Week 26: following changes you did not choose
Week twenty-six of a 32-week guitar practice path: hearing a change coming rather than remembering it, and moving key without re-counting.
- Week
- 26 of 32
- Days
- 7
- Played as
- blues or rock
Playing with people means playing over things nobody told you in advance. A player who reacts to a change is always a beat late; one who hears it coming lands on it, and that is what sounds like knowing the song.
So the week trains anticipation, starting on your second piece where you do know what is coming: call the next chord out loud a beat before it arrives, then do it silently and land on that chord's tone as it hits. It also drills the handful of shapes each idiom actually reuses — the ones a bandleader can call without warning — and moving your own piece to a key somebody else chose, which is week 10 under time pressure and the only way it is ever needed.
Blues treatment
Following changes you did not choose, starting with the ones you did
Play your second piece's form and call the next chord out loud one beat before it arrives — before, not on. A player who reacts to a change is always late; one who hears it coming lands on it, and that is what sounds like knowing the tune. Starting on music you know is what makes the drill possible; what follows is the same skill without the safety net.
Then cover the departures you will actually be called on. The form you have played since week four is a quick change, with the IV in bar two — so the ones that can catch you out are the slow change, which holds the IV back until bar five, and a stop-time first four bars. Neither is in the app's backing, so both go against the plain click. Finish by moving your piece's form into two keys you did not choose, finding the root and sliding rather than re-counting from the nut — which is week 10 under time pressure, the only way it is ever needed.
The daily session · ~26 min
- Warm upHands, then the three 3rds4 min
- Predict the changeCall it a beat early5 min
- The slow change and the stopDepartures from the form you know6 min
- A key you did not chooseMoved without warning6 min
- Jam, follow itNo map in front of you5 min
Check yourself
- Call your second piece's next chord out loud a beat before it arrives, all the way through.
- Play its form in three different keys without re-counting from the nut.
- Solo two choruses with no chart in front of you and without losing the form.
Reference
Rock treatment
Following a song you have not heard, starting with the one you know
Play your second song's changes and name the next chord out loud one beat before it arrives — before, not on. A player who reacts is always a beat late; one who hears it coming lands on it, and that is what sounds like knowing the song. Starting on music you know is what makes the drill possible; the rest of the week is the same skill without the safety net.
Then the handful of shapes rock actually reuses, named in Am: i-♭VII-♭VI-♭VII is Am, G, F, G, which is the vamp you have played since week 4; i-♭VI-♭III-♭VII is Am, F, C, G; then a plain i-iv, Am to Dm; then a minor 12-bar. Between them they cover an enormous share of songs, and every root is the same fifth shape moved — including, almost certainly, your second song's. Only the vamp is in the app's backing, so the other three go against the plain click. Finish by moving your song into two keys you did not choose, finding the root and sliding rather than re-counting — and if a song sounds a semitone low, check whether the band is tuned down before you fight it.
The daily session · ~26 min
- Warm upHands, then roots4 min
- Predict the changeCall it a beat early5 min
- The shapes rock actually usesFour of them, named in Am6 min
- A key you did not chooseAnd a tuning you did not expect6 min
- Jam, follow itNo chart5 min
Check yourself
- Call your second song's next chord out loud a beat before it arrives, all the way through.
- Play its changes in three different keys without re-counting from the nut.
- Play all four of week 26's progressions from memory in Am, without looking at the list.
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 26 means the same thing in both.