Tech and Rep I - 1st 6 Weeks 

8/14: 
- Introductions 
- Course overview/expectations 
- Advice for fresh starts  
- Anything can be done better or worse, how do you define this? 
- What do you want? (Entice yourself for productivity, do you negotiate fairly or are you a 
tyrant?). 
- 3 Things and the power of compound interest - Wisdom is the ability to take one’s own advice. 
- What looks different is often the same… 
- String changing 
 
8/16: 
 
- The only thing you have to give is your mind,​ the importance of warming up your concentration, 
cognitive soothing. M ​ uscles function most efficiently only when the mind is free of anxiety. If 
we are confused when we practice then we can never be free.  
- Mise en scene ​ - chair without arms, music stand, footstool, full length or hand mirror, pencil, 
metronome, timer.  
- Warm-Up and Exercises Away from the Guitar. P ​ inky Axis.  
- Cultivating your playing position - right hand can move across the strings without being impeded by 
the rim of the guitar and your left hand has comfortable access to the whole neck.  
- Footstool in front of the left leg of the chair but tilting towards the left. Let it be at a distance 
that allows your knee cap to align with your heel. Similarly for your right foot. 
- Height of the foot stool is based on your physique - legs/torso relation, etc. and how you may 
tilt the guitar. A general starting point is that your 4th string tuner is at your eye level. 
- Guitar resting against left thigh (I like a slight tilt back), lower back rim rest against your right 
thigh, and upper back rim against your chest (close to your heart….awww. Note this is only 
the upper rim making contact).  
- Right forearm makes contact with the front rim of the lower bout. Slide your forearm until 
your hand is over the edge of the soundhole. Shoulders should remain level with one another, 
avoid the temptation for your right shoulder to drift towards your ear (You can play with 
moving the guitar head forward or back to alter this - I like slightly forward)! 
- Practice bending and unbending elbow and moving the arm.  
- Sit in the first half or quarter of your chair, period, end of discussion, amen.  
- Hand positioning 
- Create a loose fist without placing the forearm on the guitar. 
- Arc your wrist so your fingers are curled in all of their joints and place PIMA on 5321. 
- Using your shoulder joint put your forearm (toward the elbow) down on the lower bout. 
 - Practice deviating left and right with the wrist, ultimately with index finger knuckle lining up 
with radius bone, this makes for a slight orientation to the right.  
- Checking the time and tilt! 
- Establishing a midway position of 3-4 finger distance between you and the soundboard 
- Discovering wrist flexion and extension and how they magically affect your knuckles! (Too 
flexed and you’re swinging at the string, too extended and you can’t displace the string). 
 
- Play and pause, firm placement, prepared free strokes with P. 
- Bugler’s Tune - how to preread, i​ n the beginning there was rhythm. ​Conducting the beat, ta’s, 
clarifying note names. Using the metronome (goal tempos and how to get there - changing the click 
from quarter note to the eighth note) 
- Start Yates’ Lesson 5, Group 1 procedures. 
 
- Homework:​Take a picture of your practice space, reread the positioning procedures above, practice 
Bugler’s tune at eighth note = 72, 80, 92, 100, 112.  
 
8/20: 
- Mindful Meditation, Stretches, Exercises Away from the guitar. 
- Review Hand Position, Sitting Position, and Contact Points. 
- Play Through Bugler’s Tune, with metronome on eighths and back to quarter note. 
- Boring Exercises and the Memory-Time-Benefit Graph. 
- Yates Lesson 5, Group 1 - Body Mapping the Arm, ​Dynamics dictate follow-through. 
- Rest Stroke (Pg 50 - 53 of Aaron Shearer Part 1) - ​flexed inactive fingers, left tip/left nail rim. 
- Left Hand Positioning (Pg. 43 - 46 of Aaron Shearer Part 1) - Parallel vs. Rotated 
- Read 110 - 111 of Yates for Left Hand Thumb Position 
- Mi-Fa-So - Pre-read (hypothetically, you could get it right 1st time, every time!), cut time. 
- Set-Up Collabra. 
- Homework:​Continue to review hand/seating position/contact point/forearm contact point/rest 
stroke & knuckle position/follow-through/dynamics/flexed inactive fingers concepts. Play through 
Bugler’s Tune and Mi-Fa-So. 
 
8/22: 
 
- Mindful Meditation, Stretches, Exercises Away from the guitar. 
- Review homework concepts. 
- Play through Bugler’s Tune and Mi-Fa-So. 
- Yates Lesson 5, Group 2 - reinforce full arm participation and follow through. 
- Chapter 1 Chords, Chord Chart Reading, pick holding (flexed inactive fingers) and sitting position, 
downstroke/upstroke - watch Chris Thile - True Love Waits and Gonzalo Bergera - All Of Me.  
- Work by principles, applied flexibly.  
- Stepping Tones with I & M rest stroke - review repeat signs/endings/using LH pinky for rotated 
position/avoiding lateral spread. 
 - Homework:​Video record Bugler’s Tune and Mi-Fa-So w/o repeats on Collabra (quiz), start 
memorizing Chapter 1 chord shapes, review previous concepts adding rotated position, lateral spread, 
downstroke/upstroke and sitting position for pick playing. 
 
8/26: 
 
- Mindful Meditation, Stretches, Exercises Away from the guitar. 
- Review homework concepts. 
- Play through Bugler’s Tune, Mi-Fa-So, and Stepping Tones (buzz/thud practice). 
- Yates Lesson 5, Group 1. 
- Chapter 1 Chords - guide fingers and finger choreography - who gets there first? 
- How to memorize chord shapes with left hand alone practice. 
- Start minor chords. 
- Homework:​Record Stepping Tones on Collabra w/o repeat, review previous concepts adding guide 
fingers, start memorizing minor chords. 
 
8/28: 
 
- Mindful Meditation, Stretches, Exercises Away from the guitar. 
- Review homework concepts. 
- Play through Bugler’s Tune, Mi-Fa-So 
- Stepping Tones with M & A fingers 
- Yates Lesson 5, Group 2. 
- Chimes - Introduce the concept of ​string crossing vs. inverted string crossing​, using your 
kinesthetic intuition to feel comfortable. 
- PIMI Arpeggio - sequential preparation 
- Start Aguado Study in A Minor - ​Open Vs. Closed Position, Guide Fingers 
- Review Chords. 
- Homework:​Practice PIMI Sequential Preparation Exercise (Don’t skip or skimp, even if you do it well 
already!), review Aguado and Chimes. 
 
8/30: 
 
- Mindful Meditation, Stretches, Exercises Away from the guitar. 
- Review homework concepts. 
- Stepping Tones with I & M, M & A fingers. 
- Chimes 
- Yates Lesson 5, Group 1 
- PIMI with Sequential Preparation,​ Speed Bursts (3:1, 2:1, 1:1, 1:2, 1:3), Accents/Ghosting, 
Accidentals 
- Review Chapter 1 Chords 1 - 15 
- Homework:​Record Chimes w/o repeat, review Aguado m. 1 - 4 with eighth note = 80 - 100, start 
mapping out m. 5 - 6 
9/4: 
 
- Mindful Meditation, Stretches, Exercises Away from the guitar. 
- Review homework concepts. 
- Stepping Tones with I & M, M & A fingers. 
- Chimes 
- Yates Lesson 5, Group 2 
- PIMI with Sequential Preparation,​ ​Speed Bursts (3:1, 2:1, 1:1, 1:2, 1:3), Accents/Ghosting, 
Accidentals, Dynamics, Varied Rhythms. 
- Aguado M. 1 - 8. 
-  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
- How to structure practice time. 
 
White Day: 
 
Monday  Tuesday  Wednesday  Thursday  Friday  Saturday 

At School:           
Ensemble 
Materials & 
Warm Up 

At Home:           
Tech & Rep - 
 
Get Materials 
Out 
 
1 Minute Mind 
Clear 
 
2 Minute 
 Stretch 
 
1 Group 1 
Exercise 
 
Review  
 
 
 
 
 
Terms Learned: 
 
 
Guide Fingers  Lateral Spread  Buzz/Thud  Downstroke/Upstroke 

Thumb Contact Point  Finger Contact Point  Forearm Contact Point  Inactive Fingers 

Dynamics  Rest Stroke  Free Stroke  Follow-Through 

Seating Position  Rotated Position  Parallel Position  Wrist Height 

Major  Minor  Inverted String Crossing  Sequential Preparation 

Accidentals       

Open Position  Closed Position  Speed Bursts  Accents/Ghosting