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Changing Between Chords

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 cagy
(@cagy)
New Member
Joined: 18 years ago
Posts: 1
Topic starter  

Hey all i'm a newbie and have extreme problems switching between chords!! i sorta find it hard getting my fingers on to the right strings etc... Can anyone help me????


   
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(@kingpatzer)
Noble Member
Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 2171
 

This is just a practice issue. You just have to develop the muscle memory to get onto those strings fast.

Lots of folks never really learn how to practice this however.

Start with just 2 chords. Put your fingers on the first chord nad strum 4 down beats, nice and slow. Now change to the second chord, again strum 4 to the bar, nice and slow.

Now switch back to the first chord. Try to do it in time so that you don't have to pause before the next down-beat.

4 to the bar and back to the second chord.

Start very very very slow. The idea is that you can do it in time.

After about 30 or 40 repititions, you'll be doing this at a nice easy pace of like 40 beats per minute or so.

Now, start speeding up. use a metronome and move yourself up to 60 bpm, then 80, then 120 ... go in increments of 2 or 4 bpm and don't go on to a new chord or faster until you can do this at a good pace.

it's hard work. But if you work on it, you can have a couple of dozen chords under your belt in only a few days.

"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." -- HST


   
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(@dave-t)
Reputable Member
Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 239
 

Very good advice, be patient, don't learn the wrong way and have to undo your bad habits.

Don't, like I did, lead your chord change by planting the dominant finger, usually the index, then following with the rest. It may sound a little "cosmic", but picture the shape your hand is going to form for the next chord as you are coming up to the change. Then move the fingers all at the same time.

I also do it with eyes closed, looks funny to others, but you get over the habit of lookming at your fingers and develop some intuition for where the frets are. There will be many missed fingerings, but it will kick in and it will feel awesome!


   
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(@juice)
Eminent Member
Joined: 18 years ago
Posts: 23
 

Good suggestions! I've been having some of the same trouble. I really like the suggestion about trying with your eyes closed...looks like I know what I'll be doing when I get home from work!!!

I just took real estate in your mind.


   
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(@josephlefty)
Reputable Member
Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 373
 

On the other hand, I DID learn many chords by 'leading' with one finger like with G, D, C and E. It gave me a reference point before I knew my way around blind.

I also used an upstroke during swtiching to buy myself time to get into the next chord. It made things sound fluid and it worked out well. I got pretty darn tired of listening to myself practice horrible sounds and this helped a great deal.

The leading and following does go away in time and I didn't even notice it.

Yes it is very good to look away from the fretboard as soon as you can. Usually when we are doing something new, not only are we looking at the fretboard but we also have the guitar tillted back so we could see what we are doing. This really cramped up my neck. Sitting in front of a mirror will help if you wind up with a stiff neck.

*Always remember this is all only muscle memory and the practice is cumulative! So do not get disgusted if it is not happening fast enough for you. The more you practice, the faster you will be able to do it fast AND blindfolded AND standing up with the guitar moving around. We can all promise you that. 8)

If it was easy it wouldn't be worth doing.


   
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(@sin-city-sid)
Prominent Member
Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 735
 

Something that no one has mentioned is the fingering of chords. Davids lesson from "Wild World" is great for learning how not to move your entire hand and only fingers needed to move.

You need to know where you are going and what you are coming from. For example take a standard G chord, index, ring and middle fingers. Now try going to a C from there, you have to move your whole hand. Try playing your G with pinkie, ring and middle. Now all you have to do is move your middle and ring finger up a set of strings and place your index on the b string. Basically the same pattern.


   
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(@mattguitar_1567859575)
Noble Member
Joined: 20 years ago
Posts: 879
 

Not wishing to blow my own trumpet but if you go to the lessons section and look for Strumming for Begginers there's a fair bit of advice on there that will help you.

Also remember, as it states in the lesson, that open strings are your freinds, if you do happen to hit the strings unfretted between changes it not always a disaster at all!

But all advice given to you is spot on, practice practice practice and as slow as YOU need to go to get it right

Matt


   
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(@fireman-sam)
Eminent Member
Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 28
 

Lots of practice... but as outlined on this site... only 15 minutes or so... but frequently. Leave the guitar out of it's case so you are reminded all the time.

When I was learning the first basic chords, I picked two and changed between these constantly. Don't get too disheartened... there are heaps of songs out there that play only 2, 3 or 4 chords throughout the entire song. Then when I could do that, I picked a song that had the chords I knew, and a few I didn't know. This forces your chord vocabulary to increase.


   
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(@chlozo)
Estimable Member
Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 94
 

When you tilt the guitar to see where the strings are/ where your fingers are going, is that a bad habit? Cos' I like do it all the time, or is it just that Im getting used to where everything goes?


Billie-Joe Armstrong is HOT! He's my future husband. Ha ;)


   
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(@ignar-hillstrom)
Illustrious Member
Joined: 21 years ago
Posts: 5349
 

Don't tilt the guitar. You might want to practice playing without looking at the fretboars anyway, it's more of a mental thing really. Your fingers are often way sooner able to play something blind then we believe.


   
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(@rexlander)
Active Member
Joined: 20 years ago
Posts: 17
 

Learning to finger chords and to get the transition between the two can be pretty boring, and a lot of people get discouraged and quit. Do something else at the same time, like watch a hockey game. It will make you become less reliant on looking at the fret board, and you will soon be able to fret and change chords with easy and without looking at the fretboard. And, more importantly, try to catch the Senators game, they are going to take the cup this year.

Keep your stick on the ice!


   
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(@cyranodb)
Estimable Member
Joined: 22 years ago
Posts: 178
 

I'm still having trouble. It takes time, patience and practice. Right now I picked a song to learn with one wierd chord change...well, wierd for me...and I'm just learning it slow and starting to get comfortable with it. If you can't get the change at normal speed, try strumming a little slower until your fingers seem to better know what they're doing and then slowly speed it back up. In time you'll see that you can learn chord changes a bit faster.

"I use heavy strings, tune low, play hard and floor it. Floor it, that's a technical term." - SRV


   
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