Originally Posted by: oztilson

Hello, I hope that someone can give me some guidance. I am very new to guitar. I know 5 chords and am working on changing from one to the next. Right now, I place one finger at a time on each string. I don't think that is the way to keep going. Will I just learn the shape automatically over time or is there a method for learning the whole chord at once that I need to employ?[br][br]Many thanks.

For as long as I've been playing, everyone once in a while a chord or progression gets me. I've had one recently that shouldn't seem so hard to do; D11 ..which is holding down strings 5,4,3, 2 on the 5th fret and a change to C#7, which has a root note with my ring finger on the 5th fret. Anyway, all chord craziness aside, it's just not that hard of a change. It's just not. I've been playing since the early 80's, you'd think the stumpers would some freaky complex change. Nope. This one gets me.

I identified that it wasn't the change per se that gets me. I could have changed from any chord to the C#7 and had trouble. That C#7 was not in my chord vocabulary and just not a normal placement for my fingers. Not hard, just not something I did before.

So I just started playing that chord and that chord only. Holding it and strumming it. Just that chord. Get my hand used to being there. No changes from another chord. Just strumming that C#7.

It's not always the chord changes that are the issue. It's getting used to the chords individually. So take your time to get your fingers in place and just strum. It's like target practice and you want to actually spend time on the target. If you tried over and over to change chords (eg - oped D to an open A) but feel like you can't get them, then just strum that D for a while and let you hands get used to being there. Then do the same for the A. Then may once you beat that dead horse, do a slow change from the D to the A. Then speed that up.

Evolve what you play. So, yes you will learn the chord automatically but not until you get used to holding it. My thought anyway.