Stage 5 milestone
Milestone: The Lead Hills
Review, practical challenge and self-assessment to close the stage with everything you learned.
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Stage 5 milestone
Review, practical challenge and self-assessment to close the stage with everything you learned.
You've reached the top of the Lead Hills. You began this stage accompanying and you finish it making the guitar sing: you have a box of the under your fingers, a picking hand that swings like a pendulum, legato that joins notes without picking, an ear that can repeat and reply, and your first improvised phrases over a blues. In this milestone you'll bring it all together in a complete solo, plan two weeks of practice and check where you stand.
Each stop gave you a piece. The solo is where they meet:
| Stop | What you learned | What it does in a solo |
|---|---|---|
| The minor pentatonic | at the 5th fret and its three roots | The terrain: which notes to use and where "home" is |
| Alternate picking | , string changes, the speed ladder | Playing in time, evenly and effortlessly |
| Legato and slides | , , and trills | Flow and expression: notes join up and "speak" |
| Call and response | : listen, sing, repeat, answer | Talking with the band and learning from what you hear |
| Your first improvisation | Short , space, repetition and variation, ending on the root | Making the solo say something instead of running the scale |
The challenge is played over the same blues in A you've used all stage, with a shuffle . Listen to it once all the way through without playing, counting the bars and feeling where the chords change: D7 in bar 5, back to A7 in bar 7 and the final section starting on E7 in bar 9.
This is an original solo written for this stage. All three versions follow the same musical idea: a phrase that asks, one that answers, and all of them return to the root. Start with the level you can play cleanly and move up once you've mastered it.
Only quarter and half notes, one-bar phrases and generous rests. If this level comes out with a solid pulse and every ending sounds like "home", you've understood the heart of the stage.
The same phrases filled in with eighth notes, hammer-ons, pull-offs and slides. Use alternate picking on the picked notes and let the legato notes ring on their own, as loud as the picked ones.
Play bars 1 to 8 of level 2 and replace the last four with this version: a over E7, a legato descent and a slide that leaves you on the root just before the last chord.
The challenge doesn't end with the tab. Once you've mastered a level, keep its phrases in bars 1, 5 and 9 (the calls) and make up the answers yourself. Then swap roles: keep the answers and make up the calls. That's how a written solo becomes the starting point of your own improvisation.
Two weeks, about 20 minutes a day. Every day you play a bit of everything, in short blocks, so technique and ear grow together. Use each block's timer and mark it done when you finish.
Run box 1 up and down with alternate picking. Day one at 60 BPM; every day it comes out clean, go up 5 BPM (your speed ladder). Alternate days between the full scale and the two-notes-per-string-twice pattern.
Goal: The box up and down in eighth notes, clean, twice in a row at the day's tempo.
Play bar 3 of level 2 of the challenge picking every note (no legato) on a loop. Listen for whether every note has the same volume and whether the strings you aren't playing stay silent.
Goal: Keep strict down-up alternation through the string changes without rushing or dragging.
Alternate 20-second trills with 10 seconds of rest. Then play bar 11 of level 2, checking that the pull-off sounds as loud as the picked note.
Goal: A 20-second trill between frets 5 and 8 on string 2 at a steady volume with no noise from other strings.
Play a two-bar phrase in box 1, sing it without the guitar and find it again on the neck. Then answer it with another two-bar phrase that ends on the root. If you practise with someone, take turns: one calls, the other answers.
Goal: Repeat by ear, on the first or second attempt, three short phrases you sang or played yourself.
First round: the written solo at your level. Second round: improvise with the stage's rules (short phrases, space, repetition and variation, ending at home). Record yourself on your phone once a week and compare.
Goal: Play the whole challenge at your level over two rounds of the blues without stopping, even if there are mistakes.
Week 1
Level 1 of the challenge, 60 to 70 BPM. Blocks 1 to 4 every day; block 5 with level 1 and, on the second round, only two notes per phrase.
Week 2
Level 2 (and the level 3 ending if you feel ready), 70 to 90 BPM. On the second round of block 5, use the whole box and at least one hammer-on, pull-off or slide per phrase.
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