Name: Date:

Guitar Exam Practice

Identify the following:

Identify the Open Strings of the Guitar (letter names):

Convert the following music to TAB:

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Identify the Following Chords:

________ ________ ________ _________

_________ __________ __________ __________

__________ ________ _________ __________

2
Match the terms with the letters

1.______ Tempo A. tells us how many counts

per measure

2. ______Time Signature B. five lines where music is

written on

3. _______ Tie C. how fast or slow music is played

4. ______ Staff D. a curved line connecting two

notes of the same pitch

Match the notes with the letters

5.) _______Quarter Note A.

6.) ________ Half Note B.

7.) _______ Whole Note C.

8.) ________ Quarter Rest D.

9.) ________ Half Rest E.

10.) ________ Whole Rest F.

Define (In a complete phrase/sentence)

1. Pick:

2. Amp:

3. TAB:

3. Palm Mute:
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4. Swing:

5. Hammer On:

6. Pull Off:

7. Electric Guitar:

8. Rhythm:

9. Tempo:

10. Chord:

Brief Constructed Response

Imagine you are asked to teach a beginning guitar student how to play the guitar. You will have to show him/her the
basics in regards to posture, hand position, pressing down on the frets and properly holding the guitar pick. Write a
short description on basic playing position, pressing down on the frets, and how to appropriately hold the guitar pick.
Answer by writing at least two paragraphs.

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ECR
DIRECTIONS:

1. Read the following article and take notes about Chuck Berry and the specific musical elements he used in his
music to rock and roll” sound.
2. Listen and take notes of musical elements and compositional features during the following songs:
a. Johnny B. Goode By, Chuck Berry

b. Gimme Shelter By, The Rolling Stones

c. Heart Breaker By, Led Zeppelin

3. Write an argumentative essay citing specific evidence of how Chuck Berry has been a major influence on the
development of rock music. Identify at least (5) specific musical features mentioned in the article and HOW
THEY WERE USED IN THE LISTENING EXAMPLES. CITE DIFFERENT AND SPECIFIC EVIDENCE at least (2) times
from each listening example.

ABOUT CHUCK BERRY

Official Site: http://www.delafont.com/music_acts/Chuck-
Berry.htm , http://www.cmgww.com/music/berry/index.html | @Chuck Berry |Chuck Berry
Of all the early breakthrough rock & roll artists, none is more important to the development of the music than
Chuck Berry. He is its greatest songwriter, the main shaper of its instrumental voice, one of its greatest
guitarists, and one of its greatest performers. Quite simply, without him there would be no Beatles, Rolling
Stones, Beach Boys, Bob Dylan, nor a myriad others. There would be no standard "Chuck Berry guitar intro,"
the instrument's clarion call to get the joint rockin' in any setting. The clippety-clop rhythms of rockabilly would
not have been mainstreamed into the now standard 4/4 rock & roll beat. There would be no obsessive
5
wordplay by modern-day tunesmiths; in fact, the whole history (and artistic level) of rock & roll songwriting
would have been much poorer without him. Like Brian Wilson said, he wrote "all of the great songs and came
up with all the rock & roll beats." Those who do not claim him as a seminal influence or profess a liking for his
music and showmanship show their ignorance of rock's development as well as his place as the music's first
great creator. Elvis may have fueled rock & roll's imagery, but Chuck Berry was its heartbeat and original
mindset.

He was born Charles Edward Anderson Berry to a large family in St. Louis. A bright pupil, Berry developed a
love for poetry and hard blues early on, winning a high school talent contest with a guitar-and-vocal rendition of
Jay McShann's big band number, "Confessin' the Blues." With some local tutelage from the neighborhood
barber, Berry progressed from a four-string tenor guitar up to an official six-string model and was soon working
the local East St. Louis club scene, sitting in everywhere he could. He quickly found out that black audiences
liked a wide variety of music and set himself to the task of being able to reproduce as much of it as possible.
What he found they really liked -- besides the blues and Nat King Cole tunes -- was the sight and sound of a
black man playing white hillbilly music, and Berry's showmanlike flair, coupled with his seemingly inexhaustible
supply of fresh verses to old favorites, quickly made him a name on the circuit. In 1954, he ended up taking
over pianist Johnny Johnson's small combo and a residency at the Cosmopolitan Club soon made the Chuck
Berry Trio the top attraction in the black community, with Ike Turner's Kings of Rhythm their only real
competition.

But Berry had bigger ideas; he yearned to make records, and a trip to Chicago netted a two-minute
conversation with his idol Muddy Waters, who encouraged him to approach Chess Records. Upon listening to
Berry's homemade demo tape, label president Leonard Chess professed a liking for a hillbilly tune on it named
"Ida Red" and quickly scheduled a session for May 21, 1955. During the session the title was changed to
"Maybellene" and rock & roll history was born. Although the record only made it to the mid-20s on the Billboard
pop chart, its overall influence was massive and groundbreaking in its scope. Here was finally a black rock &
roll record with across-the-board appeal, embraced by white teenagers and Southern hillbilly musicians (a
young Elvis Presley, still a full year from national stardom, quickly added it to his stage show), that for once
couldn't be successfully covered by a pop singer like Snooky Lanson on Your Hit Parade. Part of the secret to
its originality was Berry's blazing 24-bar guitar solo in the middle of it, the imaginative rhyme schemes in the
lyrics, and the sheer thump of the record, all signaling that rock & roll had arrived and it was no fad. Helping to
put the record over to a white teenage audience was the highly influential New York disc jockey Alan Freed,
who had been given part of the writers' credit by Chess in return for his spins and plugs. But to his credit,
Freed was also the first white DJ/promoter to consistently use Berry on his rock & roll stage show
extravaganzas at the Brooklyn Fox and Paramount theaters (playing to predominately white audiences); and
when Hollywood came calling a year or so later, also made sure that Chuck appeared with him in Rock! Rock!
Rock!, Go, Johnny, Go!, and Mister Rock'n'Roll. Within a years' time, Chuck had gone from a local St. Louis
blues picker making 15 dollars a night to an overnight sensation commanding over a hundred times that,
arriving at the dawn of a new strain of popular music called rock & roll.

The hits started coming thick and fast over the next few years, every one of them about to become a classic of
the genre: "Roll Over Beethoven," "Thirty Days," "Too Much Monkey Business," "Brown Eyed Handsome
Man," "You Can't Catch Me," "School Day," "Carol," "Back in the U.S.A.," "Little Queenie," "Memphis,
Tennessee," "Johnny B. Goode," and the tune that defined the moment perfectly, "Rock and Roll Music." Berry
was not only in constant demand, touring the country on mixed package shows and appearing on television
and in movies, but smart enough to know exactly what to do with the spoils of a suddenly successful show
business career. He started investing heavily in St. Louis area real estate and, ever one to push the envelope,
opened up a racially mixed nightspot called the Club Bandstand in 1958 to the consternation of uptight
locals. These were not the plans of your average R&B singers who contented themselves with a wardrobe of
flashy suits, a new Cadillac, and the nicest house in the black section. Berry was smart with plenty of business
savvy and was already making plans to open an amusement park in nearby Wentzville. When the St. Louis
hierarchy found out that an underage hat-check girl Berry hired had also set up shop as a prostitute at a
nearby hotel, trouble came down on Berry like a sledgehammer on a fly. Charged with transporting a minor
over state lines (the Mann Act), Berry endured two trials and was sentenced to federal prison for two years as

6
a result.

He emerged from prison a moody, embittered man. But two very important things had happened in his
absence. First, British teenagers had discovered his music and were making his old songs hits all over again.
Second, and perhaps most important, America had discovered the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, both of
whom based their music on Berry's style, with the Stones' early albums looking like a Berry song list. Rather
than being resigned to the has-been circuit, Berry found himself in the midst of a worldwide beat boom with his
music as the centerpiece. He came back with a clutch of hits ("Nadine," "No Particular Place to Go," "You
Never Can Tell"), toured Britain in triumph, and appeared on the big screen with his British disciples in the
groundbreaking T.A.M.I. Show in 1964.

Berry had moved with the times and found a new audience in the bargain and when the cries of "yeah-yeah-
yeah" were replaced with peace signs, Berry altered his live act to include a passel of slow blues and quickly
became a fixture on the festival and hippie ballroom circuit. After a disastrous stint with Mercury Records, he
returned to Chess in the early '70s and scored his last hit with a live version of the salacious nursery rhyme,
"My Ding a Ling," yielding Berry his first official gold record. By decade's end, he was as in demand as ever,
working every oldies revival show, TV special, and festival that was thrown his way. But once again, troubles
with the law reared their ugly head and 1979 saw Berry headed back to prison, this time for income tax
evasion. Upon release this time, the creative days of Chuck Berry seemed to have come to an end. He
appeared as himself in the Alan Freed bio-pic, American Hot Wax, and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall
of Fame, but steadfastly refused to record any new material or even issue a live album. His live performances
became increasingly erratic, with Berry working with terrible backup bands and turning in sloppy, out-of-tune
performances that did much to tarnish his reputation with younger fans and oldtimers alike. In 1987, he
published his first book, Chuck Berry: The Autobiography, and the same year saw the film release of what will
likely be his lasting legacy, the rockumentary Hail! Hail! Rock'n'Roll, which included live footage from a 60th-
birthday concert with Keith Richards as musical director and the usual bevy of superstars coming out for guest
turns. But for all of his off-stage exploits and seemingly ongoing troubles with the law, Chuck Berry remains the
epitome of rock & roll, and his music will endure long after his private escapades have faded from memory.
Because when it comes down to his music, perhaps John Lennon said it best, "If you were going to give rock &
roll another name, you might call it 'Chuck Berry'." ~ Cub Koda, Rovi

Essay

7
 Guitar Playing Exam

Name: Class:

1. Chords (20 Points, 5 Points per Hand Position)

a. C Major:
b. G Major:
c. D Major:
d. E Minor:
e. Extra:
f. Extra:
g. Extra:
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 h. Extra:
i. Extra:

2. Musical Excerpt: (40 Points)

a. 40 points= 1-3 missed notes/rhythms, good style, excellent hand technique, in-time, appropriate
dynamics
b. 35 points = 4-7 missed notes/rhythms, mostly with good style, good hand technique, mostly in time,
some dynamics shown
c. 25 points = 7-10 missed notes/rhythms, absence of style, little or no hand technique, mostly out of time,
no dynamics shown
d. 15 points = Most notes incorrect, no style, no hand technique, arrhythmic, no dynamics, unintelligible as
music.
e. 0 points = student shows no understand of music or the piano or any effort at all

3. Student Choice (40 Points)

a. 40 points= 1-3 missed notes/rhythms, good style, excellent hand technique, in-time, appropriate
dynamics
b. 35 points = 4-7 missed notes/rhythms, mostly with good style, good hand technique, mostly in time,
some dynamics shown
c. 25 points = 7-10 missed notes/rhythms, absence of style, little or no hand technique, mostly out of time,
no dynamics shown
d. 15 points = Most notes incorrect, no style, no hand technique, arrhythmic, no dynamics, unintelligible as
music.
e. 0 points = student shows no understand of music or the piano or any effort at all