I know changing from one chord to another can
be really frustrating sometimes. When I first started playing guitar everything
was new and exciting. But after a while when
I couldn't get from one chord to another
so it sound like music I started to think maybe something's
wrong with me. I wish I'd known what I know now but you're in luck. I'm
going to explain to you the 5 reasons you're finding it difficult to
change chords but more importantly I'm going to explain to you the
solutions so you can get on to making beautiful music with the guitar.
Let's do this. Number 1 and the most likely reason I found is that you don't
know the chord well enough. Think about it for a minute
it makes sense and I've been just as guilty as anyone around this.
We're all kind of in a hurry to get somewhere and
it seems like if you watch somebody playing guitar it's just not that hard.
But it's kind of like if you were to go on and learn algebra let's say
and you didn't know basic mathematics you'd really be struggling with
algebra. Matter of fact when you probably say you wouldn't have a chance
everybody could kind of imagine that everybody knows you need basic math
before you can do more complex math. But think about it for a minute when you
go to finger a chord and change to another chord there's a lot of stuff
going on here and if you're not confident with the
chords that you're trying to finger you're kind of deaden the ____ right
there. For an example if I'm changing from the G to the D
chord. If I fumble on that D chord even a little bit
there's no way I can get there in time with the rhythm
of a song and considering I'm strumming all the same time. The way to solve this
is to spend enough time on the individual chords and practice them
so you have a reasonable level of competency
fingering the chord to start with then when you change from one to the other
you're 80% of the way there. You've got a few other things going on but
you're adding them to what you already know. One way to know if you're competent
enough at individual chords is to time yourself
fingering the chord. For example let's say I'm learning to
finger the G chord properly I'm gonna give myself a count of 5
and get there by that count - 1 2 3 4
5. Good. Got it. Now I'm going to lessen the count
1 2 3 4, pressure's on. Now down to 3
1 2 3 uh. Not there . Okay. Let's try it again 1 2 3.
Get to where you can count 1 or at the most 2
and get to the chord then you're ready to do the next chord.
If I were going from G to D I would do the same thing for a D
chord. I'd practice it. Get myself some pressure basically to get there in time.
I might even try setting a metronome so I don't have to
worry about the beat but it doesn't really matter whether you use a
metronome or you just count. The point is to create a pressure
situation that you keep up in the ante a little bit and it's
kind of fun. It becomes kind of a game. When you can get there quickly under
that kind of pressure you're ready to start adding another
chord and switching between the two. Number two is trying to play too many
chords
too soon. In other words, I see students
come to me and say “Oh I I know 24 chords and I can see they can
actually play the chords. They'll show me a few but getting from one to the other.
they kind of skipped an important step there. I remember when I first started I
felt like it was a badge to be able to say “I knew
so many chords” but in fact I was in the same position.
I couldn't change smoothly from one chord to another and it creates a lot of
stress for me. I felt like something was wrong with me. Well the way
to do it and now I know better is to practice 1 2
chords going from one to the other then add a third.
Now you can play a heck of songs with three chords then you can keep going
from there. If I were working on 3 chords G
C and D I'd practice going from G to C and once that was going I'd test myself
with a metronome. Make sure I could at least do it at a slow tempo.
Then I would practice probably going from C to D kind of work that little
part out then put the two together G to C to D.
Again in some kind of tempo so I can kind of test and see if I could do it on
time then I would try to play a song with
those 3 chords. It's actually kind of relaxing because
you'll find out pretty quickly you're actually more talented than you thought
you were. When you're not trying to leap a
3-story building with a single bound. Number 3 you're going too fast. I've
seen many students who can play the chords
and they can get from one to the other but they're moving away and then they
slow down to get to the next chord. After a while it gets to be a habit and
you kind of even realize you're doing it. The way to solve this is to go slow.
Start at a very slow pace that you can comfortably get from one chord to the
other and then speed up little at a time. All the while making sure you can
actually change smoothly from one to the other without slowing down. This is where
a metronome really comes in handy. You can use it
first of all to make sure you're accurate with your
tempo. I know when I first started out and I see this
with beginning students they speed up and slow down. They don't realize it
after a while and this will keep you on track. But the second reason is you
can make a game out of it and kind of see your
tempo increasing over time and because it's kind of fun
you'll stick with it. Number 4, have a chord changing strategy
that's a whole separate video. There are many different techniques
using the same finger on the same string
or seeing a common pattern. I'll link to another video where I go more into that
and that's something we go into in depth in my Real Guitar Success membership
site. So know that that's available and even a
little strategy will help you. Now it's not meant to be
something that you use indefinitely. It's meant to be sort of
like sophisticated training wheels on your bicycle.
You eventually want to get past that and just change from the chord
all the fingers all at one time but it really helps to get you going that
direction. And last but definitely not least is
you haven't practiced enough yet. And let's say you've you've picked a couple
chords that you want to work on and you've really spent the time
to get to know those chord tested yourself that you can finger the chord
within a few seconds. You've practiced going from one to the other
very slow and picked up the speed. You've added a third chord and done the same
thing and you're still struggling a little bit.
You probably just haven't practiced enough yet
and it'll take more time and patience. We live in a society
that promises quick and fast is the ideal
and I am influenced just as much as everybody else.
But I know from experience that there are some things that
have to develop organically and music is one of them
not only because it works that way but you actually get more enjoyment out of
it by just following the process so be patient, practice and keep at it. So
I hope you found this helpful and more importantly I hope you take
action on it. Now I have a question for you. Have you found
some things that have helped you to change chords?
Please let us know in the comments so other people can benefit from it. This is
day 14 of my 30-days of guitar coaching. If you
appreciate what I'm doing give me a thumbs up.
And maybe even better let me know if there's some videos that I can make
that you think would help both you and maybe other people as well.
I hope to see you tomorrow. Bye.