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Improving Chord Change accuracy and speed
Does anyone have a recommendation for a resource either on TAC or anywhere else for developing more speed and accuracy doing chord changes? I have learned a ton of chords here on TAC and on my own, but need help on gaining the ability to change them accurately and fast enough to play songs. thanks ahead of time, Mark
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9 Replies
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A metronome will help as you can in crease the tempo slowly and strum more accurately as you build up speed.
In practice, I always work out my fingering for chord progressions before I practice them and run through them a few times , just moving the fingers from chord to chord for a few minutes, no strumming just fretting finger movement. I see how much speed I can work up and sometimes use the metronome with out strumming, just calling out my note count on the metronome beat- 1, 2 and, 3, 4, etc. This prep work helps me mentally as well as physically.
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jorgemac: Thank you so much for the tip about accuracy. I will try that.
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Hope it helps you
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Isolation is your friend. Ignore strumming and concentrate on just your fretting hand. Slowly finger the chord, put your hand on your knee and repeat forming the chord. After a few minutes of this exercise, add a single strum after you have placed your fingers. Then pick each string and reposition your fingers to eliminate any buzzing or muted notes. Do this all slowly. Finally add the metronome as described above.
Most chord transition challenges come about because you have not engrained the shape in your brain. The above exercise will help.
When you move on to transitions go back to slowly switching back and forth between the 2 chords.
Above all be patient. I have had a couple chord transitions that have taken me months to master
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There are 2 things I have tried that have helped. The first is to not only pay attention to your fingers on the frets, but also pay attention to your thumb and the palm of your hand on the neck. Get the feeling of your WHOLE hand for the chord shape. Second, once you have the shape “perfected”, bounce the shape on and then off the strings so you get used to how your hand lands on the neck and fretboard. Then progress to taking your hand away and putting it on your knee, then re-forming the chord shape as you bring it to the guitar. Hope this helps.
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Thank You!!
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You’re quite welcome. Just to clarify the technique of “bouncing” the fingers on and off the strings, keep your thumb and palm in the same position on the neck…just let your fingers come off the strings, and then right back on. Sometimes I will then progress to just easing off the pressure from my thumb as well, but I make sure I can re-finger the strings correctly before taking my whole hand off the neck.
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Great advise as forever i neglected the thumb placement on chord changes. I have corrected that but it would have saves a lot of time and effort if i had learned to reposition the the thumb when needed. This is also helpful for learning to use barre chords and palm muting techniques.
Many chord changes become easier if you develop a “guide” or “anchor finger that stays on the same string and fret when changing chords.
When I play the D chord to the 4 finger G Chord my my ring finger is my anchor finger. It doesn’t move. the same with Em to G. The index finger does not move from the B string 2nd fret during the transfer from Em to G.
Or C to F. the index finger is on B/1 for the C chord and merely Swings down to cover the open treble E string to form the 4 string F barre chord or stay on B/1 for the 3 string F chord.. There are a lot of other examples if you search them out. D to Bm or GM to the 3rd fret 4 string G. 5th fret Em to G or G to Em.
There aren’t any short cuts but if you practice these hints others and myself have offered it will keep you busy and off of the mean streets… it will help you.
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Correctio, I should reread my posts before posting them. The D to G chord changes – the anchor fingin the ring finger, note the index finger, sorry for the error.
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