Week 24: a second piece, chosen against your weakness
Week twenty-four of a 32-week guitar practice path and a checkpoint: choosing music that will not let you avoid the thing you just built.
- Week
- 24 of 32
- Days
- 7
- Played as
- blues or rock
The fastest way to keep a new capability is to need it. So the second piece is not chosen because you love it most — it is chosen because it leans on exactly the thing weeks 21 to 23 were about.
This is also where the method from week 17 gets its second outing, and it should be quicker: count the form, find the key, name the sections, learn the opening by ear in two-bar chunks. Choosing music that flatters you is how a plateau lasts a decade.
Blues treatment
A second piece, chosen because it demands the thing you just built
Start by playing the first piece from memory. It should be easier than when you performed it, and noticing that is part of the week — the old piece becoming your warm-up is what progress looks like from the inside.
Then choose against yourself. Slow and exposed if your time drifts, vocal and sustained if your vibrato dies, chord-heavy if you cannot hear changes. Map it with week 17's method, which should be quicker the second time, and learn the head by ear in two-bar chunks. Choosing music that flatters you is how a plateau lasts a decade.
The daily session · ~26 min
- Warm upHands, then last month's piece4 min
- Choose against your weaknessDeliberately awkward5 min
- Map it fastEverything week 17 taught, in one sitting6 min
- The head, by earAs far as you get6 min
- Jam, both piecesCheckpoint5 min
Check yourself
- Run the test you wrote in week 21. Does it pass yet?
- Play the first piece from memory, a month after you learned it.
- Map the second piece — form, key, sections — in one sitting.
Reference
Rock treatment
A second song, chosen because it demands the thing you just built
Start by playing the first song from memory. It should be easier than when you performed it, and noticing that is part of the week — last month's work becoming this month's warm-up is what progress looks like from the inside.
Then choose against yourself: fast and picked if your picking falls apart, sustained and vocal if your bends land flat, tight and muted if your palm mute wanders. Map it with week 17's method, which should be quicker now, and learn the riff by ear in two-bar chunks. Choosing music that flatters you is how a plateau lasts ten years.
The daily session · ~26 min
- Warm upHands, then last month's song4 min
- Choose against your weaknessDeliberately awkward5 min
- Map it fastEverything week 17 taught, in one sitting6 min
- The riff, by earAs far as you get6 min
- Jam, both songsCheckpoint5 min
Check yourself
- Run the test you wrote in week 21. Does it pass yet?
- Play the first song from memory, a month after you learned it.
- Map the second song — sections, bars, key — in one sitting.
Reference
How the week runs
Whichever accent you pick, the material stays the same for all 7 days and the tempo and intent move. Day one takes it slowly, day two chases clean notes, day three brings it to target tempo and into the jam, day four pushes past comfortable, and day five drops back to tempo to record and listen. Days six and seven are yours.
You can switch accent any day without losing your place — it is the same week either way, so week 24 means the same thing in both.