(guitar music)
Hey guys, it's Taylor G coming at you
with another technique of the week.
And this week we're gonna talk about chord transition.
(guitar music)
Now, chord transitions can kind of be a funky process.
If you're new to maneuvering around the guitar
and \memorizing chord shapes.
However, I'm going to share a tip with you
that's gonna help you be able to memorize
the way certain chords look,
but also be able to make those smooth and seamless
transitions and really sound like you know exactly
what it is that you're doing.
We always want to understand what it is that we're doing.
So sometimes it requires us to slow down a little bit,
look at what our fingers are doing and really realize that,
hey, like I don't have to do too much.
Work smarter, not harder.
So a lot of times when you talk about chords, right?
Some chords share notes in common, right?
So if they share certain notes in common,
would you really have to pick all of your fingers up
in order to formulate the next chord?
No, not really.
Again, work smarter, not harder.
So let's take a look at an example of what that looks like.
So let's look at A major.
Now it's a formulated A major chord.
Of course, we're gonna put our second, third and fourth
finger down on the D G B, second fret.
Right, so that sounds like this.
(guitar chord rings out)
- Okay.
Now, if I told you to play A minor, what would you do?
Would you lift all of your fingers up to go here?
(guitar chord rings out)
I wouldn't. (laughs)
To be honest, the only difference between A major
and A minor is one note or one finger.
So going back to A major,
(guitar chord rings out)
all I would have to do to go to A minor
is lift my fourth finger up and put my first finger down.
(guitar chord rings out)
A major. (guitar chord rings out)
A minor. (guitar chord rings out)
So you see how simple that was it's literally one note.
So let's go ahead and let's look at another example
of what that would be like.
Let's do E major.
(guitar chord rings out)
Now, if I told you to play E minor,
all you would do is remove your first finger
from the G string, first fret to an open G.
(guitar chord rings out)
E major. (guitar chord rings out)
E minor. (guitar chord rings out)
You see how simple that is?
Remember A major. (guitar chord rings out)
A minor. (guitar chord rings out)
E major. (guitar chord rings out)
E minor. (guitar chord rings out)
Let's take it up a little bit,
but before we take it up a notch,
I want to show you a more difficult example.
When going from D major to D minor.
A lot of people will get confused and try to pick
all their fingers up and go from D to D minor.
D to D minor, however you can probably guess at this point,
what would happen.
Let's look at D and see what note is actually changing.
When you go from D to D minor
or what two notes are actually changing when you go
from D to D minor.
(guitar chord rings out)
Now looking at D all I would do is pick these two fingers up
and put your second finger on the G string, second fret.
First finger on the E string, first fret.
Your third finger is the finger that never changes.
So it might feel a little funky at first,
but that feels a lot better than having to go from
(guitar chord rings out)
versus just keeping that third finger down.
(guitar chord rings out)
Going from D to D minor.
So every chord progression is not probably going to go
from A major, A minor, E major to E minor.
So let's look at a more difficult example
as to how this would work.
Now, if I told you to go to C.
(guitar chord rings out)
Right, how would you go to A minor?
Literally the only difference
between C and A minor is one note.
And that one note resides or rests upon that third finger
that you have on the A string, third fret.
All you would do is lift that finger up and put it down
on the second fret of the G string, right?
So then you have A minor.
(guitar chord rings out)
Now, if I told you to go back to C,
you wouldn't have to lift these two fingers up.
You would just go from C (guitar chord rings out)
to A minor. (guitar chord rings out)
C (guitar chord rings out)
to A minor. (guitar chord rings out)
Okay.
Now I really hope that this technique helps you
to be able to make your transitions more seamlessly.
Now, this might not work all the time,
some chords you're going to have to reset your fingers
and know exactly where the, where is that you're going.
However, this helps you to be able to look and troubleshoot.
What am I doing mechanically to make this easier.
Work smart, not hard.
Guitar can be a very fun instrument.
It doesn't have to be as frustrating as some people
make it out to be.
I am Taylor G, shout out to my Fender fam
for having me, shout out to all my G's out there
and keep on rocking out.
Bye.
(guitar music)