Beginner cord changes with a metronome

[Cadgirl]

@SteveDyer, I looked in the skill section and didn’t see anything on the metronome. But you can google ‘metronome for chord changes’ and a lot of videos come up. That’s the best I can do. Hopefully someone will have better advice than me.

[N-lightMike]

Hey @SteveDyer ;

Tony has a video somewhere on YouTube about using a metronome. And like @Cadgirl said, there are a ton on YouTube by others. But, you don’t need a video.

Using a metronome is actually fun when you start using it regularly. You will find a lot of ways to use it to challenge yourself. But let’s start with using it for chord transitions.

Ok, so first, start by learning the chord shapes without a metronome. Go from one chord to the other and back very, very slowly. Literally, as slowly as you can move. Watch how your arm and wrist and fingers change position to go from on to the other. Do that a lot. Do it until you can make the transition smoothly. Only then, will the metronome help instead of hurt. You don’t want to rush while you’re teaching your muscle memory how to make the shapes and go from one shape to the other.

But, when you’re ready, it’s a really good idea to use a metronome. The purpose isn’t to speed up your transition, the purpose is to slow down your tempo so you have enough time to make the chord transition IN TIME. It’s really important to keep the beat, one, two, three, four, change, one, two, three, four. Make that metronome go as slow as necessary to make that transition between the four beat and the one beat. And then make sure you are strumming with the metronome. DON’T SPEED UP.

Playing in time is what will make your transitions better. When we do it without a metronome, we tend to go faster from one to four than from four to one. It’s really important to keep a steady tempo.

It works even if you don’t watch a video. It works even if you don’t understand. I just works. I know because I’ve done it. But, I encourage you NOT to trust me. Do not take my word for it. Run your own experiment and see if it works.

MG 😀

[Cadgirl]

Good advice @N-lightMike .

[N-lightMike]

Thank you @Cadgirl ; just passing on wisdom I’ve gained from others. It’s wonderful to be a part of this community of guitar geeks who are always progressing.

MG 😀

[jumpinjeff]

worked for me @N-lightMike

[N-lightMike]

Yes, @jumpinjeff ; you have helped me to understand this, and now I have the privilege of passing it on to another. How cool is this community?

MG 😀

[SteveDyer]

Thank you to all. I’m still trying to figure it all out. It’s slow but I’m making progress