Session 35: End-of-Course Run-Through

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 is a run-through of the end-of-course assessment. Nothing in it is new, and no tempo rises. You try one item of each of the assessment’s eight sections in the form the assessment gives it, and you learn how its two sittings work. After the session you record the four ear tests, which are marked in the assessment. The session ends with your programme of three pieces, run once in one recorded take.

Learning Objectives

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

Run your programme of three pieces in one recorded take, each piece alone from your own count-in to its written ending, one of them from memory: 3 pieces, with no stop and at most 3 wrong or missed notes in any one
Play one scale drawn by card, from memory, up and down in eighth notes, and record it: 2 times in a row with no wrong note
Play D D U U D U on a chord cycle of your choice at 100 BPM, then one more downstroke on the next beat 1: 8 measures with no stop
Pass the change test for one of the five pairs, a new chord every 2 beats at 80 BPM: 8 chords with no click missed
Write the key, the time signature and two techniques of each of your three programme pieces: 3 answers for each of 3 pieces

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
All your card piles: chord cards, power-chord cards, scale cards, note-name cards, theory cards
The slips of the four ear tests, six slips numbered 1 to 6 for a chart card, a pen and paper
Your song map and its published chart
A sheet of paper, to cover the cards
If you have one: a second device, to record yourself while your backing plays
The pages of your three programme pieces, Scales And Arpeggios and Fretboard Note Map: what this session plays from them is not printed again here
Staff reading this week: Reading Staff Notation 2, the section “Lines for Week 35”
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

Today you meet the end-of-course assessment item by item. Each item is tried once, in the assessment’s own form. Write its result on your paper beside its number in the assessment, which each part below names, and go on: nothing is repeated today.

The first item is item 13: the two arpeggios of Session 34, from memory, once each, at 70 BPM, one note per click. Let four clicks pass, then play the G major arpeggio; let four clicks pass again, then play the A minor arpeggio. Their blocks are not printed here: they are in Scales And Arpeggios. Write beside item 13 how many of the two had no wrong note.

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: Sections 1 and 2 of the Assessment (10 minutes)

Section 1: Chords

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.

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

Chord cards, from the shapes of items 1, 2 and 5 of the assessment. Put your twelve seventh-chord cards, the cards of A (four strings) and Bm (four strings) and the nine power-chord cards into one pile. Shuffle them face down and lay the sheet of paper over the pile, so that nothing on the top card can be read; draw three cards, one at a time, from under the paper.

With the metronome at 60 BPM, draw a card and count the next three clicks: the chord is down when the third sounds.

For a power-chord card, count the next five clicks: the chord is down when the fifth sounds. Then, for every card, pluck its strings one at a time.

Write how many of the three passed, beside items 1, 2 and 5. A card of A (four strings) or Dm7 is one press of barre work, under the limit lines above. No diagram is printed here: the chord chart has them all.

Then the change test (Beginner Session 3) for G and D7, the first of the five pairs of item 3: a new chord every 2 beats at 80 BPM, eight chords, played two times running. Write beside item 3 whether a run had no click missed. The other four pairs are for the week’s “Sections 1 and 2” row.

The barre items, as item 4 of the assessment takes them, with the limit lines above. A (full barre) at fret 5 (Session 28): press, pluck the six strings one at a time, release: 3 presses. Then the change from E (Beginner Session 5) to A (full barre) and back, a new chord every 4 beats at 60 BPM: E, A (full barre), E, A (full barre), E, once. Then the Dm7 card (Session 9), as item 1 has it: one press, pluck its four strings, release. Their diagrams are in Sessions 28 and 9 and are not printed again here. Write the results beside items 4 and 1.

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

Section 2: The Seven Patterns

Each of the seven patterns once, at its figure in the assessment, from its block. First D D U U D U (Beginner Session 5), item 6.

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 it on a chord cycle of your choice at 100 BPM, the click on the beat: eight times through the pattern, then one more downstroke on the next beat 1.

Then the plain sixteenth-note pattern (Session 8), item 7a.

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.

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

Play it on one chord of your choice at 50 BPM, the click on the beat: four measures, then one more downstroke on the next click.

Then the pushed pattern (Session 29), item 7b.

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.

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

Copy of Session 29: 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

Play it on F5 and Bb5 at 45 BPM, the click on the beat: four measures, then one more downstroke on the next click. Every muted strum is a dry tick with no note in it. This minute and any power-chord card you drew under “Section 1: Chords” are all of today’s three-string power-chord work outside your programme.

Then the Stop-Time pattern (Session 3), item 8.

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

Play it on E5 at 70 BPM, the click on the beat, with its damped rests: four measures.

Then the 6/8 pattern (Session 26), item 9.

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: >                       >

Play it on one chord of your choice with the metronome at 30 BPM, two clicks to the measure: eight times through the pattern. Counts 1 and 4 are the loudest strums.

Then the shuffle (Session 20), item 10a, in 4/4.

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.

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

Play it on a palm-muted A5 at 70 BPM, the click on the beat: four measures straight, then four measures swung, without stopping.

Then the clapped triplet count (Session 20), item 10b.

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  |

Put the guitar down. Clap the block two times running at 60 BPM, the click on the beat, saying 1 trip let aloud.

Then the crescendo strum (Session 10), item 11.

Copy of Session 10: the crescendo strum

Chord:  Em
Count:  1   &   2   &   3   &   4   &   |   1   &   2   &   3   &   4   &   |
Strum:  D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U   |   D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U   |
Dyn:    p       cresc.

Count:  1   &   2   &   3   &   4   &   |   1   &   2   &   3   &   4   &   |
Strum:  D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U   |   D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U   |

Count:  1   &   2   &   3   &   4   &   |   1   &   2   &   3   &   4   &   |
Strum:  D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U   |   D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U   |
Dyn:    f       dim.

Count:  1   &   2   &   3   &   4   &   |   1   &   2   &   3   &   4   &   |
Strum:  D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U   |   D   U   D   U   D   U   D   U   |

The Dyn row shows how loud to play: p = soft, mf = medium, f = loud, cresc. = get gradually louder from here, dim. = get gradually softer from here. Each mark stands under the count where it begins; cresc. and dim. last until the next mark in the row, also when the TAB or pattern goes on to a new line, or to the end of the TAB or pattern.

Play the block once on Em at 70 BPM, the click on the beat: louder through the first half and quieter through the second. Write each pattern’s result beside its number.

Segment 3 — New Learning: Sections 3 to 6 of the Assessment (15 minutes)

Section 3: A Scale Card and the Slur Phrase

One scale card, as item 12 of the assessment takes it, by the scale-card line:

Scale card: shuffle the pile and draw one card. Play that scale from memory, up and down, in eighth notes at 60 BPM, twice. Then look at its TAB in the Scales and Arpeggios sheet. If a note was wrong, or you were not sure of one, play the scale once from the TAB and once more from memory.

Today the pile is all eight scale cards. Record the two runs, and follow the recording on the scale’s TAB in Scales And Arpeggios. Write beside item 12 how many of the two runs had no wrong note. The arpeggios of this section of the assessment were played in the Warm-Up.

Then the slur phrase of Session 23, item 14.

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

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

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

Copy of Session 28: “Slur Study in A minor” - the slur phrase, eighth notes, picked and short

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

Play the phrase in eighth notes, two notes per click, at 50 BPM, and record both playings: once legato, from the first block, with its hammer-ons and pull-offs; then once staccato, from the second block, every note picked and cut short by relaxing the fretting finger. This is all of today’s slur work outside your programme: one minute of playing. Write the result beside item 14.

Section 4: One Unseen Reading Item

The assessment has three reading tests, each taken by its routine of Session 34. Today you take one of them, item 16: an unseen TAB passage, at 60 BPM. The other two kinds, an unseen staff melody and an unseen chart, are for the week’s “Sections 3 to 7” row.

The unseen TAB routine: (1) Set the metronome to 60 BPM. (2) Study the passage for 30 seconds without playing: the strings it uses, its lowest and highest fret, any eighth notes, and the count of its last note. (3) Start the recording. (4) Count one measure aloud. (5) Play the passage once, to the end, without stopping. (6) Follow the recording on the TAB and count the wrong notes.

Write beside item 16 whether you stopped, and how many wrong notes you counted.

The block below is closed. Open it at step (2) of the routine, when the 30 seconds begin, and not before.

The passage for Section 4

Unseen TAB, Section 4
e|------3---0-------0---|-------------------0-------3-------|
B|--------------3-------|---3---0---3-----------------------|
G|----------------------|-----------------------------------|
D|----------------------|-----------------------------------|
A|----------------------|-----------------------------------|
E|----------------------|-----------------------------------|
Count:  1   2   3   4       1   &   2       3       4
Pick:   D   D   D   D       D   U   D       D       D
Finger: 3   -   3   -       3   -   3       -       3
Notes:  G   E   D   E       D   B   D       E       G

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

Unseen Passages for the Week

These are for the week’s “Sections 3 to 7” row, whose unseen reading item is of a different kind each time: one unseen chart and one more unseen TAB passage, printed below under their names, and one unseen staff melody, which is that day’s line under “Lines for Week 35” in Reading Staff Notation 2. Nothing is read or played here today.

On its day, take the TAB passage by the routine under “Section 4: One Unseen Reading Item”, and the chart by the unseen chart routine of Session 34, under “Unseen Chart” there, at the figure your charts reached in the week of Session 34: 75 or 80 BPM. Record each, then check it.

On the day the row takes its staff melody, that melody is the line the “Staff reading” row reads that day. Read it once, by the unseen routine, recorded and checked, and give the three minutes of “Sections 3 to 7” to the other item of the day.

Each passage or chart below is in a closed block. Open a block only on its day, when its routine tells you to study it.

In a week you repeat, open the same blocks again on their days. They are no longer unseen, and that is expected: the routine is still the practice, and the next unseen passage is in the next session or assessment.

The chart for the week

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

Unseen chart for the week, 8 measures:

| Em     | C      | G      | D      |
| G      | Am     | Em  B7 | Em     |

The TAB passage for the week

Unseen TAB for the week
e|----------------------|-----------------------------------|
B|----------------------|-----------------------------------|
G|----------------------|-----------------------------------|
D|----------------------|-----------------------------------|
A|--------------0-------|---0-------2---0-------------------|
E|------0---3-------3---|-------------------3-------0-------|
Count:  1   2   3   4       1       2   &   3       4
Pick:   D   D   D   D       D       D   U   D       D
Finger: -   3   -   3       -       2   -   3       -
Notes:  E   G   A   G       A       B   A   G       E

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

Section 5: Cards, Three Answers and Your Song Map

No playing here: the cards of items 19a and 20, and the three answers of item 19b.

Draw five note-name cards. Each names a place on string 6 or string 5, frets 0 to 10: say its note, then check it against Fretboard Note Map. Then draw five theory cards: answer each aloud, then turn it over.

Then write the three answers for the piece you will play from memory: its key, its time signature and two techniques it uses. Check them against the Key, Time and Techniques lines printed with it. The other two pieces are written in the week’s “Programme” row, which asks for them.

Your song map, item 21, is not read today: you read it through against your chart on a practice day, in the week’s “Sections 3 to 7” row.

Ear Drill: Fours, Twos and Threes

Strum Em in downstrokes at one speed, with no metronome, and count aloud: two measures as a slip marked 4/4 is strummed, two as a slip marked 3/4 and two as a slip marked 6/8. The strums never change speed: only the loud strums move.

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

Section 6 of the assessment is the four ear tests. Each has its ear section here, this one and the three below it, and the words of each test stand last in its section. Today each drill is played once. The four recordings are made after the session and are not marked this week: they are marked in the assessment.

The three blocks of this test, one measure of each kind of slip, are in Session 26, under “Ear Drill: Fours, Twos and Threes”. They are not printed again here.

Play the drill once now, with no metronome.

Test 2, 4/4, 3/4 or 6/8. The pile is 15 slips: five marked “4/4”, five marked “3/4” and five marked “6/8”. Before you record, set the metronome to 70, listen to eight clicks and stop it: that is the speed of every strum. An item is one slip: strum Em 24 times in downstrokes at that one speed, with no metronome, and make the loud strums fall as the slip says. Count in your head while you strum: if you said the count aloud, the recording would tell you the answer. For “4/4”: the first of every four strums. For “3/4”: the first of every two, and the first of every six the loudest of all. For “6/8”: the first of every three. Turn over the next slip as soon as the last strum has rung. Record nine items; six slips stay in the pile unseen. Your answer for each number is “4/4”, “3/4” or “6/8”. Count the strums from one loud strum to the next: four is 4/4, two is 3/4, three is 6/8. To mark, deal the key pile one slip to an item.

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.

The table of the six places, with its line, is in Session 4, under “Ear Drill: The Six Places”; the block of the six-note rhythm, with its line, is in Session 13, under the same heading. They are not printed again here.

Play the drill once now.

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: 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.

The four cell blocks, with their keys, are in Session 9, under “Ear Drill: Clap the Cells”; the worked rhythm of two measures, with its line, is in Session 29, under the same heading. They are not printed again here. The six push slips stay out of the pile.

Clap the drill once now.

Test 5, rhythm recall, two measures. The pile is 60 cell slips: the 38 of Session 9 and 22 more: 6 marked “quarter”, 6 marked “two eighths”, 4 marked “four sixteenths” and 6 marked “rest”. An item is eight slips 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 six items. On each click the claps name the cell: none is “rest”, one is “quarter”, two are “two eighths”, four are “four sixteenths”. 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. To mark, deal the key pile eight slips to an item. A rhythm is right only if every cell 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.

No chord diagram is printed here: the nine chords are in Chord Chart. Play the drill once now.

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: Your Programme (15 minutes)

Section 7: Eight Measures of Your Own

The task of Session 33, once, as item 25 of the assessment takes it:

Shuffle your six number slips, draw one, and open only the card of that number under “The Six Cards” below.
Read the card for 30 seconds, without the guitar.
Strum it once, one strum to a chord. Then open its block of the answer key under “Answers” at the end of this page.
Record its backing as it is played, both times round, with the metronome sounding at 70 BPM, after four clicks.
Play eight measures of your own over the second time round.

The card keeps the five steps of Session 33. Its one strum through is how you learn the chart before you record it: it is not a reading test, it is not recorded and it has no pass mark. Strum it at 70 BPM, the figure of the backing, after four clicks.

Mark it by the pass mark of item 25: you finish with the last measure of the second time round, your last note is the home note, and a rest of two beats or more stands in at least 2 of the measures. Write the result beside item 25.

The rule, the note pool and the model phrases are in Session 33, under “The Rule”, “The Note Pool” and “The Model Phrases”. They are not printed again here.

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

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

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.

Section 8: Your Programme

Now the whole programme once, in one recorded take, as item 26 of the assessment asks for it: your three pieces, one of them from memory, each played alone, as its page writes it, from your own count-in to its written ending, with no backing sounding. Do not stop. Each piece is at its own performance tempo. The “Fifth-Fret Rock Study”, if it is one of your three, is played in the form you have reached.

The daily limits hold in a programme too: play a piece that has a daily limit for no longer than keeps today’s total inside that limit.

Three of the pieces a programme may hold have lines of their own: the “Shuffle Blues in A” is fast strumming, the “Slur Study in A minor” is slur work, and the “Fifth-Fret Rock Study” holds barre work, full barre work and three-string power chords.

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.

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

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.

A take that hurts ends there: stop playing for today, and play nothing more today. The four ear recordings are then made on another day.

Make the take by the rules of Performing A Programme, under “The Count-In” and “Recording One Take”, which are not printed again here. In short:

No metronome sounds while a piece of a programme is played. Before each piece, with the recording running, set the metronome to that piece’s performance tempo, listen to eight clicks and stop it, then count one measure aloud and begin.

A take with a stop has not passed and ends at the stop. One take a day: the next is made on a later day and begins with the first piece.

Listen to the take after the session, with the pages in front of you, and count the slips piece by piece. How a take is marked, and how a strummed piece is counted, you read then, under “Recording One Take”.

Playing a piece over your own recorded backing is a separate item, item 27, taken once at the Final Showcase, and never part of the take. The pieces that fit it are Amazing Grace over its own strummed verse; the Shuffle Blues in A with one chorus of your own over your recording of it; the Slur Study over your second recording of the Shuffle Blues, made at 60 BPM, ending with one A on its last chord; and the Fifth-Fret Rock Study.

The Six Cards

Nothing is read or played here: open a card only at step 1 of “Section 7: Eight Measures of Your Own”. Each card below is in a closed block. Open only the card of the number you drew. Its answer is under “Answers” at the end of this page, never beside it.

Copy of Session 33: Card 1

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  |

Copy of Session 33: Card 2

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 |

Copy of Session 33: Card 3

Card 3

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

Card 3, 4 measures as written:

|:  G   |   C   |   D   |   G  :|

Copy of Session 33: Card 4

Card 4

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

Card 4, 4 measures as written:

|:  Em  |   G   |   D   |   Em :|

Copy of Session 33: Card 5

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   |

Copy of Session 33: Card 6

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

One item of each of the assessment’s eight sections, tried once in its own form, with its result written beside its number
Your programme of three pieces, run once in one recorded take
The four ear tests, recorded tonight and marked in the assessment, at least one day later

Common Mistakes

An item that did not pass is played again and again in the session — Today each item is tried once. Write its number down: it goes into the week’s two “Sections” rows (item 4, the full barre, into the “Barre” row), where the daily limits still hold.
The ear recordings are marked this week — A recording can be marked once. These four are marked when you take the assessment, at least one day after you record them.
The programme take is stopped after a slip — Play on to the written ending. A slip is one stroke on paper afterwards; a stop fails the take.
The chorus of the Rock Study is repeated in the Programme row — The measures you repeat are never its chorus: three of its eight measures hold a barre chord, and the day’s barre minutes are already planned.

Self-Check Questions

Play your programme of three pieces in one recorded take, one of them from memory, each from your own count-in to its written ending. Check: listen to the recording once for each piece with its page in front of you, and make a stroke on paper for every wrong or missed note. Pass: no stop, each of the 3 pieces reaches its written ending, and at most 3 strokes for any one piece. If not: in the week you repeat, work on the piece with the most strokes in sections on the first, third and fourth days, in the “Programme” row, under “Section 8: Your Programme” in Segment 4, and try again at the take of the fifth practice day of the week you repeat, before you take the assessment.
Draw one scale card and play that scale from memory, up and down, in eighth notes at 60 BPM, twice, and record it. Check: listen to the recording and follow it on the scale’s TAB in the scales reference sheet. Pass: 2 times in a row with no wrong note. If not: play the scale once from the TAB and once more from memory in the “Rotation” row, and put its card on top of the pile, under “Section 3: A Scale Card and the Slur Phrase” in Segment 3, and try again the next day, before you take the assessment.
Play D D U U D U for eight measures at 100 BPM on a chord cycle of your choice, 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 in the “Sections 1 and 2” row, under “Section 2: The Seven Patterns” in Segment 2, and try again after those two days, before you take the assessment.
Pass the change test (Beginner Session 3) for G and D7, a new chord every 2 beats at 80 BPM. Check: the metronome clicks the beat; one strum on each chord, counted aloud. Pass: 8 chords with no click missed. If not: drop to 70 BPM in the “Sections 1 and 2” row and climb back 5 BPM at a time, three runs with no click missed before each step, under “Section 1: Chords” in Segment 2, and try again the next day, before you take the assessment.
Write the key, the time signature and two techniques of each of your three programme pieces. Check: compare what you wrote with the Key, Time and Techniques lines printed with each piece. Pass: all 3 answers right for each of the 3 pieces. If not: read the three lines of the piece aloud, close the page and write them again, in the “Programme” row, under “Section 5: Cards, Three Answers and Your Song Map” in Segment 3, and try again the next day, before you take the assessment.

Practice Plan for Week 35 (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: read one line a day from the section “Lines for Week 35” of Reading Staff Notation 2, the handout of the materials list, by the unseen routine.
The “Barre” row: on a day you play the “Fifth-Fret Rock Study” in your programme, leave out one minute of this row.
The “Sections 1 and 2” row: an item of Section 1 or 2 that did not pass today is the first to go into it, by its number. Item 4, the full barre, is the one exception: it stays in the “Barre” row, which is the day’s full barre work. On your last practice day its change test is G and D7, for Self-Check Question 4, and one of its two patterns is D D U U D U, for Question 3.
The “Sections 3 to 7” row: an item of Sections 3 to 7 that did not pass today is the first to go into it, by its number. On the day of the eight measures of your own, that item takes four minutes and the day’s other item two: pair it with the song map or the cards.
The “Programme” row: the whole programme is played on the second practice day and, as a recorded take, on the fifth; the first, third and fourth days are sections. Self-Check Questions 1 and 5 are answered in this row on the fifth day: the take, then the three answers for each piece. The take is listened to and its strokes are counted after the row, as after this session: listening is not playing.

You take the end-of-course assessment after this week, in two sittings on two days, before Session 36. Finish this week; take Sitting 1 on the first day after your last practice day that is not your rest day; leave at least one day; then take Sitting 2. Session 36 comes on a later day. The assessment’s last section, your programme and your piece over your own backing, is taken at the Final Showcase, in Session 36. How the two sittings work is under “The Two Sittings” in Final Assessment, which you read after this session.

Block	Time	Activity
Warm-Up	4 min	Movement warm-up, tune; then the two arpeggios, once each; 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 2 minutes (the set E, A (full barre), E, A (full barre), E twice for each minute, shaking out the hand between sets). On a day you play the Fifth-Fret Rock Study in your programme, leave out one minute of this row
Sections 1 and 2	6 min	chord cards (Dm7 as one press; A (four strings) and Bm (four strings)) and the change test; then D D U U D U, the plain sixteenth-note pattern, the pushed pattern, the Stop-Time pattern, the 6/8 pattern, the shuffle with the clapped triplet count, and the crescendo strum, two a day
Sections 3 to 7	6 min	two of these a day, three minutes each: scale cards and the arpeggios; the slur phrase, legato then staccato; note-name and theory cards; one unseen reading item (an unseen TAB passage, an unseen staff melody or an unseen chart, a different kind each time); eight measures of your own on a drawn chart, over a backing you record that day, judged as you play; your song map, read through against your chart
Programme	14 min	your three pieces, one from memory: sections on three days, the whole programme twice in the week; write the three answers for each piece. The Fifth-Fret Rock Study, if it is one of your three, is played in the form you have reached. 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”, 3 minutes. Total: 3 minutes a day.

Barre rows this week: “Barre”, 3 minutes; “Sections 1 and 2”, 1 minute. Total: 4 minutes a day.

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

Slur rows this week: “Sections 3 to 7”, 1 minute. Total: 1 minute a day.

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

Power-chord rows this week: “Sections 1 and 2”, 1 minute. Total: 1 minute a day.

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

Two sittings this week: Sitting 1 is the rows from “Warm-Up” to “Sections 1 and 2” (20 minutes). Sitting 2 is the rows from “Sections 3 to 7” to “Programme” (20 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 36.

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

Guitar Tip — Saga SF-600C-BK

Tune your Saga with the tuner before every item you record today: the scale card, the slur phrase, the unseen passage, the backing of your card, the programme take and, after the session, the four ear tests. A recording is marked later, and a string that has drifted cannot be put right on the recording afterwards. Tuning at the start of the session is not enough: tune again just before each one.

Answers

The six cards as played:

Each line of the key is in a closed block of its own: open only the block of the card you have just strummed.

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: Final Assessment, the sections “How to Use This Assessment” and “The Two Sittings”. (15 minutes)
Record: the recordings for the end-of-course assessment. Take a 5-minute break before you record. Use the recorded card test (Session 2), but do not mark them this week: you mark them when you take that assessment, at least one day later. Test 2, 4/4, 3/4 or 6/8; Test 3, play it back; Test 5, rhythm recall; and Test 6, major, minor or dominant seventh, as Segment 3 gives them. (14 minutes)