Strumming And Changing Chords 9
Hey there, how are you doing? Sore fingers yet? Well, welcome back. If you�re here,
you�re a trooper. We�ve done the D chord, the Cadd9 chord and G chords now in this lesson
#9, were gonna add some strumming to it. And at the same time, you�re gonna work on the
D, Cadd9 and G chords while you�re doing the strumming. So to start off with, go ahead
and either grab a pick or you can use your fingers, that�s very okay or even just your
thumb for straight down. Were gonna make the chordsand just do a simple strumming straight
down then I�ll show you how to add (0:36) to it.
Start with the D chord, right. I put out my fingers down at ones. If you need one at a
time still that�s great, just do it. And play the D chord, four times. Aim for four
strings and don�t worry if you accidentally hit the fifth and sixth. Put your attention
right now in getting a good sound on the strings that you�re hitting. Oh, that was five.
Four times then move over to the C add 9. Remember were aiming for getting those two
fingers over. Oh, I�m sorry. First, put the pinky down now move those two fingers
over to the fifth string and fourth string � four times, sounding good? Okay, it�s
okay. It sounds like this, it�ll get better.
Now to the G chord, were gonna move to second and first finger over again to the sixth and
fifth string � that�s the sixth and that�s the fifth. So next, we�re moving to the
G chord. Move your first and second fingers over to the sixth string and the fifth string.
If you can, both at once. It�s okay if you still need to do one at a time and then strum
all the strings. It makes a little adjustments but again just spend a few seconds on it,
don�t worry about it. Do your best you can. And then you start over four in a D, four
on the Cadd9 and then four on the G.
So you might wanna stop just for a minute. This is really helpful just make the chords,
no strumming, just a couple of minutes and then move from one chord to the other, no
sound and then come back and try it with the strum again then stop, do it again and alternate
5 to 10 minutes.
Now were gonna add a little bit of groove to that. What I mean by that is were just
gonna be steady with our pulse. And you can play along with me. Were gonna go very slow
and I�ll count it out. Start with a count of four and then were gonna strum each chord
four times, just straight down for now. Okay so make your D chord and get ready. Here we
go - 1 2 ready hit it, the D chord 1 2 3 think about that Cadd9 for now change. I�ve left
a little pause between chords for now and were gonna tighten that up and that�s four
� G and back to the D four times. Good. How did you do? Ready to try it again? Same
thing.
This time, I�m not gonna slow down between the chords. It�s okay if you don�t get
it but I want you to get the feel for it, it�s like you have to change right on time.
Best to start slow and then pick it up. Dont try to go too fast just pause because that�ll
get to be a bad habit so let�s go nice and slow and just try to keep up with me, here
we go 1 2 3 4 D four times, to the C. So I didn�t pause there. I didn�t slow down.
Here comes the G now that was right on the beat. Do it again, back to D okay that�s
the end. Try now with me again, here we go start now, ready D 1 2 3 4 pinky down, move
1 2 3 4 then move, that�s right on the beat and then back to D. Hey, how was that?
One little trick, did you notice I put my pinky down before I started changing? I anticipated
the change so I got ready. And putting the pinky down doesn�t really hurt the sound.
Another trick is, sometimes when your changing, you can take all your fingers off and put
them back down. Even if there�s a little gap between the change, it�s okay. Nobody
will notice that really if that is a small gap.
So now practice that by itself then add this simple strum. We talked about how to hold
the pick and the basic up and down motion. Now I want you to strum both down and up.
So its a good way to first warm up for that. Place your fingers over the guitar neck and
just start with the strum down � down, up just to make this strumming sound. Dont worry
about the chord. You just get warmed up. So this is one beat and this is two beats so
its 1 and 2 and 3 and 4. If you need two chords, stop the tape and practice that a little bit
then do this with me. D chord. I�ll count four. We�re gonna go down and up on each
beat. Four beats but its gonna be a strum down up for each one so here we go 1 2 3 4
start D 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and pinky down, change 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and get ready to
change to D chord. I�ll pause a little between chords to give you a chance and back to D.
Okay, that was one exercise.
We�re gonna do it one more time and then I�ll let you practice a little on your own.
We�re gonna do it without pausing between chords so its a little harder and again its
okay if there�s a little dead sound when your changing chords, not a problem. Start
with the D, here we go 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and D 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 pinky down. I�ve
changed right on the C - 3 and 4 and go to G then 2 and 3 and 4 and back to D now and
2 and 3 and 4. Let�s do it again - 1 and 2 and 3 and watch for the pinky 4 and 1 and
2 and 3 and 4 and change 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and back to D. Okay, good work. Good work
for hanging in there with me.
So of course, go ahead and practice this. Be patient a little each day works best. Come
on back were gonna do the next lesson which will I�ll show you a little bit about fingerstyle
guitar and will keep it light but I want you to at least have an introduction to it in
case you want something to do. I look forward to seeing you in the next lesson. Bye for
now.