How to Use This Document
This document drives your daily practice. The textbook explains why every element exists. This document tells you what to do today.
Before your first session on any new concept: read the corresponding textbook section. You need the why before the what makes full sense. But do not let reading substitute for practice. The textbook is reference. This document is your operating manual.
The structure: Three blocks, every day. Combined Learning is always first — it sets up both instrument sessions. Guitar and Piano Application blocks can be done in either order. Total time: approximately 2.5 hours. The timing is a guide — go slightly long on a block that is producing results, slightly short on one that is not, but complete all three every session.
Stage labels appear throughout. Stage 1 means errors are expected and correct. Stage 2 means sometimes right. Stage 3 — which the gate requires — means always right at tempo without conscious attention. “I can do it slowly” is Stage 2. Do not mistake it for Stage 3.
The Daily Session — Sprint 1 Template
Every session follows this three-block structure. Combined is always first. Application blocks run in either order.
| Block | Time | Sprint 1 Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Block 1 — Combined Learning | 30 min | Ear training, keyboard visualization, rhythm grid, anchor song listening — piano as the conceptual vehicle. Always first. |
| Block 2 — Guitar Application | 60 min | Apply the day's concepts on guitar: Zone 1, chords, Ain't No Sunshine, free play. Ends with The Synthesizer (8 min). |
| Block 3 — Piano Application | 60 min | Same structure as Block 2 but on piano. Either block can go before the other. Ends with The Synthesizer (8 min). |
The Combined block runs first every day without exception. It primes the ear and sets the conceptual frame for both instrument sessions. Guitar and Piano Application blocks each end with The Synthesizer — 8 minutes where all four chambers run simultaneously. That is not a drill; it is performance.
Rules for every block, every session:
- • Hear it before you play it. If you are about to play a , hear the interval in your head first.
- • Sing what you play. Not performance singing — quiet, under your breath is fine. The act of producing an interval with your voice encodes it differently.
- • Mistakes are data. Stop at them only long enough to register what went wrong. Then keep going.
Theme: Open your ears. Learn the system. First contact with everything.
What to expect: This week everything is Stage 1 — Discovering. You will make errors constantly on the di-chord discrimination. Your chord shapes will buzz and mute. You will lose track of the rhythm grid. This is exactly right. Do not rush past Stage 1.
Objective: First contact with and as distinct sounds. Establish the Hear→Sing→Name workflow. Use the piano to see the intervals.
Ear Training — 10 min
- Sit at the piano. Play A and C together. Let them ring for five seconds. Do not name it yet. Just receive the sound — feel the closed, slightly heavy quality. That is .
- Now play A and C# together. Slightly more open, less contracted. That is .
- Alternate back and forth five times, pausing five seconds on each. You are learning to recognize these sounds the way you learn to recognize two different voices.
- Singing step: Play A alone. Sing C above it — the above A. Find it by feel, reaching upward until the interval feels contracted and minor.
- Play A alone again. Sing C# above it — the . Slightly more open, brighter.
- Last 2 min: Alternate randomly. Play A, then play either C or C#. Identify or by sound alone. Then sing the interval back. Then name it.
Keyboard Visualization — 10 min
The piano makes intervals visible. Use this to build a spatial map of and .
Play (A–C) and look at the distance: one white key between them (B). Now play (A–C#): same white key count, but C# is black. The visual difference corresponds to the sound difference. Play both three times each. Let the visual and the sound link up.
Then: move to a different starting note (try D). Play above D: D and F (three semitones). Play above D: D and F#. Same visual logic in a new location. Repeat from one more starting note of your choice.
Rhythm — 5 min
Tap or clap positions 1 through 8 on a table. Say “1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8” aloud with each tap. Do this for 2 minutes. Then: tap only positions 1 and 5 — the other six are silent. Feel the gap between them. This is the skeleton of 4/4 time.
Listen — 5 min
Put on Ain’t No Sunshine by Bill Withers. Do not analyze. Do not follow chords. Just listen and feel the song. One pass, beginning to end. Notice what it feels like when the chord changes. You are not labeling anything yet — you are just receiving the song.
What “good” looks like
You are wrong on [3] vs [4] sometimes. You can sing both intervals imprecisely but recognizably. The keyboard visualization starts to feel spatial. The 8-position grid is awkward but countable.
What “stuck” looks like
You skip the hearing step and go straight to analyzing note names. Or you sing but do not listen to whether the interval quality matches. If you catch yourself skipping the five-second pause, slow down. The pause is the practice.
Objective: First contact with Zone 1 on the fretboard. Learn Am, G, Em chord shapes. Play them in the song context — simplified, no tempo pressure.
Zone 1 on Guitar — 10 min
Zone 1 for Am contains three notes: A (root), C (third), E (fifth). Using the E1 map: string 5 open = A, string 4 fret 2 = E, string 3 fret 2 = A, string 2 fret 1 = C, string 1 open = E. Do not play string 6.
Play each string individually. Name the note. Then sing the di-chord interval between A and C (). You just heard in the Combined block — now feel it on the instrument.
Chords — 12 min
Learn Am (your home chord), G major (the first departure), Em (the second departure). All three live in the key of A minor.
Practice each shape until you can press it down cleanly. Then practice the transition: Am to G, over and over, until your hand can find both shapes without pausing. Finger memory is built by repetition at slow tempo, not by thinking harder.
Play Am → G → Em → Am in sequence, one chord per measure, as slowly as needed. One strum per chord — let it ring for the full measure.
Anchor Song — 20 min
Play Ain’t No Sunshine using your Am-G-Em chords. No strumming pattern — just one chord per measure, let it ring. Do not stop when you make a mistake. When the chord change is wrong, fix it on the next measure and keep going.
Sing the root note of whatever chord you are playing. Am → hum A. G → hum G. Em → hum E. This connects harmony to melody in your ear.
Free Play — 10 min
Improvise using only Zone 1 notes: A, C, and E, anywhere on the guitar. Strum Am and pick individual notes from Zone 1. There is no melody to learn — you are exploring the space. The only rule: stay in Zone 1. If you play a note that sounds outside, notice it and return.
All four chambers simultaneously on guitar — melody + harmony + voicings + rhythm at once. This is a performance section, not a practice section. Play it like someone is listening. Full attention, full commitment. No stopping.
Objective: First contact with Zone 1 on the keyboard. Learn Am, G, Em as root position triads. Feel the song’s harmonic motion under your hands.
Zone 1 on Piano — 10 min
A is in the lower half of the keyboard (between G and B, white keys). C is easy — immediately left of the two black keys. E is two white keys right of C. Play A-C-E as a block chord with your right hand. Then play each note individually and sing it.
Play the Zone 1 sequence: A-C-E ascending, then E-C-A descending. Sing each note as you play it. Connect what you see on the keyboard to what you heard in the Combined block.
Chords — 12 min
Right hand: Am root position triad (A-C-E), then G (G-B-D), then Em (E-G-B). Play each chord with right hand, three notes together. Slow transitions — Am to G to Em and back. Notice how the notes shift each time.
Left hand: Play the root note only — A when Am, G when G, E when Em. Left hand plays root on beat one; right hand holds the chord. This is your basic piano texture for Song Work.
Anchor Song — 20 min
Play Ain’t No Sunshine on piano. Left hand: root note on beat one (A for Am, G for G, E for Em). Right hand: the corresponding root position triad, held for the measure.
One chord per measure. No tempo pressure. Sing the root (same as guitar block — this is the same song, same exercise, different instrument). When a chord change feels uncertain, practice just that pair in isolation until it becomes physical memory.
Free Play — 10 min
Left hand holds A (or plays A as a pulse). Right hand moves between A, C, and E freely — any pattern, any order. Sing along with whatever note your right hand is playing. This is ear-led exploration, not exercise execution.
All four chambers simultaneously on piano — melody + harmony + voicings + rhythm at once. This is a performance section, not a practice section. Play it like someone is listening. Full attention, full commitment. No stopping.
Theme: and becoming reliable. Ain’t No Sunshine starting to feel like music, not exercises.
What to expect: By the end of Week 2 you should be getting vs. right most of the time (15/20 or better on the tracking log). Chord changes should happen without stopping. The 8-position grid should be physically internalized.
Objective: Formalize ear training with 20-trial tracking. Add pictograph work. Begin mapping the Ain’t No Sunshine groove to the rhythm grid.
Ear Log — 10 min
Open Workbook Page 2 (Di-Chord Ear Log). Run 20 formal trials: each trial, play two notes simultaneously — either A and C () or A and C# (). Choose randomly. Hear it for three seconds before naming. Record correct or incorrect.
What the scores mean:
- 10/20 or below: You are guessing. Take five full seconds to hear before naming.
- 11–14/20: Beginning to hear. Normal Stage 2 for early Week 2.
- 15–18/20: Good progress. Stage 2 solidifying.
- 19–20/20: Stage 3 approaching. Run three days in a row at 19–20 before trusting it.
Keyboard Visualization + Pictograph — 10 min
Di-Chord Pictograph System — All 11 Di-Chords
Bracket shape = pulsation · Shadow direction = F/O factor · Color shade = harmonicity
Minor 2nd
1 st
Major 2nd
2 st
Tritone
6 st
Major 7th
11 st
Minor 3rd
3 st
Major 3rd
4 st
Minor 6th
8 st
Major 6th
9 st
Minor 7th
10 st
Perfect 4th
5 st
Perfect 5th
7 st
Visual Factor Reference
Factor 1 — Shape (Brackets)
- Jagged/serrated — Dissonant · 8 Hz
- Smooth/rounded — Modal · 4 Hz
- Straight/right-angle — Perfect · 2 Hz
Factor 2 — Shadow Direction
- ← Shadow left — Fundamental-referring
- → Shadow right — Octave-referring
- ↔ Both sides — Equidistant · [6] Tritone
Factor 3 — Color (Harmonicity)
- Light shade — Harmonic · open
- Dark shade — Non-harmonic · dense
- Neutral gray — Tritone [6]
★ Sprint 1 Focus — Di-chords [3] and [4] are the primary learning targets for Sprint 1. Gold border identifies them throughout course materials.
Play and from three different starting notes on piano. Before playing each interval, name it. Then verify by playing. Connect the quality (closed/dark for , open/bright for ) to the physical key span.
Adding the pictograph: After the keyboard work, spend 2 minutes on the R2 pictograph. Draw the glyph for : rounded outline, shadow left, filled dark (non-harmonic, closed). Then : same outline and shadow, but light (harmonic, open). The only visual difference is the fill color — just like the sound difference is small but real.
Pull character listening: Play and hold it. Listen past the direction — notice the quality of the pull. It is a steady weight: the notes attract each other across a non-harmonic gap, dense and inward, without acoustic reason to resolve except sheer gravitational pressure. Now play . Same direction (fundamental), same 4Hz rate. But the pull quality shifts to deep gravity — the harmonic bond gives the interval a sense of acoustic belonging rather than mere attraction. Train yourself to feel both: where the pull goes, and how it feels to go there. Direction comes quickly; pull texture takes the whole sprint.
Rhythm — 5 min
The groove from Ain’t No Sunshine runs on positions 1 and 5 — beat one and beat three. Play Am on guitar (or piano) and strike on position 1 and again on position 5. Count 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8 internally. Land cleanly on each. Then: play the “I know” section — position 1 only, hold for the full measure, silence until the next “I know.”
Listen + Name — 5 min
Put on Ain’t No Sunshine again. This time: try to name each chord change as it happens. You are not expected to be correct — you are training your ear to look for the harmonic event. When a chord change occurs, say a word: “Am... G... Em...” If you cannot name it, just say “change.” The noticing is the exercise.
Objective: Zone 1 in multiple positions on the neck. Add a basic strumming groove. Begin playing along with the recording.
Zone 1 — Expanded — 10 min
Find A, C, E beyond just the Am chord shape. String 6 fret 5 = A. String 4 open = D (not Zone 1), but string 4 fret 2 = E. String 3 fret 5 = C. Play each new location, name it, then sing the between A and C to confirm the relationship. You are building a spatial map of Zone 1 across the whole neck.
Chords + Groove — 12 min
Basic strumming pattern: Down strums on positions 1 and 5 — beat one and beat three. Two downstrokes per measure. This is the skeleton of almost every 4/4 groove. The chord change should happen before the strum — have your hand already in shape before position 1 arrives.
Play Am → G → Em → Am loop with this pattern. Days 1–2: guitar only. Days 3–5: add in playing along with the recording — when you lose your place, do not restart. Wait, find beat one, and re-enter. Losing your place and re-entering is more valuable than stopping to restart cleanly.
Anchor Song — 20 min
Play along with the Bill Withers recording. Chords + groove. When a chord comes that you do not know, strum Am to hold your place. After the song, note the one chord change that felt most uncertain. Practice just that pair for 3 minutes.
Free Play — 10 min
Zone 1 improv over the Am-G vamp. This week: when the chord changes to G, move to G’s Zone 1 notes (G-B-D). Let the chord change guide your melody. Sing every note you play on the guitar. If the voice and the instrument diverge, you will hear it — that gap is the ear training.
All four chambers simultaneously on guitar — melody + harmony + voicings + rhythm at once. This is a performance section, not a practice section. Play it like someone is listening. Full attention, full commitment. No stopping.
Objective: Zone 1 in two octaves on piano. Left hand + right hand working together. Song with melody emerging.
Zone 1 — Expanded — 10 min
Find Zone 1 notes (A, C, E) in two octave ranges — once in the lower-middle register, once in the higher register. Play A-C-E in the low octave with your left hand, then A-C-E in the high octave with your right. Same notes, different register, same minor quality.
Play Am as a chord on both instruments simultaneously (if possible) — or alternate: guitar Am chord, then piano Am chord, two seconds apart. Listen to the total sound. The di-chord relationships are the same regardless of instrument.
Chords + Melody — 12 min
Left hand: root note on beat one (A for Am, G for G, E for Em). Right hand: Zone 1 of the current chord — play the top note of the chord (C for Am, B for G, B for Em). One note at a time from the right hand, matching each chord.
| Chord | LH root | Zone 1 (RH) |
|---|---|---|
| Am | A | A – C – E |
| G | G | G – B – D |
| Em | E | E – G – B |
Anchor Song — 20 min
Left hand plays the root on beat one. Right hand plays one or two Zone 1 notes — not a full chord, just the top note of each chord. Play the song start to finish without stopping. When a chord change is wrong, keep the pulse alive and correct on the next arrival. After playing, name the chord change that felt most uncertain and practice it in isolation.
Free Play — 10 min
Zone 1 melody over Am-G chord changes on piano. When G arrives, move to G-B-D. Sing every note your right hand plays. Let the chord change pull your melody toward it — you do not need to think about which note to play if you are listening.
All four chambers simultaneously on piano — melody + harmony + voicings + rhythm at once. This is a performance section, not a practice section. Play it like someone is listening. Full attention, full commitment. No stopping.
Theme: Stage 2 solidifying toward Stage 3. / discrimination should be 18/20 or better. Ain’t No Sunshine should be playable on both instruments in simplified form.
What to expect: This week the work gets harder because the standards go up. Week 1 asked for first contact. Week 2 asked for progress. Week 3 asks for consistency.
Objective: and in melodic context — inside a major scale, and both directions. Start stress-testing toward Stage 3.
Ear Training — 10 min
Play C major on piano: C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C. Play C and E together — that is . Play E and G — that is . The major triad contains both: from root to 3rd, from 3rd to 5th. Am is the inverse order: from root to 3rd, from 3rd to 5th.
Run 20 trials from five different starting notes — not just A. Expand the roots: C, D, G, and two of your choice. Week 3 target: 18/20. If you are below 15, spend 8 of 10 minutes on pure listening without naming, and run only 10 trials.
Keyboard Visualization — 10 min
Play a note on piano — any white key. Sing the above it. Play and check. Now sing the above the same note. Play and check. Do this from five different starting notes.
Then reverse: play a note. Sing the below it, then the below it. The interval below is a different direction but the same quality. Playing both directions is what earns Stage 3.
Rhythm — 5 min
Tap the full Ain’t No Sunshine groove — not just positions 1 and 5, but also the forward strum you will add in Guitar Block this week. Then tap the “I know” stop-time section: position 1 only, long silence, repeat 26 times. Feel the groove as a shape rather than a count.
Listen + Analyze — 5 min
Listen to Ain’t No Sunshine. This time: try to identify one moment where the melody moves by a or . You are not counting semitones — you are listening for the rounded, smooth character that both intervals share compared to the step-like . When you find a candidate, play the passage back from memory on piano. Even approximately is fine.
Objective: Zone 1 in multiple positions across the neck. Add the forward strum. Full song without stopping.
Zone 1 — Multiple Positions — 10 min
Find Zone 1 notes (A, C, E) in at least three positions on the neck — not just the Am open chord. A at string 6 fret 5. C at string 5 fret 3. E at string 4 open and string 1 open. String 6 fret 12 = E (octave above open). Move between positions without looking if you can.
Chords + Forward Strum — 12 min
Add a light upstroke on position 6: down-down-up (positions 1, 5, 6). This creates forward momentum — beat three pushes slightly into beat four.
- Position 1: down strum (strong)
- Position 5: down strum (medium)
- Position 6: up strum (light — just brush the top two or three strings)
Play the entire song with this pattern without stopping. When you make a mistake, keep the pulse alive and re-enter.
Anchor Song — 20 min
Full performance pass on guitar. Chord changes clean, groove feeling, start to finish with no complete stops. Then: note where the song felt alive — where the framework disappeared and you were just playing. That moment is the north star. Chase it next session.
Free Play — 10 min
Zone 1 in multiple positions. Let phrases breathe — you do not have to play every position. Space is part of the language. Find one melody line that actually sounds good to you, then repeat it in a different position. Notice how the same phrase sounds slightly different at a different register.
All four chambers simultaneously on guitar — melody + harmony + voicings + rhythm at once. This is a performance section, not a practice section. Play it like someone is listening. Full attention, full commitment. No stopping.
Objective: Zone 1 across all octaves. Left hand chord + right hand melody together. Full song without stopping.
Zone 1 — Across Octaves — 10 min
Play Zone 1 melodies starting from any A, C, or E on the keyboard — choose any octave. The minor quality of between A and C sounds the same whether you are in the bass octave or the treble. Move between octaves freely. Sing what you play.
Chord + Melody Together — 12 min
Left hand plays Am block chord (A-C-E, or root + fifth if the full triad is hard). Right hand plays Zone 1 melody — a single note at a time. Move the right hand while left hand holds the chord. Then change to G: left hand G-B-D, right hand moves in G-B-D territory. Do not think about which note to play. Let the chord suggest the note.
Anchor Song — 20 min
Left hand: root on beat one. Right hand: one Zone 1 note per chord. Play the song from start to finish without stopping. Then play it again with no agenda — just play the song and see what happens. After two passes, note where you felt the music most. Write it in your workbook.
Free Play — 10 min
Zone 1 across all octaves on piano. Let dynamics guide your note choices — high octaves for brightness, low for weight. Find a phrase that moves you emotionally (even a little) and play it again. Repetition with feeling is how Zone 1 becomes vocabulary.
All four chambers simultaneously on piano — melody + harmony + voicings + rhythm at once. This is a performance section, not a practice section. Play it like someone is listening. Full attention, full commitment. No stopping.
Theme: Are you ready? Honest self-assessment toward Stage 3. This week stress-tests what you think you own.
What to expect: Week 4 is not a harder practice week — it is an honest practice week. You are doing the things you have been doing, but in new contexts, under mild pressure, and in a different key. Genuine Stage 3 means it works anywhere.
Objective: and in random musical context — real-time identification in unfamiliar music. Target: 19–20/20 on the log.
Ear Stress Test — 10 min
Put on a song you do not know well. Listen for 30 seconds. Can you identify any moment where the melody moves by a or ? You are not counting semitones — you are listening for the quality: smooth, rounded, neither step-like nor wide. When you find a candidate, play the interval on piano to confirm.
After 6 minutes of active listening, run your 20-trial discrimination log. Week 4 target: 19–20/20.
Keyboard / Transposition — 10 min
Play and from starting notes you have not used much: D, F, B. For each: play the interval, sing it, name it. Then play the minor triad from D: D-F-A. Confirm that (D to F) sounds the same as it does from A. The interval quality is fixed regardless of starting note. That is what “owning” an interval means.
Rhythm — 5 min
Improvise a new groove using the 8-position grid. Choose any combination of active positions. Play it on guitar or tap it out. Does it feel like a groove? Can you anticipate position 1 of the next measure from position 8 of the current one? Experiment with where the anticipation creates energy versus where it disrupts it.
Listen + Analyze — 5 min
Ain’t No Sunshine one last time, but name every chord change in real time. Am-G-Em-Am. The “I know” section is all Am. When the song ends, say the complete progression from memory without playing it. If you cannot, play it once more and try again.
Objective: Transpose to Dm on guitar. Perform Ain’t No Sunshine. Free play in an unfamiliar key.
Zone 1 — New Key — 10 min
Dm Zone 1: D (root), F (third), A (fifth). On guitar: open 4th string = D (root), 1st fret 1st string = F (third), 2nd fret 3rd string = A (fifth, also 5th string open). Find D, F, A on the neck. Confirm the between D and F — it sounds minor, same quality as A to C. Transposing puts the skill back to Stage 2 temporarily. How quickly does it stabilize?
Chords + Groove in Dm — 12 min
Dm chord open position: string 4 open (D), string 3 fret 2 (A), string 2 fret 3 (F), string 1 fret 1 (F). Add C major and Am. Play a Dm → C → Am loop — the D minor equivalent of Am-G-Em. Same groove, new key.
Anchor Song — Performance — 20 min
Perform Ain’t No Sunshine on guitar as if someone is listening. Full song, correct chords, recognizable groove, no stopping for mistakes. Play it once with full intention. Then: play it a second time — this time chase the moment where the framework disappears. After both passes, note whether the second felt more alive than the first.
Free Play — 10 min
Choose a minor key that is neither Am nor Dm. E minor, B minor, C minor — any of them. Find the root, third, and fifth by interval (the minor third is — three semitones above the root). Once you have Zone 1, improvise freely. You will be slow. That is correct. If Zone 1 stabilizes within 5 minutes, you are genuinely close to Stage 3.
All four chambers simultaneously on guitar — melody + harmony + voicings + rhythm at once. This is a performance section, not a practice section. Play it like someone is listening. Full attention, full commitment. No stopping.
Objective: Transpose to Dm on piano. Perform Ain’t No Sunshine. Free play in an unfamiliar key.
Zone 1 — New Key — 10 min
Dm Zone 1: D-F-A as a block chord. D is two white keys above C. F is two above D. A is two above G. Play D-F-A with your right hand. Sing the between D and F — confirm it sounds minor. Then play D and F together on piano and confirm visually: one white key between them (E), same span as A-C. Same interval, new location.
Chords + Triads in Dm — 12 min
Dm triad root position: D-F-A. C major: C-E-G. Am: A-C-E. Play Dm → C → Am loop on piano. Left hand root, right hand triad. Slow to fast — find the speed where you still feel confident, then push slightly past it. New keys stabilize through repetition, not thinking.
Anchor Song — Performance — 20 min
Perform Ain’t No Sunshine on piano as if someone is listening. Left hand roots, right hand Zone 1 melody or simplified chord. Start to finish, no complete stops, correct harmonic motion, alive. After the performance, note where you felt the song versus where you were executing. The gap between feeling and executing is what the rest of the sprint is closing.
Free Play — 10 min
Same as guitar block — choose a third minor key, not Am or Dm. Find Zone 1 by interval on piano. Improvise freely. Sing what you play. If you lose your place in the harmony, return to the root and rebuild. No stopping — the return-to-root is a musical gesture, not a failure.
All four chambers simultaneously on piano — melody + harmony + voicings + rhythm at once. This is a performance section, not a practice section. Play it like someone is listening. Full attention, full commitment. No stopping.
Flexible Sprint Duration — When to Advance
Sprint 1 typically takes 3 to 5 weeks. Some students clear both gates in 3 weeks. Some take 6. Both are correct outcomes. A student who takes 6 weeks because they genuinely own Stage 3 is doing better than one who moves in 3 weeks with Stage 2 work declared as Stage 3.
The honest question: Do not ask “have I done the exercises?” Ask “do I own the skill?”
Plogger gate self-check
- If I am in a coffee shop and a song comes on, can I hear whether the first interval is a or ? Not after concentrating — immediately, automatically?
- If someone plays a minor third on a piano in the next room, do I recognize it?
- Can I sing a from any pitch on demand, without a reference instrument?
- Can I draw the Pictograph for and from memory, including the three visual properties?
If all four are yes: you are at Stage 3 on the Plogger gate.
Performance gate self-check
- Can I play Ain’t No Sunshine on guitar, start to finish, without stopping, in a way that sounds like the song?
- Can I play it on piano at the same standard?
- Can I sing the root of each chord while playing?
- If someone plays a melody from the song, can I identify the Zone 1 note without preparation?
If all four are yes: you are at Stage 3 on the performance gate.
What to do if you are stuck
/ plateaued at 14–16/20 after three weeks?
The problem is almost certainly in the hearing step — you are naming before you have truly heard. Fix: extend the listening pause to ten seconds before naming.
Ain’t No Sunshine still stopping on chord changes?
The chord shapes are not ready before the change arrives. Fix: practice the specific change in isolation (Am→G loop) until it takes less than one beat to arrive.
The Synthesizer falls apart?
The problem is not synthesis failure — it is that one component skill is Stage 2 masquerading as Stage 3. Run the self-checks again, honestly.
Sprint 1 Exit Assessment
The gate is two parts. Both must be cleared in the same session, without warm-up, to count. “I can do it when I practice” is Stage 2. The gate is Stage 3: without preparation, first attempt, at musical tempo.
Gate A — Plogger / Mastery
Trial set 1 — Discrimination (10 trials): Random mix of and from different roots. Name each after hearing. Required: 10/10.
Trial set 2 — Singing from 5 pitches: From each pitch, sing the minor third above. Within a half step without a reference instrument. 4/5 required.
Trial set 3 — Singing from 5 pitches: Same exercise, major third. 4/5 required.
Trial set 4 — Real-time identification (10 trials): A short melody is played. After each step, identify , , or “other.” Required: 10/10 on intervals that contain or .
Gate B — Performance: Ain’t No Sunshine
Standard: Simplified but musical. Not performance-ready by professional standard — but recognizable, continuous, and alive.
Test 1 — Guitar
Play start to finish: correct chords in correct order, recognizable rhythmic feel, no complete stops, including the "I know" section. Pass: someone who knows the song would recognize it.
Test 2 — Piano
Start to finish: left hand root notes on beat one, right hand Zone 1 notes or simplified melody. Correct changes, no complete stops. Same recognition standard.
Test 3 — Root singing
Play any chord from the song. While playing, sing the root. Change to the next chord, sing its root. Within a half step. All three chords: Am (A), G (G), Em (E).
Test 4 — Ear ID
Someone plays a two-note melody fragment from Am. Identify which Zone 1 note it started on: root (A), third (C), or fifth (E). Required: 3 out of 4 correct.
Sprint 1 is complete when: Gate A passes AND all four performance tests pass, in the same session, without warm-up. On the same day.
When both gates are clear: you are ready for Sprint 2 — The Resolution: .