[Unit]

Hey Everyone,
I've been playing guitar for 2 months now and I'm practising simple songs, and some of Kirk's simpler finger picking songs... but I've noticed that I find myself having to always slow down my playing to a really slow pace 'cuz I can never switch chords easily and quickly enough. I come from the piano I played that a lot - are there any piano players with some advice? or just anyone?
Thanks
~Matt

[Teddy Madison]

Give it time. I played keyboards and chord changes are MUCH easier. It will come in time, just keep at it. It's all about muscle memory and when it happens it's pretty cool. All of a sudden you make a clean change. Of course, you then mess up the rest of the song cause your in shock.

Wayne

[allthumbs]

Two months is not long. Hang in there.

[solidwalnut]

Originally Posted by Unit

Hey Everyone,
I've been playing guitar for 2 months now and I'm practising simple songs, and some of Kirk's simpler finger picking songs... but I've noticed that I find myself having to always slow down my playing to a really slow pace 'cuz I can never switch chords easily and quickly enough. I come from the piano I played that a lot - are there any piano players with some advice? or just anyone?
Thanks
~Matt

Try this exercise: Choose two or three chords. Say, start with G, D and C. Switch between them without regard to any rhythm or strumming pattern. Just simple down strokes. But don't play the downstrokes until you're sure that you have formed and are playing the chord cleanly. Start slow, work up some speed. Don't go any faster at all until you have formed the chord and are playing cleanly. Work up speed in switching. Get to where you can switch quickly. But never advance in speed unless you play the chord cleanly!

Like Wayne says, it's all muscle memory and it takes time. Before you know it, you'll have no trouble switching chords in time with the songs you're learning, and you'll even find that it's easy because you learned to switch between them much faster than any song.

Now choose three other chords and begin again.

Have fun!

Steve

[737blues]

The good news: You don't have any problem we haven't all experienced.

The bad: It does just take time, and a little thought about technique. Practice, practice and then some practice. Try thinking carefully about how each finger moves for a change and then place them deliberately, in sequence. Just like your keyboard. Accuracy first, then build up speed with practice.

[6string]

Have you tried this Chord Changing lesson by Kirk?

Changing Chords

Its sort of a walk before you run sort of thing

[Stratrat]

Yep, what everybody else said. Quick chord changes will only come with plenty of practice.....you have to build up the "muscle memory" in your hands. It takes time, but as long as you keep at it, it will come. We've all been through it!

[Unit]

Thanks a lot guys!
I'll keep at it!

[Aunt Doty]

I've been playing for about 7 months and it just takes time and practice!! One day you'll realize it's all coming together! I'm trying to learn barre chords now.........they sound really bad.. think I need some of that hand putty to strengthen my fingers or something. They sound really tinny and just awful!!!!

[cshude]

Practice is the number one ingredient when starting out. The second key ingredient when just getting going is knowing the song inside and out. That way you are able to think ahead and get ready to make that change.

[schack]

hmmm....ive been playing for about a year now and
im not that good but
when i was beginnig i was having a really hard time too and still am...but something that reallly helped me was i just picked a few simple chords like G, Em, C, D
and play those over and over again
and pretty soon it will just become muscle memory
and it'll be a no brainer

[Teddy Madison]

Oh yeah, After a year and a half, I'm still not guaranteed a clean chord and am not confident to play to a group but I have progressed enough to make me happy. That's your bottom line, do YOU like what you are doing.

Wayne

[sweett]

I'm having the same sort of problem as Matt. I've only been playing for a month or so but I've been practising every night. Progress is slow but I am progressing.

I know a few people who play guitar and it appears nearly everyone struggles to start with but the key is practice, practice and more practice.

Also having this site is a real bonus so thanks to everyone for the tips and advice.

Cheers

Tony, UK

[wpeach13]

ahaha..dont worry ur not da only one who's slow at switching chords

practicing really helps

[Chris C]

Hi,

As everybody has said, it just takes time. Quite a lot of time. One annoying thing for beginners is discovering that “Easy Chords” and “Easy Songs” never actually are all that easy – except of course for the experienced player who told you they were easy. Nothing is easy when you first start out. Fortunately, things do pick up reasonably quickly if you put the time in.

There are also quite a few strategies that we can use when learning chord changes. Here are some of them:

• 1. Get each chord nicely nailed before you start trying to do changes. A good way to start, once you’ve got the strings ringing cleanly is to lift the hand slightly off the neck and put it straight back down again, Repeat this many times, strumming as you do so, lifting a little higher each time. Your first ‘changes’ can even simply be away from the starting chord and back to it again
  
  2. Look for anchor points or shared patterns. Many common chord changes don’t need you to lift all your fingers off all the strings. Often you can leave one in position and swing the other fingers around it. This makes it much easier to land the change accurately. Also look out also for opportunities to slide a finger up or down a string and use it as an anchor point. Lastly, check for pattern repeats – sometimes part of your finger shape can be moved across and ‘re-used’ without totally reshaping your hand position.
  
  3. Make sure that you are keeping the neck steady. One reason that beginners can find it hard to land a chord easily is that the ‘landing ground’ moved when they took their hand off the neck! A strap can help, but just watching and being aware of movement is the first step.
  

Cheers,

Chris