-
My chord transitions are poop!
I’ve only been at this for 7 months so I don’t expect to be great but I’m just not making much progress with chord transitions. As part of my daily routine I strum through chord transitions for 10 to 15 minutes every morning. I try to mix up the order and sometimes just work on going back and forth between 2 chords. It doesn’t seem like they’re getting any smoother or faster. I haven’t been able to find anything in TAC addressing transitions specifically.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks
-
4 Replies
-
Mike-F
No expert here, but I do remember reading something long ago about transitions between chords– that “stuck” in my mind.
No matter which chord you are “going to”, you always have to “land” one finger ahead of the others. Only from there will muscle memory take over and put the others where they go.
Seemed/seems to work for me, I guess. Seems like in most cases it’s, of course, it’s my index finger- (whether it’s a barre-chord or not).
Practice is the only thing that makes it “automatic”.
Do your stretches– that’ll help things just be more “free” to move around easier.
Maybe this helps?
-
Thanks for the response. I do a little stretching and have one of the finger spreader things and it does help. The problem is my movement between chords is slow to land on all the strings for the next chord accurately. I’ve done the hand on the leg exercise over and over trying to train my fingers to hold the chord shape but it’s still one finger at a time when I’m strumming. There has been significant progress since day 1 but I really want to smooth it out more. Like most things, practice seems to be the only secret to getting better.
-
Hello Mike, The tips from ‘the old Coach’ are spot on! Practice= automatic!
You may also consider supplementing TAC with an in-person guitar teacher.
Like Coach said, I am no teacher or expert, but a teach may suggest a change in posture or hand position to fix a problem?
Just a thought.
Best wishes and keep at it!
-
I’ve definitely been considering in person lesson and I’m sure I will at some point. I started looking into some other online courses and videos specifically for chord transitions. I found a classical guitar video that suggested that if you’re putting your fingers on the strings one or two at a time to try changing the order, putting the fingers you would normally put down last first. I played with that as well as trying to form the chord shape before I put it on the strings all at once for about an hour and a half last night. It sort of helped.
If I do it 50 times a day for a year and I don’t get better at it I might just buy a bass. lol
Thanks for the reply and good advice!
-
Log in to reply.