Rockschool Acoustic Guitar Grade 3 (2019)

Overview

Rockschool Acoustic Guitar Grade 3 (2019) is designed for developing acoustic guitarists who have established their basic playing skills and are ready to consolidate their technique, musical coordination and stylistic awareness.

The book features six contemporary arrangements across rock, pop and contemporary styles, supported by Technical Exercises, Sight Reading or Improvisation & Interpretation, Ear Tests and General Musicianship Questions. Professional backing tracks and downloadable audio support both practice and exam preparation.

At Grade 3, the repertoire also introduces acoustic-specialist arrangements, combining melody and accompaniment, with optional duet parts available in the accompanying audio.

Key Features

• Official Rockschool Acoustic Guitar 2019 Grade 3 resource

• Six contemporary song arrangements

• Rock, pop and contemporary repertoire

• Acoustic-specialist performance arrangements

• Professional backing tracks and full-track audio

• Downloadable audio

• Artist and repertoire Fact Files

• Detailed Walkthroughs for each piece

• Technical Exercises covering scales, arpeggios, chords and acoustic riff

• Sight Reading

• Improvisation & Interpretation

• Melodic and Rhythmic Recall Ear Tests

• General Musicianship Questions

Featured Repertoire

The Grade 3 collection includes:

• Take On The World – You Me At Six

• The Man Who Sold The World – David Bowie

• Weather With You – Crowded House

• Landslide – Dixie Chicks

• Wild Wood – Paul Weller

• High Horse – Kacey Musgraves

The pieces are typically around two minutes in duration, giving students more opportunity to demonstrate musical expression, technique and stylistic control.

What Students Will Develop

Students will develop:

• Stronger acoustic-guitar technique

• Two-octave scale fluency

• Major, natural-minor and pentatonic scales

• Blues-scale technique

• Major and minor arpeggios

• Partial barre-chord technique

• Dominant 7th chord vocabulary

• Transposed acoustic-riff playing

• Improved rhythmic accuracy and coordination

• Greater control of melody and accompaniment

• Sight-reading skills

• Improvisation and interpretation

• Melodic and rhythmic aural recognition

• Greater stylistic awareness and performance confidence

RSL describes Grade 3 as the stage where students consolidate their final beginner-level skills, with greater technique, coordination, rhythmic development and the beginnings of stylistic awareness.

Technical Exercises

Group A – Scales

At ♩ = 90 bpm, students prepare two-octave scales from the starting notes G, A and B:

• Major

• Natural Minor

• Minor Pentatonic

• Major Pentatonic

• Blues

The exercises are played to a click, developing fretboard familiarity, coordination and consistent timing.

Group B – Arpeggios

At ♩ = 90 bpm, students prepare two-octave:

• Major arpeggios

• Minor arpeggios

These are prepared from the starting notes G, A and B and performed to a click.

Group C – Chords

Students prepare:

Partial Barre Chords

• G

• Am

• Bm

• C

Dominant 7th Chords

• A7

• C7

• D7

• E7

The dominant 7th chords are played first as strummed chords and then picked/arpeggiated as directed by the examiner.

Group D – Acoustic Riff

Students perform the Grade 3 acoustic riff with a backing track. The riff introduced in the opening bars is transposed to different root chords throughout the exercise.

This develops rhythmic consistency, fretboard awareness and the ability to adapt a repeated musical pattern to different harmonic positions.

Product Details

• Brand: Rockschool / RSL Awards

• Series: Rockschool Acoustic Guitar

• Instrument: Acoustic Guitar

• Level: Grade 3

• Syllabus: 2019

• Publisher: Rockschool Ltd

• Publication Year: 2019

• Pages: 60

• Product Type: Graded Music Exam Book

• Includes: Performance repertoire, technical exercises and supporting tests

• Audio: Downloadable audio and backing tracks