The Joining a Guitar Group listening test page gives you Section 1 of Cambridge IELTS 19 Listening Test 2 in full: the official answer key for Questions 1–10, playable audio, an explanation for every question with the exact transcript line that proves it, and the complete recording script. The recording is a friendly two-way conversation in which a woman asks Coleman about the guitar group he has joined, covering the coordinator, the level of the class, where and when it meets, a recommended website, and how a typical lesson runs from tuning to finger picking. Questions 1–6 complete a form allowing ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER, and Questions 7–10 complete a table describing the lesson under a strict ONE WORD ONLY rule. Predict the word class of each gap with the table completion strategy before the audio starts, then check every answer on the complete Cambridge IELTS 19 Listening Test 2 answers page covering all four sections.

Listening Audio — Section 1

Play the recording once, without pausing, and answer Questions 1–10 before you check the key. In the real exam you hear each section exactly once.

Questions 1–10

Questions 1–6

Complete the form below.

Write ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.

First floor, Room T347

• Guitar Group
• Coordinator: Gary 1 …………
• Level: 2 …………
• Place: the 3 …………
• 4 ………… Street
• Time: Thursday morning at 5 …………
• Recommended website: ‘The perfect 6 ………… ’

Questions 7–10

Complete the table below.

Write ONE WORD ONLY for each answer.

Joining a Guitar Group Listening Answers

Questions and Answers

Joining a Guitar Group Answer Explanations

1. Mathieson — the form asks for the coordinator’s surname after Gary, and Coleman spells it out letter by letter: “It’s M-A-T-H-I-E-S-O-N”. Write the capital M and the -ie- before -son exactly as dictated, because a misspelt proper noun scores zero.

2. beginners — the level of the class is confirmed when Coleman recalls his first phone call: “he said it was a class for beginners”. The woman’s fear that everyone would be better than her is the distractor, because the group turned out to be “equally hopeless”.

3. college — the place is the venue the group moved into: he “decided to book a room at the college in town”. Gary’s home is the trap, because that is where the group used to meet before it grew bigger.

4. New — the street line is filled by “at the bottom of New Street near the city roundabout”. Lock Street is the trap, because the woman guesses it first and Coleman corrects her with the real address.

5. 11 — the time appears after a correction: “It used to be 10.30 and that suited me well, but now we meet at 11”. The old time 10.30 is the classic corrected-number trap, and the form allows a number, so the digits 11 score on their own.

6. instrument — the recommended website is named when Coleman advises buying a guitar: “There’s a website called ‘The perfect instrument’”. The stem prints ‘The perfect …… ’, so the final noun of the title completes the form.

7. ear — the tuning row contrasts two methods: “Some people have an app they use, but others do it by ear”. App is printed as the opposite branch, so the noun at the end of by is the answer.

8. clapping — keeping time is helped by the teacher’s rhythm: “we’re so bad at keeping time, so Gary starts clapping to help us”. The strict ONE WORD ONLY limit means the gerund clapping alone fills the table, not “starts clapping”.

9. recording — the songs row mentions listening before playing: “He often brings a recording of the song and plays it to us first”. The song and the words are already in the table, so the noun that follows brings is the answer.

10. alone — the final cell is the hardest challenge of finger picking: “he sometimes gets us to play one at a time – you know, alone”. The rephrasing after “you know” gives the single word the table needs, because “one at a time” breaks the ONE WORD ONLY rule.

Listening Transcript — Section 1

WOMAN: Hi Coleman, how are you?

COLEMAN: Good, thanks.

WOMAN: I wanted to have a chat with you because our friend Josh told me that you’ve joined a guitar group and it sounds interesting. I’d really like to learn myself.

COLEMAN: Why don’t you come along? I’m sure there’s room for another person.

WOMAN: Really? So – who runs the classes?

COLEMAN: He’s called a ‘coordinator’ – his name’s Gary Mathieson.

WOMAN: Let me note that down. Gary. . . . How do you spell his surname?

COLEMAN: It’s M-A-T-H-I-E-S-O-N.

WOMAN: Right, thanks.

COLEMAN: He’s retired, actually, but he’s a really nice guy and he used to play in a lot of bands.

WOMAN: Thanks. So how long have you been going?

COLEMAN: About a month now.

WOMAN: And could you play anything before you started?

COLEMAN: I knew a few chords, but that’s all.

WOMAN: I’m sure everyone will be better than me.

COLEMAN: That’s what I thought, too. When I first spoke to Gary on the phone, he said it was a class for beginners, but I was still worried that everyone would be better than me, but we were all equally hopeless!

WOMAN: Oh, that’s reassuring. So where do you meet?

COLEMAN: Well, when I joined the group, they were meeting in Gary’s home, but as the group got bigger, he decided to book a room at the college in town. I prefer going there.

WOMAN: I know that place. I used to go to tap dancing classes there when I was at secondary school. I haven’t been since, though and I can’t remember what road it’s in… is it Lock Street?

COLEMAN: It’s just beyond there at the bottom of New Street near the city roundabout.

WOMAN: Yes, of course.

COLEMAN: The guitar club is on the first floor in Room T347.

WOMAN: Right. And when do you meet? Is it at the weekend?

COLEMAN: We meet on Thursdays. It used to be 10.30 and that suited me well, but now we meet at 11. The class that’s in there before us asked if they could have the room for another 30 minutes.

WOMAN: Oh, I see. Well, I’d love to come, but I don’t have a guitar.

COLEMAN: Well, you can always buy a second-hand one. There’s a website called ‘The perfect instrument’ that sells all kinds of guitars, violins and so on. I’m sure you’ll find something there.

—–

WOMAN: So what’s a typical lesson like with Gary?

COLEMAN: Well, he always starts by getting us to tune our guitars. That takes about five minutes.

WOMAN: Uhuh.

COLEMAN: Some people have an app they use, but others do it by ear. Gary goes round and helps them. And while he’s doing that, he tells us what he’s going to do during the lesson.

WOMAN: Right.

COLEMAN: First, we usually spend about ten minutes doing some strumming.

WOMAN: So is that using . . . what are they called . . . plectrums?

COLEMAN: No – we just use our thumbs.

WOMAN: Much easier.

COLEMAN: Gary reminds us where to put our fingers for each chord and then we play them together. Sometimes we all just start laughing because we’re so bad at keeping time, so Gary starts clapping to help us.

WOMAN: Do you learn to play any songs?

COLEMAN: Yes – we do at least one song with words and chords. I mean that’s harder than you think.

WOMAN: Oh, I’m sure it is!

COLEMAN: That part of the lesson takes about 15 minutes. He often brings a recording of the song and plays it to us first. Then he hands out the song and if there’s a new chord in it, we practise that before we play it together – but really slowly.

WOMAN: Do you do any finger picking?

COLEMAN: That’s the last ten minutes of the lesson, when we pick out the individual notes from a tune he’s made up. It’s always quite simple.

WOMAN: That must be hard, though.

COLEMAN: It is, but people like it because they can really concentrate and if we’re all playing well, it sounds quite impressive. The only trouble is that he sometimes gets us to play one at a time – you know, alone.

WOMAN: That’s scary.

COLEMAN: It is, but I’ve got used to it now. At the end he spends about five minutes telling us what to practise for the following week.

WOMAN: Well, thanks Coleman. I’ll go and have a look at that website, I think.

Key Vocabulary and Spelling

Study Tips

Two word limits run through this section, and the limit decides two easy marks. Questions 1–6 allow ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER, so the digits 11 score for Question 5 without o’clock or am, and the dictated Mathieson scores for Question 1, while Questions 7–10 demand ONE WORD ONLY, so Question 10 is alone rather than “one at a time”. Read the instruction line before the audio starts with the table completion strategy routine.

This conversation is built on corrections, and the corrected version always scores. The woman offers Lock Street and is overridden by New Street, the group left Gary’s home for the college, and the old 10.30 start became 11 after another class kept the room longer. Never commit to the first number or name you hear; wait for the speaker’s final version, a habit the Band 8 listening strategy drills into every Section 1.

Proper nouns and title words carry the spelling risk here. Mathieson keeps -ie- in the middle and a capital M, while instrument ends -ent, never -ant. Surnames are usually spelled out on the recording, so transfer the letters exactly as dictated and check them against the listening spelling rules in the transfer time.

Practice More Listening Tests

Mark the ten answers, reread the explanation for each miss, and add the result to your record on the full Cambridge IELTS 19 Listening Test 2 answers page, which collects the keys, explanations and transcripts for all four sections. The free IELTS listening practice course from Simply IELTS builds the form and table skills this section demands: fast predictions, careful word limits and exact spelling. Then try this interactive listening test: childcare services for another ten-question conversation under exam conditions, and move on to the Section 2 lifeboat volunteer talk and the Section 4 tardigrades lecture to close out the full paper.