chord changes

[Moose408]

Pretty sure everyone has been there. For me I just go back to the basics of learning the chord shapes. My goal with every chord is to be able to have my hand on my knee and then raise it up to the fretboard and have all of the fingers go down at the same time into the chord shape. The idea is to have it be muscle memory with no conscious thought.

The steps I do

– place my fingers into the proper chord shape and then press down and release and repeat for one minute.

– I then practice placing a single finger down first, then the other fingers. I do that 10 times, the. I switch and use my 2nd finger first, then do my 3rd finger first. I then will try to put 2 fingers down at a time then add the others. Then finally all 3 fingers. So for a 3 finger chord I do the following patterns, 123, 213, 312, 132, 231, 321, etc.

– I then put my hand on my knee and bring it up to the fretboard and in slow motion try to place all fingers down at once. I will do that for a minute. Then I will try doing it at full speed.

I do this everyday for any chords I am having problems with. It took me 14 days to get the D chord and 26 days to get the C chord. I still have to go back and practice them on a regular basis.

For a song I do a slow motion change for each chord progression. Then add strumming, once per beat, then adding the actual strumming. If I make mistakes I slow it down, as I get comfortable I speed it back up until I start making mistakes and then slow it back down.

It takes time and I’m not where I want to be. Whenever I’m struggling it always comes back to trying to do too many things at once, so I go back to the basics and try to commit the movements to muscle memory, or a simplify it, or a slow it down.

[albert_d]

Dang @Moose408 I am impressed. I’ve never really thought through the process even close to this level of detail. Props to you and thanks for sharing a whole new perspective with us.

[Skyman911]

I used a very similar program when first learning the basic chords. I can usually hit most chord shapes without thinking much. That dang F chord though.

[axialflow]

I just joined the TAC and found this tip for improving chord transitions. My frustration with lack of dexterity improvement has stopped my guitar journey many times. This is a great suggestion. Thank you

[ameisenstaat]

Another great exercise to practice chord transitions are the one minute changes as taught by Justin.

Take a pair of chords you need to change between, then for one minute try as much changes as you can between the two (count!) doing one strum per change. Here it’s not about perfection but speed. So each change counts, no matter how perfect it sounds.

Note however, that the method should go in companion with an exercise as described by @Moose408 which has its focus on perfection.

[the-old-coach]

Nick–

(Tried twice to respond….. POOF/gone…..twice….. in case they turn up- you’ll know why there are THREE responses!)

Anyway- my suggestion is simple, quick, and easy- (hah-hah).

Practice your transitions…….. with your eyes closed………

(be ready for some instant humbling- but MAN, you brain is building bridges!).

theoldcoach

[the-old-coach]

Hey– it made it thru!!