Changing between bar chords and open chords can be real finger twister and
sometimes a real bummer. I'm gonna show you a few tricks that'll help you smooth
this over and get back to enjoying your guitar playing, let's do this.
Hi I'm Tomas Michaud from Real Guitar Success where I help you learn guitar and
most importantly love the journey. So you're just getting the hang of bar
chords. Moving from one bar chord to another not so bad but moving from one
of these open chords to a bar chord, ahhhhh. It can be a real finger not tire. Did I say that
right? Straight away, I'm gonna show you how to smooth that out but even more
importantly I'm gonna teach you two exercises that you can use to help with
any chord changing struggles that you have so let's get started. Let's take a
look at what we're trying to accomplish here.
Changing from any chord to another chord is three issues. First of all you need to
finger that first chord. Let's say in this case a C chord an open chord then
you need to finger the next chord. In this case we're gonna use a bar chord
the F chord. And you're also gonna need to deal with that transition the
movement from getting from one chord to the other. Now if you're still new to
bar chords, I would recommend that you work on bar chords separately and I've
made a great video called My System for Bar Chords That Never Fails. I really
encourage you to find that and watch that and work on the bar chords
but I'll assume you've done what you need to do. The best way to practice any
chord movement is within chords families that's because that's the most
common movements that you're going to make so you're gonna get the most bang
for your buck. So what are chord families? Chord families are
just groups of chords that are commonly used together. We're going to start with
what I'll call the family of C. It can also be called the key of C. The chord
family for C uses four chords - the C chord is one of them. It also uses the
F chord and the reason I want to use this family is because it includes that
bar F chord which is a common chord you're gonna use. Also a lot of songs are
written in a key of C or in the C family of chords. So we're gonna also use the A
minor chord and the G chord. The key here is you're going to be practicing the
motion going from one chord to another. And when you're going from an open chord
to a bar chord there are a few more changes than just going from one open to
another open or from one bar to another bar. One of the principles
we'll be dealing with is to start memorizing and using the chord form
shape so as you go to put your finger on the chord your fingers start forming the
shape before they even hit the neck of the guitar. Now I know a lot of you are
just doing one chord at a time and that's okay if you're just learning the
chord but to be able to switch smoothly from one chord to another especially to
a bar chord you're gonna need to start getting to where you put all the fingers
down at one time and I'll give you some exercises to do that. Let's start with
the first one. Exercise number one, chord practice exercise. Now this is going to
help you both with practicing the motion going from one bar chord to an open
chord as well as start to memorize those chord shapes. First we're gonna start off
by just fingering the chord. Go ahead and make a C chord to start with and you can
follow along. Press it down and then release. Now do it again. The idea is to
get the hang of just making the chord no strumming involved.
Now do the same
with the chord that you're going to move to, in this case an F chord. So form your
bar F chord. Press it down. Could make some dents in those fingers and then
release it. Lift your fingers a little ways off the neck and then do it again.
Now I'd spend a couple minutes doing that just going chord to chord and
that's your first step. Now the second step of the exercise is to actually
practice the motion of going from one chord to another. So we're gonna press
down the first chord C, press it down . Now move your fingers to the next chord, an
F. Now at first it really is it's okay if you put one finger down at a time but
keep pushing to try to get all the fingers. Form the chord before it
actually hits the neck so that all the fingers come down at the same time. Now I'm
going back to the C. See how my fingers are already forming a C chord? Couple
tips going from C to F. When you press the C chord you're gonna find that your
hands it's not critical if it's up a little close to the neck. When you go to
a bar chord you need to lower your wrist a little bit to make the bar sounds right.
It's easiest if you actually keep your wrist down there even when you're making
the C chord even though you don't have to that way there's less motion involved
So practice this motion that's step 2. C chord to the F chord C chord to the
F chord. Now that's the first motion. Remember I told you there's also two
other chords in the chord family. A minor so we're gonna practice the F chord. I
want to do the bar chord the most to the a minor chord even more switching
huh. F chord to the A minor chord and then
finally we're going to go to G. F chord to the G chord. Now I've created an exercise
that you just don't have to think about it but it's fine to just pick your own
chords as well. Here's the exercise. We'll start with the
F chord no strumming to the C chord. F chord to the A minor chord. F chord to
the G chord and the last part is F chord to C chord, okay. So what you do is just
practice that over and over. Give it two or three minutes.
Shake your hand down.Give it another round. Shake your hand out and then
you're ready for the exercise number two/ Exercise number two, the chord switching
exercises. Very similar, the pattern is similar but now we're going to add
strumming . It looks like this. We'll start with the F chord one and then just hit
the guitar two three four. You're keeping track of the beats is all you're doing.
So it's one two three four next chord one two three four back to the F. Same
pattern that's the previous exercise. I'm going to A minor now. Back to the F. Last
chord G. I did the four chord G here 3, 4 F and we're gonna end on C. Chord switching
exercise. Now look too easy for you? Don't stress. There's more advanced versions of
this and it's very simple. All you do is you speed it up basically instead of
three pulses after the chord cut it down to just one. Watch 1, next chord.
Chord, see? Going faster. Still too easy? Don't stress just beat it up again watch.
One chord, no rest. This no matter what level you are will help you practice
coordination with your right and left hand. It will help you practice your chord
movement as well as fingering all the fingers down at one time. That's it for
this lesson. This particular video is part of a playlist on guitar strumming.
If you want to learn more about strumming be sure to subscribe to my
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playlist and pick which videos are best for you. Let me know in the comments if
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Bye for now.