its last step, and the Stop-Time pattern for four measures; then the spider crawl at frets 5 to 8
Rotation	4 min	One scale card, played twice. One change-test pair, played as the test at the figure its ladder has reached (80 once it is there). Two single chord cards from the pile of E1, as far as its chords have been taught, with the Bm (four strings) card and the nine power-chord cards of E5. Each chord card: place the shape once, pluck each string that should sound, let go. These are the cards the end-of-course assessment uses. A chord that holds a barre is not in the pile, and that keeps Dm7 out: it is a barre chord, practised as presses, not as a card
Staff reading	3 min	today’s line from the staff handout, then its answer
Full barre	1 min	presses at fret 5
Full barre change drill	2 min	E to A (full barre) and back: one strum on each, a new chord every 4 beats: the set E, A (full barre), E, A (full barre), E twice in the 2 minutes, shaking out the hand between the two sets, and no more
Fifth-Fret Chord Study	3 min	twice through, shaking out the hand between runs; whole runs only
Greensleeves	6 min	once through
Push Study	3 min	once through; or the same pattern on the ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ chart (introduction and chorus chords), which uses the same four chords in the same order
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 2 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.
Palm-muted eighth notes	4 min	E5 and A5 (the open shapes), down-up strokes
One programme piece	5 min	a piece you may choose for the final programme; write its key, its time signature and two techniques (the three answers). If a piece you choose has a daily limit, play it for no more of this row than keeps today’s total inside that limit: 5 minutes of slurs, 5 of three-string power chords, and 5 of barre work, no more than 3 of them full barre

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”, 1 minute; “Full barre change drill”, 2 minutes. Total: 3 minutes a day.

Barre rows this week: “Full barre”, 1 minute; “Full barre change drill”, 2 minutes; “Fifth-Fret Chord Study”, 1 minute. 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 Study”, 3 minutes. Total: 3 minutes a day.

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

Two sittings this week: Sitting 1 is the rows from “Warm-Up” to “Greensleeves” (23 minutes). Sitting 2 is the rows from “Push Study” to “One programme piece” (17 minutes). Leave at least an hour between them. Begin Sitting 2 with the movements under “Hand Warm-Up” in Segment 1, and tune again: neither is counted in the minutes.

This is your plan for the whole week. On your last practice day, answer this session’s Self-Check Questions as you play the rows that hold them: a question adds no minutes to a row and nothing to a daily limit.

All yes: go on to Session 32.

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.

The full barre change is not a Self-Check Question. On your last practice day, in the “Full barre change drill” row, count one of its two sets (E, A (full barre), E, A (full barre), E, a new chord every 4 beats at 55 BPM): write down how many of the 4 changes landed on count 1. Whatever the number, go on: the full barre never has to pass.

Guitar Tip — Saga SF-600C-BK

You can find fret 5 for the barre without a long look at the neck. On the Saga, string 6 at fret 5 is A, the same note as the open string 5. Before the presses, put one fingertip on string 6 at the fret you take to be fret 5 and pluck it with the tuner on: it should show A. Then pluck the open string 5, which is A too. If the tuner shows another letter for string 6, your finger is at another fret: move it and pluck again. Then lay finger 1 across the strings at that fret.

After the session (not part of the 50 minutes)

Read: Barre Shapes Step By Step, the section “The Change to the Full Barre”. (5 minutes)
Read: Performing A Programme, the sections “Choosing a Programme” and “The Three Questions”. (10 minutes)