Hey, how are you doing? Justin here.
Today I'm gonna let you in on a little secret.
Some of you might have figured this out already
but many people haven't
Looking at the comments early on in this course
So what we're talking about is the open strings
that occur while you're changing chords
And it's ok because everybody does it
it's on loads of records
and it's nothing to worry about
So if you're going to strum an up strum on the and after 4
so, 1 2&3&4&1 2&3&4&1
That and very often is open strings
especially at a faster tempo
where it just kind of glistens past
you don't even really notice it so
C to E
You don't even hear it there's anything wrong there
but if I slowed it right down you'd hear
I'm exaggerating it now
You really don't notice that
it's perfectly alright for it to be in there
Now that I've made you aware of it
you'll probably hear it on loads and loads of great records
you hear this little bit where the fingers come up
and it's ok
If you're going really slowly
kinda sounds a little bit weird and I was exaggerating it there
You probably on that up strum after 4
you don't want to be really hitting that super hard anyway
so it's gonna be a very light strum
probably only on the thinner strings as well
When I was exaggerating it, I was tending to strum all of the strings
but most times up strums just the thinnest few strings anyway
so all you're adding is this in between
Slow it down
Now I've been playing for a long time
I can probably make the chord changes if I really try
unless it's ludicrously fast, I could jump my fingers over to get to it
but it actually doesn't sound so good if I go
It just makes it lumpy and jerky and
that kind of nice, relaxed feeling that I'm looking for when I am playing disappears
Because I've got to be so focused on trying to get this change
and it gets all tense
and the whole music thing is about it being nice and relaxed and comfortable and feeling good
and if you suddenly start trying to put all of this pressure and tension on
something insignificant like a chord change
you're really spoiling the pudding there
Ok so be aware that it's ok for that to happen
You'll find that there are times where
things that are wrong can sound really good
Ok, a lot of it is just down to what it sounds like
Because music is about sound
So occasionally you might find things that are you know wrong
but they sound cool
particularly if you're getting into creativity and writing
you might find sometimes you play an E chord
and you put it down on a fret too high
You go 'Oh God that sound horrible'
but if you listened that actually sounds pretty beautiful
so there's suddenly these things where it might not have been right
but it's still gonna be fine
Ok, remember to use your ears
Don't be upset about things unless they sound bad
and especially don't be upset
if you hit some open strings in between your chord changes