Hi All,
I'm new here, been lurking around the forums for a couple of weeks reading various posts.
Like many others I'm struggling with some chord changes. I'm not to bad with changing chords with some of the chords which have some common fingers or slight changes.
I'm mostly having trouble changing to the G chord.
I've read various posts here and the article here about chord changes and other sites youtube, etc.
Some people say not to look when you change chords. When I try this when changing to a G chord my index finger usually ends up on the D string instead of the A.
Should I continue to not look when changing chords or should I develop the "not looking skill later".
Also, I've been play the 4 fingered G not the 3 fingered G.
Should I switch to the 3 fingered G until I've got the hang of it?
I read some where that you should always practice something with a goal. So my intention was to learn the song Jumper by Third Eye Blind. The chords are fairly easy, Fmaj7 C G. That is pretty much the chord progression throughout the enitre song.
So basically, over the last week or 2 I've have been practicing changing from Fmaj7 to G. Since Fmaj7 to C, I can do fairly easily and the chord shape is similar.
I've been practicing without a metronome because I felt that I was concentrating more on keeping time than trying to make sure my fingers landed in the proper position.
thanks in advance for any advice.
In my opinion, you have plenty of time to develop the skill of not looking at the chord changes later. Now, you should focus on looking and placing your fingers in the right places, and ensuring you get a clean tone when you strum all of the strings. (That way you will avoid problems with strings not sounding out later on.) Hope that helps.
Take care,
Casey
I'm 100% in agreement with Shady here - you've got all the time in the world to practise "not looking" at your chord changes. Concentrate on getting them right, and placing your fingers cleanly, however much you have to slow them down - then speed up gradually till they're almost second nature.
By "four fingered-G chord," I presume you mean this....320033? It's certainly a nice voicing of the G chord, but if I was you, I'd concentrate on using three fingers and playing the chord as 320003. Why? Well - there are two ways you can play that chord. One is by using your pinky on the top E string, middle finger on the A string, and ring finger on the bottom E string. This leaves your index finger free - you can play extended chords by putting it on the 1st fret of the B string - adding a 4th or 9th, depending on whether you mute the A string or not...or by putting it on the second frets of the D or G strings, thereby adding a 6th or 9th. You can add so much colour to the chords, not to mention adding a descending or ascending melody line, it's well worth learning. It's also easy to change from a G to a G7 (very common in blues turn-arounds) by putting your index finger on the 1st fret of the top E string then taking your pinky off.
The other way - and the most common way - of playing it - is by putting your ring finger on the third fret of the top E string, index finger on the 2nd fret of the A string, and ring finger on the third fret of the bottom E string. This is probably the easiest G chord - it's pretty natural for your fingers to curl into that position. Try folding your fingers into the palm of your hand and you'll see what I mean - easy enough to fold them into a G7, C or F shape, isn't it?
Anyway, best of luck with the song you're learning - I'd suggest using a camera to record your playing, then you can look back in a couple of weeks/months/years (if you're a slow learner like me!) so's you can see how much you've improved!
:D :D :D
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
Oh, man, when I saw the heading, I thought you were having trouble with barre chords :oops: :oops: :oops:
I started with nothing - and I've still got most of it left.
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Oh, man, when I saw the heading, I thought you were having trouble with barre chords :oops: :oops: :oops:
I'm taking bets . . . that will be a future issue.
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Oh, man, when I saw the heading, I thought you were having trouble with barre chords :oops: :oops: :oops:
That's a whole new can of worms....and like KR2 said, I'd put money on with my bookie it'll come up in a future post....bah chords, barre chords - they all have to be learned!
:D :D :D
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
I'm taking bets . . . that will be a future issue.
The bane of every beginner/intermediate guitarist in my opinion.
I've got nothing else to add here except to look at your fingers, worry about timing later.
you could also practice going from D to G, A to G, E to G, just keep going from chord to chord with every other one being a G, it will come in no time.
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lol O_O After you get the hang of Barre chords the problem is to stop using them.
But uh, yeah keep practicing ^_^
I wanna be that guy that you wish you were ! ( i wish I were that guy)
You gotta set your sights high to get high!
Everyone is a teacher when you are looking to learn.
( wise stuff man! )
Its Kirby....
Try this drill. Finger the C, strum once switch to the G strum once, repeat as smoothly and rapidly as you can for one minute. Stretch and relax fretting hand for one minute. Now repeat the chord switching strumming DUDUDUDU again changing as smoothly and rapidly as you can for 1 to 2 minutes. Repeat this every day for a week and you will be amazed at how much you improve.
lol O_O After you get the hang of Barre chords the problem is to stop using them.
But uh, yeah keep practicing ^_^
Very rightly said. But I know I gotta learn many more of them.
Yep, but right know they are my "go to chord" I don't think there is anything wrong with that. But when I learn anything I like to learn it atleast 2 different ways, one way with barres, and open way, but sometimes like for example Comfortably numb by Pink Floyd, I play that songs with a few barres going down ( Bm down to A) and then I go down to the Open G so I can then do the D/F# in that song.
And yeah after one masters E barre chord and A barre chord, one should work on C barre chords, which is a great sound, a great voicing I should say.
Sometimes one feels like working with barre chords is like cheating O_O, but I lik the sound of barres anyway :D, and its not like i can't do open chords, there was one time where I could do barre chord but couldn't change between open G and open E O_O, so I started practicing Open chords, and now I think i've got them both up to speed.
Now the thing is implementing C barre chords in my playing.
I wanna be that guy that you wish you were ! ( i wish I were that guy)
You gotta set your sights high to get high!
Everyone is a teacher when you are looking to learn.
( wise stuff man! )
Its Kirby....
Since you haven't learned either way yet I would take VL's advice and learn the G that uses the pinky on the e string. It makes the G7 very easy and get that lazy pinky to work. You can make a 2 fingered G where you fret the E and mute the 5th with the same finger. Try it it sounds good.
