Session 33: Lighter Week: Eight Measures on a Chart You Have Not Seen

Duration: 50 minutes

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

This is a lighter week, and nothing in it is new for either hand. You read an eight-measure chord chart you have not seen for 30 seconds and strum it once, one strum to a chord. You learn the chords of G major and of E minor by number. The session ends with “Eight Measures of Your Own” on an unseen chart: you draw a card, record it as a backing, and play eight measures of your own over it.

Learning Objectives

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

1. Read an eight-measure chord chart you have not seen for 30 seconds, without the guitar, then strum it once, one strum to a chord, at 75 BPM: 8 measures as played, with no stop
2. Record the backing of a drawn card at 70 BPM, twice through, and play eight measures of your own over the second time round, by the rule: 8 measures, marked by the 5 ticks of the tick list
3. Write the six chords of G major and the six of E minor by number, and the chord a tune in E minor often has in place of Bm: 13 answers
4. Record Test 3 and Test 6 in their final form after the session, and mark each on its day: 6 phrases and 10 chords

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
• Slips of paper and a pen: six slips numbered 1 to 6 for drawing a chart card, and the slips of this week’s two ear tests
• If you have one: a second device, to record yourself while your backing plays
• Handout for this session: Keys And Their Chords (read after the session, 5 minutes)
• Staff reading this week: Reading Staff Notation 2, the section “Lines for Week 33”
• 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 from its block at 70 BPM: four measures straight, then four measures swung, without stopping between them.

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

The two halves have a tempo line each:

Tempo: 70 BPM, two strums per click (eighth notes), down-up

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

The metronome clicks the beat. The downstroke falls on the click; the upstroke comes late, two thirds of the way to the next click.

Then put the guitar down and clap the clapped triplet count (Session 20) from its block at 60 BPM, three claps per click (eighth-note triplets), counting 1 trip let aloud: the block once.

Copy of Session 20: the clapped triplet count

The triplet count, clapped
Count:  1    trip let  2    trip let  3    trip let  4    trip let  |

Count:  1    trip let  2    trip let  3    trip let  4    trip let  |

Clap three times to each click and count aloud: 1 trip let, 2 trip let, 3 trip let, 4 trip let. The clap on each number lands with the click.

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 Barre Row, and a Chart Read in 30 Seconds (10 minutes)

Barre: Presses, the Change Drill and Dm7

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): at fret 5 (Session 28), placed by the four steps of “How a Barre Works” (Session 19): press, pluck the six strings one at a time, release, and shake out the hand. 4 presses. Its diagram is in Session 28 and is not printed again here.

Then the change drill for E and A (full barre) (Session 31), a new chord every 4 beats at 60 BPM: one downstroke on beat 1 of each measure, the chord left to ring. One set is E, A (full barre), E, A (full barre), E: five measures. Play the set twice, and shake out the hand between the two. It stays at 60 BPM and goes no higher: that is the figure the end-of-course assessment asks for.

Dm7: at fret 1 (Session 9), press, pluck its four strings one at a time, release. 4 presses. Its diagram is in Session 9 and is not printed again here. In the end-of-course assessment the Dm7 card is this, once: one press.

On a day you play the “Fifth-Fret Rock Study” in your programme, leave out one minute of the full-barre work in the “Barre” row.

Reading a Chart with Signs in 30 Seconds

This part brings back repeat signs (Session 2) and first and second endings (Session 5). Nothing is played until the routine below.

Copy of Session 2: the repeat-sign example

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

Example, 4 measures, 8 as played:

|:  A7    |   D7    |   A7    |   E7   :|

|: opens a repeated passage and :| closes it. The first time you reach :| go back to |: and play the passage once more; the second time, go on.

Copy of Session 5: the endings example

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

Example, 8 measures, 14 as played:

|:  G     |   Em    |   C     |   D7    |
|   G     |   Em    |1. D7   :|2. G     |

1. marks the first ending and 2. the second. The first time through, play the first ending and go back to |:. The second time, leave the first ending out and go straight to 2.

For each block, put a finger on each box in the order it is played and count the measures aloud as you go: 8 for the first, 14 for the second.

An ending runs from its number to the next repeat sign, or to the end of the chart where no repeat sign follows.

On these cards each ending is two measures.

• Unseen — Written music you have not seen before a test: an unseen TAB passage, an unseen chart or unseen staff measures. You study it for 30 seconds and then play it; another name for this is sight-reading. (Session 6)

The unseen chart routine: (1) Set the metronome to 70 BPM. (2) Study the chart for 30 seconds without playing: its Key and Time line, each chord, any measure that holds two chords, and any repeat signs or endings. (3) Start the recording. (4) Count one measure aloud. (5) Strum the chart once, to the end, without stopping, one strum on each chord. (6) Follow the recording on the chart and count the chords that do not fall in their measure.

Take the routine now as a drill on the two example charts above, first the repeat-sign example and then the endings example. They are not unseen, because you have just read them: today they are for learning the routine. In the 30 seconds keep the guitar out of your hands: read the key line, then the signs, then put a finger on each box in the order it is played. One strum on each chord is a downstroke on count 1 of each measure, left to ring. Counting one measure aloud gives the four clicks before your first strum.

A chart passes when there is no stop and every chord falls in its measure.

On the practice days the “Unseen chart” row may take this figure to 75 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.

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

---

Segment 3 — New Learning: G Major and E Minor by Number (15 minutes)

The Chords of G Major and E Minor, by Number

G major and E minor are relative keys, so they are built from the same chords. Counted from G, the six this course uses are I G, ii Am, iii Bm, IV C, V D and vi Em; counted from E the same six are i Em, III G, iv Am, v Bm, VI C and VII D. A tune in E minor often has B7 in place of Bm, because it raises its seventh note, D, to D sharp. The G major pentatonic is for a progression whose home chord is G, and the E minor pentatonic, the same five notes, for one whose home chord is Em.

The table numbers each of the six chords twice: counted from G, and counted from E.

Chord	Number in G major	Number in E minor
G	I	III
Am	ii	iv
Bm	iii	v
C	IV	VI
D	V	VII
Em	vi	i

B7 is not one of the six. In E minor it often stands in place of Bm, the v chord, so a chart in E minor may hold B7.

On a chart whose home chord is G, the G major pentatonic fits; on a chart whose home chord is Em, the E minor pentatonic fits. They are the same five notes with another home note.

To read a card’s key, look first at its key line: “Key: G major” or “Key: E minor”. Then check it against the card’s first and last chord: on every card of this session both are the home chord, G or Em.

Two terms you have are in Glossary: “Relative major and minor” (Session 4) and “Chord numbers” (Session 13).

Now the chords in your hands, with no metronome. Place each chord, strum it once and say its number aloud: G, Am, Bm (four strings), C, D and Em, as I, ii, iii, IV, V and vi. Then Em, G, Am, B7, C and D, as i, III, iv, B7 in place of v, VI and VII. No diagram is printed here: all seven are in Chord Chart, each under its own heading (G, Am, C, D and Em from the beginner course; B7, Session 4; Bm (four strings), Session 15).

Your Programme: The Three Pieces

No playing. Have the two pieces you chose in Sessions 31 and 32 beside you, and the table in Session 31 under “The Eleven Complete Pieces”. The steps are those of Performing A Programme, in the section “Choosing a Programme”.

1. Choose the third piece (step 4).
2. Count the pieces from Phase 1 among your three: one at most (step 5).
3. Decide which of the three you will play from memory (step 7).
4. Write the three names on paper.

Step 6, finding your three in the list of every allowed programme, is done after the session, with that handout open at “Every Allowed Programme”, before your first practice day. If your three are not in the list, go back to step 2.

These three are the pieces of this week’s “Programme pieces” row. That row’s sentence on the chorus of the “Fifth-Fret Rock Study” holds for them.

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 the E minor pentatonic notes on strings 3 to 1.

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.

Do the drill once now, with your pile of 48 note slips.

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.

This is the test in its final form. You record it after the session, with the recorded card test (Session 2), 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.

Ear Drill: Major, Minor, Seventh

Strum E, Em and E7 once each, let each ring for three seconds, and say “major”, “minor”, “dominant seventh” as you play them. Then do the same with A, Am and A7, and with D, Dm and D7.

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

Play the drill once now: nine strums, each left to ring, saying its kind aloud. You record this test after the session, after Test 3, and mark it on your fifth practice day:

Test 6, major, minor or dominant seventh. The pile is 18 chord slips: each of these nine names on two slips: E, A, D, Em, Am, Dm, E7, A7, D7. An item is one slip: play one down-strum and let it ring. If you hear a muffled string as you strum, say “again” and strum the same chord once more. Wait about five seconds after each item. Record ten items; eight slips stay in the pile unseen. No metronome. Your answer for each number is “major”, “minor” or “dominant seventh”. To mark, deal the key pile one slip to an item: a name that is a letter alone is major, a name with m is minor, a name with 7 is a dominant seventh.

Break: 5 minutes. Guitar down.

---

Segment 4 — Piece Workshop: Eight Measures of Your Own (15 minutes)

“Eight Measures of Your Own” on an unseen chart

Credits: Written for this course.

What this is: A task, not a piece: you make up 8 measures of your own over your own recording of a chord chart drawn from six cards, with the G major pentatonic or the E minor pentatonic in open position, by the rule printed below. Not yet play-tested.

Key: G major or E minor: the card’s own Key line says which

Time: 4/4

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

Strumming pattern: downstrokes in every measure of the backing.

"Eight Measures of Your Own" - the backing: every measure of your card
Count:  1   2   3   4
Strum:  D   D   D   D

The task has two tempos: you read and strum a card once at this week’s figure for the “Unseen chart” row, which starts at 70 BPM and rises as Segment 2 says, and you record its backing at 70 BPM.

The Backing

The backing is the card as it is played, eight measures, recorded twice through in downstrokes at 70 BPM, one strum per click, with the metronome sounding. Let four clicks pass, then begin. Say the number of each measure on its count 1, “ONE” to “EIGHT”, both times round. The first time round is for listening and counting; you come in at the second ONE.

Today you record the backing here, in this segment, for the first card you draw. On a practice day you record it inside the “Unseen chart” row, for that day’s card: a backing recorded beforehand would show you the card.

If you lose your place while recording, stop, let four clicks pass, and start again from measure 1.

If your phone cannot record while its metronome app is sounding, listen to eight clicks, stop the metronome, and keep that beat with your foot.

The Note Pool

On a card in G major you play the G major pentatonic, and on a card in E minor the E minor pentatonic, both in open position. They are the same five notes, E, G, A, B and D, with another home note. The home note is G on a card in G major: string 6 fret 3, string 3 open, or string 1 fret 3. It is E on a card in E minor: string 6 open, string 4 fret 2, or string 1 open.

Copy of Session 4: E minor pentatonic, two octaves, open position

E minor pentatonic, two octaves, open position: up and down, quarter notes
e|----------------------|-------------------|-----------0-------|
B|----------------------|-------------------|---0---3-------3---|
G|----------------------|-----------0---2---|-------------------|
D|----------------------|---0---2-----------|-------------------|
A|--------------0---2---|-------------------|-------------------|
E|------0---3-----------|-------------------|-------------------|
Count:  1   2   3   4       1   2   3   4       1   2   3   4
Pick:   D   U   D   U       D   U   D   U       D   U   D   U
Finger: -   3   -   2       -   2   -   2       -   3   -   3
Notes:  E   G   A   B       D   E   G   A       B   D   E   D

e|----------------------|-------------------|-------------------|
B|------0---------------|-------------------|-------------------|
G|----------2---0-------|-------------------|-------------------|
D|------------------2---|---0---------------|-------------------|
A|----------------------|-------2---0-------|-------------------|
E|----------------------|---------------3---|---0---------------|
Count:  1   2   3   4       1   2   3   4       1  (2) (3) (4)
Pick:   D   U   D   U       D   U   D   U       D
Finger: -   2   -   2       -   2   -   3       -
Notes:  B   A   G   E       D   B   A   G       E

Copy of Session 4: G major pentatonic, two octaves, open position

G major pentatonic, two octaves, open position: up and down, quarter notes
e|----------------------|-------------------|-------0---3---0---|
B|----------------------|---------------0---|---3---------------|
G|----------------------|-------0---2-------|-------------------|
D|------------------0---|---2---------------|-------------------|
A|----------0---2-------|-------------------|-------------------|
E|------3---------------|-------------------|-------------------|
Count:  1   2   3   4       1   2   3   4       1   2   3   4
Pick:   D   U   D   U       D   U   D   U       D   U   D   U
Finger: 3   -   2   -       2   -   2   -       3   -   3   -
Notes:  G   A   B   D       E   G   A   B       D   E   G   E

e|----------------------|-------------------|-------------------|
B|------3---0-----------|-------------------|-------------------|
G|--------------2---0---|-------------------|-------------------|
D|----------------------|---2---0-----------|-------------------|
A|----------------------|-----------2---0---|-------------------|
E|----------------------|-------------------|---3---------------|
Count:  1   2   3   4       1   2   3   4       1  (2) (3) (4)
Pick:   D   U   D   U       D   U   D   U       D
Finger: 3   -   2   -       2   -   2   -       3
Notes:  D   B   A   G       E   D   B   A       G

In a scale or an arpeggio the pick alternates on every note, down then up, whatever the count: in quarter notes an upstroke falls on counts 2 and 4. In a tune the pick follows the count: down on the numbers, up on the &s.

Play each block once, up and down, at 70 BPM, one note per click (quarter notes).

The Model Phrases

Three model phrases to start from. Phrase 1 is for measure 1 of any card, and for measure 5, which is the home chord on every card as measure 1 is. Phrase 2 is for the end of a card in G major, and phrase 3 for the end of a card in E minor: each fills measures 7 and 8.

"Eight Measures of Your Own" - model phrase 1, for measure 1 of any card
e|----------------------|
B|--------------0-------|
G|------0---2-----------|
D|----------------------|
A|----------------------|
E|----------------------|
Count:  1   2   3  (4)
Pick:   D   D   D
Finger: -   2   -
Notes:  G   A   B

"Eight Measures of Your Own" - model phrase 2, the end of a card in G major
e|----------------------|-------------------|
B|------3---0-----------|-------------------|
G|--------------2-------|---0---------------|
D|----------------------|-------------------|
A|----------------------|-------------------|
E|----------------------|-------------------|
Count:  1   2   3  (4)      1  (2) [3] [4]
Pick:   D   D   D           D
Finger: 3   -   2           -
Notes:  D   B   A           G

"Eight Measures of Your Own" - model phrase 3, the end of a card in E minor
e|----------------------|-------------------|
B|------3---0-----------|-------------------|
G|--------------2---0---|-------------------|
D|----------------------|---2---------------|
A|----------------------|-------------------|
E|----------------------|-------------------|
Count:  1   2   3   4       1  (2) [3] [4]
Pick:   D   D   D   D       D
Finger: 3   -   2   -       2
Notes:  D   B   A   G       E

The counts in square brackets are rests. In Session 3 you made a rest after a strummed chord with the rest stop.

In a picked line a rest is made with the same rest stop: lay the edge of your picking-hand palm across the strings you have played.

Play each model phrase two times running at 70 BPM, the click on the beat.

The Rule

1. Eight measures: once through the card as it is played, over the second time round of your recording. During the first time round you listen and count. You finish with measure 8.
2. These notes only: only the five notes of the card’s pentatonic in open position (the G major pentatonic on a card in G major, the E minor pentatonic on a card in E minor), one note at a time, each beginning on a click: no note is shorter than one beat.
3. Short phrases: a phrase is five notes at most, and it ends on a note that lasts two beats or longer.
4. Empty measures: measure 4 is silent, and at least one other measure holds a rest of two beats or more.
5. The ending: your last note is the home note of the card, G on a card in G major and E on a card in E minor, and it begins in measure 8.

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

On this recording the second ONE is the last: if you lose your place after it, start the recording again.

The map is a first try that keeps the rule on every card. Read it now; nothing is played yet.

Measure	You play
1	model phrase 1
2	nothing: count the four beats
3	two or three notes of your own, the last of them on count 3 or earlier, so that it lasts two beats
4	nothing: count the four beats. On card 2 it is the B7 measure
5	model phrase 1 again, or notes of your own
6	nothing: count the four beats
7 and 8	the ending phrase of the card’s key: phrase 2 in G major, phrase 3 in E minor

In a measure marked “nothing” the strings are silent: the last note before it is stopped with the rest stop on count 1 of that measure.

The Tick List

1. I came in at the second ONE of the recording and finished with its last measure.
2. Every note was one of the five notes of the scale, and I played no more than one note to a click.
3. No phrase had more than five notes, and each ended on a note of two beats or longer.
4. Measure 4 was silent, and at least one other measure held a rest of two beats or more.
5. My last note was the home note of the card, in measure 8.

Five ticks is a pass.

If one is missing, play the map once more, then try again.

If your phone cannot play the backing and record you at the same time, play with the backing sounding and judge it as you play; checking it on a recording then needs a second device.

In the second tick, the place of each note is marked from what you saw your hand do as you played: a recording does not show the place a note was played at. The rest of the second tick and the other four ticks are counted on playback.

How to Learn This Exercise

Do the five steps once now, with the first card you draw. The card is strummed once at 70 BPM, this week’s starting figure, and its backing is recorded at 70 BPM.

Step 1 — Draw: Draw a card without looking at the others. A card you have drawn is put aside until all six have been drawn.

Shuffle your six number slips, draw one, and open only the card of that number under “The Six Cards” below.

Step 2 — Read it for 30 seconds: Without the guitar: the key line, then the signs. Point to each box in the order you will play it and count the measures: there are eight.

Step 3 — Strum it once: One strum to a chord, at this week’s tempo, after four clicks. Then look at the answer key for your card.

Start the recording, then strum it at 70 BPM. The answer key is under “Answers” at the end of this page: open the answer block of your card, and only that block.

Step 4 — Record the backing: At 70 BPM, with the metronome sounding: four clicks, then the card as it is played, twice through, in downstrokes, one strum per click. Say the number of each measure on its count 1, both times.

Step 5 — Play eight measures of your own: Over the recording, by the rule. The first time round is for listening and counting: come in at the second ONE.

Then mark the tick list.

What it should sound like: On a recording of the strummed card, count the measures against the answer key: 8, with every chord in its measure. On the recording of the backing, count the measure numbers you said: ONE to EIGHT, two times round. Count the ticks of the tick list: five is a pass.

The Six Cards

Each card below is in a closed block. Draw a number slip and open only the card of that number. A card you have drawn is put aside until all six have been drawn. Its answer is under “Answers” at the end of this page, never beside it.

Card 1

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

Card 1, 8 measures:

| G  | Em | C  | D  |
| G  | Em | D  | G  |

Card 2

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

Card 2, 8 measures:

| Em | C  | Em | B7 |
| Em | C  | D  | Em |

Card 3

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

Card 3, 4 measures as written:

|:  G   |   C   |   D   |   G  :|

Card 4

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

Card 4, 4 measures as written:

|:  Em  |   G   |   D   |   Em :|

Card 5

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

Card 5, 6 measures as written:

|:  G   |   Am  |1. Em  |   C  :|
|2. D   |   G   |

Card 6

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

Card 6, 6 measures as written:

|:  Em  |   Am  |1. C   |   D  :|
|2. D   |   Em  |

---

Segment 5 — Review and Practice Plan (5 minutes)

What You Learned Today

• Reading a chart with repeat signs and endings in 30 seconds, and strumming it once, one strum to a chord
• Drawing an unseen card, recording its backing, and playing eight measures of your own over it
• The chords of G major and of E minor by number, and B7 in place of Bm
• Your three programme pieces, and the one you will play from memory

Common Mistakes

1. A repeat sign or an ending is missed when the card is strummed — In the 30 seconds, put a finger on each box in the order you will play it and count to eight before the guitar is in your hands.
2. You begin to play with the first time round of the backing — The first time round is for listening and counting. Come in at the second ONE.
3. Notes are played in measure 4 — Measure 4 is silent on every card: stop the last note with the rest stop on its count 1 and count the four beats.
4. The last note is not the home note of the card — Read the card’s key line first: the home note is G on a card in G major and E on a card in E minor. End with the model phrase written for that key.

Self-Check Questions

1. On its day in the “Unseen chart” row: draw a card you have not seen, read it for 30 seconds without the guitar, and strum it once at 75 BPM, one strum to a chord, after four clicks; record it. Check: listen to the recording and follow it on the card, then on the card’s line of the answer key. Pass: 8 measures as played with no stop, and every chord falls in its measure. If not: go back to 70 BPM and, in the 30 seconds, put a finger on each box in the order it is played, under “Reading a Chart with Signs in 30 Seconds” in Segment 2, and try again the next day, with the next card.
2. Draw a card, record its backing at 70 BPM twice through, and play eight measures of your own over the second time round, by the rule. Check: the tick list, counted on a recording; if your phone cannot play the backing and record you at the same time and you have no second device, judged as you play with the backing sounding. Pass: 5 ticks. If not: play the map of the first try once more, under “Eight Measures of Your Own” on an unseen chart in Segment 4, and try again the next day.
3. Without looking, write the six chords of G major by number, the six of E minor by number, and the chord a tune in E minor often has in place of Bm. Check: compare what you wrote with the table in Segment 3 and the sentence under it. Pass: 11 of the 13 answers right. If not: copy the table once and say each chord with its number aloud, under “The Chords of G Major and E Minor, by Number” in Segment 3, and try again the next day.
4. 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.
5. Read the result you wrote when you marked your recording of Test 6, major, minor or dominant seventh: ten items of one strum. Check: the key pile, dealt one slip to an item, against the answers you wrote. Pass: 8 of 10. If not: record the test again after your last practice day of this week, play “Ear Drill: Major, Minor, Seventh” in Segment 3 once on each practice day of the week you repeat, and mark the new recording on its fifth practice day.

Practice Plan for Week 33 (each practice day, 30 minutes)

Notes on the rows:

• Rotation this week, the change-test pairs: G and D7, a new chord every 2 beats at 80 BPM; Em and B7, a new chord every 2 beats at 80 BPM; Am7 and D7, a new chord every 2 beats at 80 BPM; 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: read one line a day from the section “Lines for Week 33” of Reading Staff Notation 2, by the routine under “How to Read a Day’s Line”.
• The “Unseen chart” row: the routine of Segment 4, under “How to Learn This Exercise”, with a new card each day. Strum the card once at the figure you have reached, 70 BPM rising to 75 BPM this week, one step at most; record its backing at 70 BPM.

Block	Time	Activity
Warm-Up	4 min	Movement warm-up, tune; then four measures straight and four swung on a palm-muted A5 (the shuffle), and the clapped count 1 trip let for two measures; then the spider crawl at frets 5 to 8
Rotation	4 min	One scale card, played twice. One change-test pair, played as the test at the figure its ladder has reached (80 once it is there). Two single chord cards from the pile of E1, as far as its chords have been taught, with the Bm (four strings) card and the nine power-chord cards of E5. Each chord card: place the shape once, pluck each string that should sound, let go. These are the cards the end-of-course assessment uses. A chord that holds a barre is not in the pile, and that keeps Dm7 out: it is a barre chord, practised as presses, not as a card
Staff reading	3 min	today’s line from the staff handout, then its answer
Barre	3 min	A (full barre): presses 1 minute and the change drill 1 minute (the set E, A (full barre), E, A (full barre), E twice for each minute, shaking out the hand between sets); then Dm7 at fret 1: press, pluck, release, for 1 minute. On a day you play the Fifth-Fret Rock Study in your programme, leave out one minute of the full-barre work in this row
Unseen chart	6 min	draw a card; 30 seconds; strum it once, one strum to a chord; then record its backing, the eight measures twice through, and play eight measures of your own over the second time round
Fifth-Fret Rock Study	5 min	once through, in the first form
Programme pieces	5 min	one of your three pieces a day; the one you will play from memory, from memory. If the Fifth-Fret Rock Study is one of your three, the measures you repeat are never its chorus. 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: “Barre”, 2 minutes; “Fifth-Fret Rock Study”, 1 minute. Total: 3 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: “Barre”, 3 minutes; “Fifth-Fret Rock 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: “Fifth-Fret Rock Study”, 1 minute. Total: 1 minute a day.

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

Ear check this week: on your fourth practice day, mark your recording of Test 3. It takes 6 minutes: that day, leave out the “Unseen chart” row.

Ear check this week: on your fifth practice day, mark your recording of Test 6. It takes 2 minutes: that day, give the “Unseen chart” row 4 minutes instead of 6.

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 34.

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 “Barre” row, count one of its two sets (E, A (full barre), E, A (full barre), E, a new chord every 4 beats at 60 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

All six open strings of your Saga, E, A, D, G, B and E, are notes of the E minor pentatonic, the same five notes as the G major pentatonic. This week the model phrases, the note pool and both ear tests use open strings again and again. No finger can put an open string right when it is out of tune. So tune all six strings again, with the tuner, just before you record a backing or an ear test, even if you tuned at the start of the day.

Answers

The six cards as played:

The answer to each card is in a closed block of its own. Open only the block of the card you have just strummed, after you have strummed it.

Answer to card 1

Card 1, as played: G, Em, C, D, G, Em, D, G. By number in G major: I, vi, IV, V, I, vi, V, I.

Answer to card 2

Card 2, as played: Em, C, Em, B7, Em, C, D, Em. By number in E minor: i, VI, i, B7 in place of v, i, VI, VII, i.

Answer to card 3

Card 3, as played: G, C, D, G, G, C, D, G. By number in G major: I, IV, V, I, twice.

Answer to card 4

Card 4, as played: Em, G, D, Em, Em, G, D, Em. By number in E minor: i, III, VII, i, twice.

Answer to card 5

Card 5, as played: G, Am, Em, C, G, Am, D, G. By number in G major: I, ii, vi, IV, I, ii, V, I.

Answer to card 6

Card 6, as played: Em, Am, C, D, Em, Am, D, Em. By number in E minor: i, iv, VI, VII, i, iv, VII, i.

After the session (not part of the 50 minutes)

• Read: Keys And Their Chords, the section “Chords by Number in G Major and E Minor”. (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. Then with Test 6, major, minor or dominant seventh, as Segment 3 gives it. Pass: 8 of 10. (6 minutes)