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Hello @speckpgh ,
For myself, I have been playing a song for a long time, 3 years in fact, where I trasition from a D to a Bm (same finger positions moved toward the floor one string). I finger pick it, so I can’t cheat and hit a partial strum, which you could do in the scenario you are talking about. Just change you stronger, fuller strum to the 2nd beat, which would give you a neat rhythmic change.
Anyway, I have experimented with what Tony shows in one of his lessons. He moves his index to the bass note first, and then moves his other fingers in place. I simply can not do that. Yeah, yeah; practice, time, more time, practice slowly, be patient, practice some more, give it more time. I’ve been trying to do this for 3 years. I can’t do it.
What I have learned is that I can play my last few notes or strums open. You hardly hear the difference in the notes, it’s the rhythm that’s important. So I start my hand movement, or chord transition, whenever is necessary to get to the chord. I focus on the one beat. My hand knows when it needs to move to get there on time. And my strumming/picking hand just keeps going. It doesn’t care that my other hand has bailed and isn’t holding the chord anymore.
Now one more thing: make sure you are holding only the strings necessary with your index barre. For years, I have been barring all 6 or 5 strings even though I have 3 strings fretted by my other fingers. Now I am able to change my hand position because my index only has the 5th string and the 1st string on some chords. And 6 string chords, there are different options when you use the thumb over technique. So there are lots of different options. Use an open mind and experiment.
MG 😀