I am in my fifties, JUST picked up the guitar first time in my life! The most frustrating part has been chord changes as I cannot move the fingers independently no matter what? Any hopes for me? I absolutely love the sound of guitar and am determined to give it a fair shot. But any recommendations welcome. Thanks a million.
Zedkay
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Hi,
As with any beginner, chord changes can be very difficult to learn and takes a lot of practice to master. Keeping your fingers close to the strings when you're changing cords is a big help. Keep your finger movement at a minimum.
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Originally Posted by: kukkadizaheerI am in my fifties, JUST picked up the guitar first time in my life! The most frustrating part has been chord changes as I cannot move the fingers independently no matter what? Any hopes for me? I absolutely love the sound of guitar and am determined to give it a fair shot. But any recommendations welcome. Thanks a million.
Don't get discouraged when you can't do all the chord changes. Matter of fact, I wouldn't expect that you could be comfortable or capable yet. Is there anything you can do right/easy off that bat?[br][br]I'm sure you know this but I thought it worth stating the obvious but, to 'quote' the Ventures; Walk Don't Run.[br][br]Build up a catalog of chord changes starting from one change. Paractice only one change. For example, practice an Open G to an Open D. Just keep hammering at that for a while. At first, you're gonna feel like your hands are made of concrete but eventually you find that you can hit the mark.
It's like target practice, you're trying to get 3 to 4 fingers to hit 3 to 4 different places (different strings and frets) at the same time. If you tried to shoot a target the first time you ever shot, do you think you would hit the target? Nope. Now times that by 3 or 4 (fingers) PLUS another 3 or 4 (fret locations). You get the math.[br][br]Don't take that math as dejecting but as a way to understand why it takes a little work to get there. Matter of fact, it will start to come easy.
However, if your hands don't yet cooperate, take one chrod change and get it down. Then move to another (ie - Open D to Open A). Once you've got two chord changed down, string them all together: Open G to Open D to Open A etc....[br][br]You'll learn that the building blocks of guitar are kind of this way > building blocks. You start learning as you get more advanced that one skill builds on another. Having a good, methodical process to use to build can be very helpful.
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