16Dec2024
2025 Practice Planning
I had posted a list of all the Grade 4 website video lessons and the Intermediate Method Foundation 1 to 5 DVD lessons back in June 2023, when I first started planning for lessons and practice for Grade 4.
Grade 4 video lessons or tutorials
Now it is time to start Grade 4 next month. Back in June 2023, I organized the lessons into 10 modules, splitting each IM Foundation level lessons into two modules.
Since then I have done a lot of thinking and planning. I have decided to use the old Intermediate Method book Foundation 1 to 5 stages lessons and practice sessions as a framework for adding grade 4 suggested practice activities. It didn’t make sense, from a musical perspective, to split up the rhythm/barre chord practice and the major scale practice. Since I wanted to add Folk Fingerstyle earlier, I am combining Grades 4 and 5 in the overall planning process.
I am only going to plan for the first of the five units or stages from the Intermediate Method book. I realize that my plans will change continuously as I learn more. Here is what I get when I combine the Modules 4-1A and 4-1B into a Grade 4 IM-1 unit:
90 minute practice session divided into 3 days of 30 min.
| PRACTICE SCHEDULE | F1 - Intermediate Method (IM) Foundation 1 website and DVD | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Practice Element | Time | IM Foundations 1 video lessons (old) | Website Video Lessons |
| Day 1 | |||
| Barre Chord Grip practice - E Shape major and minor | 5 min. | E Shape Barre Chord Grips (F1) | E Shape Major Barre Chords |
| E Shape Minor Barre Chords | |||
| One Minute Changes, then Song Work (G, C, D chord song) A/B practices | 5 min. | One Minute Changes (F1) | |
| Blues Lead Guitar (Electric) | Basics (Blues Lead (BL) DVD) | The Blues Language | |
| Minor Pentatonic Pattern 1 | 5 min. | Scales (BL DVD) | Minor Pentatonic Pattern 1 |
| Bending Skills (BL DVD) | Bending Technique In Blues | ||
| Practice 1 of 5 Blues Licks | 5 min | Five Blues Licks (B L DVD) | 5 Blues Licks from Pattern 1 |
| Blues Vibrato | |||
| Improvisation, start with the solo improvisation tabbed by Justin in website lesson link | 10 min. | Using Licks (BL DVD) | Using Blues Licks Effectively |
| DVD 1 extra 1C - Jam Session Secrets | |||
| Day 2 | |||
| Major Scale Practice w/ Minimum Movement | 5 min. | Major Scale Pattern 1 (F1) E Shape (Mastering the Major Scale (MMS) DVD | Major Scale Pattern 1 |
| Minimum Movement Exercise (F1) | Technique: How and why to practice scales | ||
| Tips (MMS DVD) | |||
| Major Scale Improvisation | 5 min. | Music Theory (MMS DVD) | Chords In Keys - For Jamming |
| Alternate Picking (MMS DVD) | |||
| Exploring Position 1 (MMS DVD) | |||
| DVD 1 extra 1B - Major Scale Jam | |||
| Acoustic Blues | Boom Bass With Licks | ||
| Practice 1 of 2 acoustic blues primers | 10 min. | Steady Thumb Primer | |
| Practice 1 of 2 acoustic blues studies | 10 min. | Vari-Shuffle Climb | |
| Tore Up A Sidestep | |||
| Day 3 | |||
| Rhythm Guitar (Patterns and application) clapping and strumming rhythms | 5 min. | Introducing 16th Note Strumming - IM Rhythm 1 (F1) | Rhythm Essentials - writing and transcribing rhythms |
| Notes On Neck Using Octaves | 5 min. | Using Octaves To Find Notes (F1) | |
| DVD 1 - Finding the Notes on the Neck | Start learning PMT 4 lessons | ||
| DVD 1 extra 1A - Know where the notes are | |||
| Acoustic Folk Fingerpicking | Folk Fingerstyle Introduction (Folk Fingerstyle Module DVD) | Folk Fingerstyle Module Intro | |
| Folk Fingerstyle Patterns Part 1 | 5 min. | Folk Fingerstyle Patterns Pt 1 (FFM DVD) | Folk Fingerstyle Patterns Part 1 |
| Songs and Repertoire | 15 min. | Songs for Foundation 1 (F1) - also list in JG IM book |
When I compress this into a 1 page practice log I get:
I expanded the old 50 minute Foundation 1 practice schedule to 90 minutes so that I could add the interesting practice on blues and folk fingerstyle. Since the 90 minute routine takes 3 days, I only get 2 complete practice sessions per week. So 12 days of practice sessions will take 6 weeks. Since I will only do 1 week of practice sessions per month, it will take 6 months to complete this practice log page. The other 3 weeks will be song practice from the 4 Intermediate song books, grade 3 review and consolidation focusing on transcribing and outside lessons on acoustic and electric blues and finger style.
I will create another practice page for IM foundation 2 which will complete the grade 4 studies at the end of the 2025. I will then do the same for each of the other three foundation units for grade 5 and the entire Grade 4/5 process will require at least 2 1/2 years, but probably more. This loose but complete schedule allows variety, flexibility, but a constant sense of progress. It reflects what I have learned in Grade 3. I left out the grade 4 transcription practice session at first and will add back when I finish the grade 3 transcription that I didn’t finish earlier. I will also try to complete the Grade 4 theory lessons in 2025. Later on in 2026, the grade 5 transcription will be blues solos from the Transcribing Blues Solos course.