@stitch @Richard_close2u my apologies for muddying up the thread. I wasnât sure where to post general ideas for Grade 3. I am still a bit of a newby in the Justin community, so I didnât feel confident starting my own thread.
My initial posts were direct responses to individuals in the thread, but about 14d ago I drifted off topic a little.
Thatâs OK and donât worry about starting your own thread in the Questions and Feedback section. Its good to know what the people using the course like and donât like. It helps with future lessons and course Justin is planning.
The problem with getting off topic in lesson specific threads is people come to these thread from the website and have to read though a bunch of off topic chit chat before they find an answer or can post their question. So keeping chit chat to a minimum keep the flow of the topic and less cluttered. Richard will start a new thread for you in the Feedback section so If youâd like to add to your suggestions please do it in that thread so it stays a constant thread and easier to find.
@Richard_close2u Richard, Thank you so very much. Sorry for any trouble I may have caused you getting this done. Hopefully this thread will be useful over time.
I purchased the Intermediate grade songbooks - pop, rock, acoustic and vintage (classic pop songs) a few years ago, when I was still completing the classic course. The first 15 songs in each of the books is labeled Beginner Stage, which I assumed were a mix of Grade 1, 2 and 3. I was surprised to find that most of these 60 songs are Grade 3. So if you are looking for additional grade 3 songs, take a look at these songs which were obviously chosen to provide a bridge to playing intermediate songs. I know that I will when I complete the song video lessons for songs in the Beginner Books (original and volume II).
@Richard_close2u Richard, I was reviewing the grade 2 content and saw (and remembered) that in Grade 2, Module 9, Justin has a lesson on Chords in Keys with a lesson video of What are Chords in Keys? Justin introduces a little theory and explains that the 1st, 4th and 5th notes on the C Major scale are the roots for C, F and G chords, the 3 major chords in the key of C (and after rewatching the lesson video saw that he said that the 2nd, 3rd and 6th notes in the C major scale are the roots for the 3 minor chords Dm, Em and Am chords, which which were learned in Grade 1.)
I realized that all of my suggestions above were really suggesting that the lesson in Module 9 on Chords in Keys be expanded to cover the chords for all the CAGED keys, beginning with the major chords for all the CAGED keys which doesnât require the introduction of any new chords. Then the minor chords in keys could be introduced starting with a review of the key of C. Then the chords for the key of G could be introduced which has a Bm (IIIm) chord. The open position G major scale could be introduced to match up with the module 9 lesson.
This is where an introductory lesson on E shape minor barre chords could be introduced with showing sliding the F chord shape down one string to form Bb minor and sliding up one fret for the Bm chord. Then appropriate songs could be suggested, including Grade 3 songs with Bm in the Justing Guitar lesson and song app. Optionally, a lesson could demonstrate transposing between keys with keys of C and G, ( Thinking further, it might be better to introduce transposition of all the CAGED key major chords before the capo for two lesson in Grade 3 Module 15. Then the difference between transposition and changing chord shapes to maintain the same chord at different capo positions could be compared and explained.)
Then the key of D could be examined with the addition of the F#m chord (in addition to the Bm chord) and songs in the key of D with F#m and Bm chords could be suggested. Like I said above you could discuss the keys of A and E and the corresponding new barre minor chords, but you could also show playing songs in key of A and E with capo at second fret and Key of G and D chord shapes.
I thought by writing this out in detail, the flow of this series of Grade 3 lessons would spring directly and naturally from an existing Grade 2 lesson.
Thank you for passing along of my suggestions for Grade 3
I dont feel I should really chime in here as I have no idea about how you grade songs. So You good folks would have to look at it.
Moody blues - Forever Autumn, It has Am G F Em C Bb F7 according to Ultimate Guitar , 3 Barre Chords.
R.H
Appologies for the intrusion. 
@Libitina Rachel, you are not intruding and this is an appropriate question for this topic.
In fact, this all started with a big post suggesting that Grade 3 add songs with just a few barre chords to help prepare for Grade 4, where songs can have a lot of barre chords (like big F and Bb in your suggested song and songs with minor barre chords like Bm. Iâm just a Grade 3 student that made so many suggestions and posts that the discussion was moved to newly created topic.
Iâll leave it up to others to determine if this song, Forever Autumn, is a Grade 3 song, but with only a few first fret barre chords i think it could be.
I looked at the Ultimate Guitar chords for Forever Autumn and it looks like the Bb chord is just a transitional chord going from C to Am in the chorus. So if someone canât play a Bb chord, you could just play the C chord, then play the Bb note on the fifth string, 1st fret and then play the Am chord. Then it would only use Grade 2 chords, since the F7 is optional. Then you could eventually play a Bb chord cheat by playing Bb note on the 5th string and playing the A chord shape on the 3rd fret (instead of the 2nd fret that you would do for A chord). The first string would be muted. It wouldnât be much harder to then just play the Bb barre chord.
The F7 chord can be played like the F barre chord, but just lift up or lift off your pinky (5th) finger.