Week 32: the set, end to end

The final week of a 32-week guitar practice path: three pieces, two joins, played through in one take — and day one beside it.

Week
32 of 32
Days
7
Played as
blues or rock

The last authored week. Three pieces in order with the joins, recorded in a single take, using the simpler version wherever you need it and finishing whatever happens. The take is the length of the set, so it is the session rather than a step inside one.

Then the comparison the whole path has been building toward, which is an evening's listening rather than part of the session: your day-one minute, your week-20 piece, and the set, in that order. Thirty-two weeks in about half an hour, and the clearest evidence of progress you will ever have. After this the path revisits what you know rather than adding to it, which means the next piece is yours to choose.

Blues treatment

Play the whole set, once, as a performance

Your choice of keysShuffle · ♩=92The set

One take, in order, with the joins, from the first note to the last, using the simpler version wherever you need it. This is what the whole path was for — not a scale and not a lick, but twenty minutes of music played through, which is why the take is the session and everything else is arranged around it.

Then the comparison, which is an evening rather than a step: your day-one minute, your week-20 piece, and the set, in that order. Thirty-two weeks in about half an hour. And if you can, play some of it — the head and one chorus is plenty — for somebody who is actually in the room. A recording is proof, but playing for a person is the point, and only one of those is why anybody picks up a guitar.

The daily session · ~30 min

  1. Warm upWhat you need and no more3 min
  2. One take, all threeAs if it counts20 min
  3. Listen back onceThe joins and the ending2 min
  4. Play it for a personIf you possibly can3 min
  5. Jam, and bank the lotFinal checkpoint2 min

Check yourself

Reference

Rock treatment

Play the whole set, once, as a performance

Your choice of keysStraight · ♩=108The set

One take, in order, with the joins, first note to last, using the simpler version wherever you need it. This is what the whole path was for — not a scale and not a lick, but twenty minutes of music played through, which is why the take is the session and everything else is arranged around it.

Then the comparison, which is an evening rather than a step: your day-one minute, your week-20 song, and the set, in that order. Thirty-two weeks in about half an hour. And if you can, play some of it — the riff and one section is plenty — for somebody actually in the room. A recording is proof, but playing for a person is the point.

The daily session · ~30 min

  1. Warm upWhat you need and no more3 min
  2. One take, all threeAs if it counts20 min
  3. Listen back onceThe joins and the ending2 min
  4. Play it for a personIf you possibly can3 min
  5. Jam, and bank the lotFinal checkpoint2 min

Check yourself

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 32 means the same thing in both.

Start today's sessionSee the whole path