Week 27: trading fours
Week twenty-seven of a 32-week guitar practice path: answering a phrase you just heard instead of playing the one you had planned.
- Week
- 27 of 32
- Days
- 7
- Played as
- blues or rock
Trading is the purest test of listening while playing. You get four bars, and what you play should obviously be a reply — if your fours would work in any order, you were not trading, you were taking turns.
An answer is not a new idea, it is the same idea changed, which makes this week 14 at conversational speed. It happens in the slot where your second piece's solo goes, with its own head or riff supplying the motif, so the week fills in the part of the piece that is yours rather than the writer's. The most useful exercise here is singing the call and then finding the answer on the neck: your voice does not know any licks, which is exactly why it produces phrases your hands never would.
Blues treatment
Trading fours: answering a phrase instead of playing your own
An answer is not a new idea, it is the same idea changed — so trading is week 14 at conversational speed. Take the motif out of your second piece's head, then play a four-bar phrase and four that answer it: same rhythm with different notes, or the same shape a third higher. A stranger should hear the pair as one thought rather than two.
The most useful exercise here is singing the call and finding the answer on the neck, because your voice does not know any licks and will hand you phrases your hands would never have reached for. Then trade through the piece's solo section with the last bar of every four left silent. The silence is part of your answer and it hands the turn over cleanly; playing to the last beat is the musical equivalent of talking over somebody.
The daily session · ~26 min
- Warm upHands, then one motif4 min
- Answer yourselfFour bars, then four5 min
- Answer something elseSing the call6 min
- Leave the last bar emptySpace as an answer6 min
- Jam, trade all the wayA full chorus of fours5 min
Check yourself
- Play a four-bar call and an answer a stranger would hear as related.
- Sing a four-bar phrase, then find it on the neck.
- Trade fours through the second piece's solo section, leaving the last bar of every four silent.
Reference
Rock treatment
Trading fours: answering a phrase instead of playing your own
An answer is not a new idea, it is the same idea changed — so trading is week 14 at conversational speed. Take the motif out of your second song's riff, then play four bars and four that answer them: same rhythm with different notes, or the same shape an octave up. A stranger should hear the pair as one thought.
Singing the call and then finding the answer on the neck is the most useful exercise here, because your voice knows no licks and will hand you phrases your hands would never reach for. Then trade through the song's lead break with the last bar of every four left silent — the silence is part of your answer and it hands the turn over cleanly.
The daily session · ~26 min
- Warm upHands, then one motif4 min
- Answer yourselfFour bars, then four5 min
- Answer something elseSing the call6 min
- Leave the last bar emptySpace as an answer6 min
- Jam, trade all the wayA full cycle of fours5 min
Check yourself
- Play a four-bar call and an answer a stranger would hear as related.
- Sing a four-bar phrase, then find it on the neck.
- Trade fours through the second song's lead break, leaving the last bar of every four silent.
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 27 means the same thing in both.