Chord change speed problems

Hello,

I'm 42 years old guy who started learning to play guitar in January 2019. Never played any musical instrument before (I don't count primary school's horrible flute/recorder lessons).

I'm playing an electric guitar and have no interest in acoustic. Interested in rock(60's to more modern) and perhaps metal(some time later). Though my wife would like me to be able to play some kid's songs to my 4 year old boy and under 1 year old girl. :)

I've been doing Lisa's basics for few months now and did play along "Begin again" and "Cross the Line". Really painful. I've not been able to switch perfectly from one chord to another at the speed of the play along. If I strum all the strings of the chord instead of the first + the rest, then I'm doing it perfectly.

Is it a real problem if I can't nail down the chord changes at the speed of the play alongs at first?

Any suggestions how to continue to learn to switch chords faster?

I've been still practicing them and going forware a little, and probably will go forward again and continue practicing all chord changes.

I'm learning 2-3 times a week, about 1-1,5 hours each time.

Hello,

what seems to work for me is to get the basic shape of the chord down but put my focus on keeping in time. The chords improve over time.

To keep my interest I only stay on something long enough to be able to practice it and then begin something new.

Example: I am learning the full version of Honkey Tonk Woman right now. I know the parts but can’t execute them cleanly. However, I can practice the parts without needing to look at the video or tab sheet, so this means they are in my head and I can keep time with Mike. But the song has some tricky parts to it and these will only clean themselves up with practice. I am not going to stay on the song until it’s perfect, I will keep working on it a bit each practice and it will come together over time. But in the meantime I also decided to learn the 12 bar blues this weekend.

I practice more than you but our son is in University, he can feed himself. Just keep making some time to get back at it and I find a journal very important to me so I’m not bouncing aimlessly.

PS, I also cheat. I don’t always lay down my pinky on the G.

Good luck

Originally Posted by: panu.rantanen

Is it a real problem if I can't nail down the chord changes at the speed of the play alongs at first?

Any suggestions how to continue to learn to switch chords faster

I'm learning 2-3 times a week, about 1-1,5 hours each time.

1. No.

Striking the first string seperate then the rest takes co-ordination and timing. Doing it at tempo will only come with repetition over time. The more we play generally, or applied to any task with focused practise, the better we become - with the caveat that even if we immerse ourselves, the choke point moves to rate of assimilation.

If it's not clocking right now, and you've put the time in with regular practise of it, you may have hit either a mini plateau or self-encumbering "I can't do this" negative frame of mind stumbling block with it. Move on for now, give it some time seperation, but do have it in your progress plan to come back to it.

2. Find a song you really like with chords you can play or can learn easily that isn't overly difficult in some other way and just play it and the chord progressions lots. There's no secret formula substitute for time and putting hours in hands on. Enjoying it in the process aka having fun is important or we won't. Success coupled with actually enjoying every bit of it will be positively reinforcing making you just want to do more.

Another suggestion. If you can, make time to play - ad hoc passing the guitar in the living room study or 'studio' will do, at least 5 to 6 days of the week for at least a single sesson daily of 20-30 minutes, although 10-15 is better that nothing. More frequently if possible. I appreciate that's more difficult with young children and family committments than for someone like me, and probably scary to leave your guitar sitting out on a stand for young inquisitive minds and hands.

Little and often is better than long sessons which are less frequent IMO. Make some of those sessions about nothing but having fun. i.e. playing a song you like within or beyond your current capability but within realistic scope of achievable which will keep you excited naturally exploring a myriad of associated stuff. Only problem I find with it though, is that that "I'll just play for ten minutes" invariably becomes an impromptu hour and ten minute session before I nottice "Oh is that the time?".

Thank you for your replies William MG and manXcat.

I'm trying the strumming style from The Animals' song House of the Rising Sun. Very similar to the practice songs strumming style but also coming back up again. It seems very fun and with a little practice seems doable. I really like that song and the guitar there a lot. So it seems to help. :)

I must find other songs I like that have same or very similar chord changes and the practices and I will be so much more fun.

I've also done some melody playing between chord practices. Just for fun. Like the intro on Sweet Child of Mine, just trying it out sometimes feels fun.

Perhaps the guitar type also discouraged me a little. At first I got a Squier Stratocaster with single coils + bridge humbucker. But I really didn't like the sound of it, even when the guitar felt really ergonomic. I got a Les Paul type guitar with humbuckers and I like the sound it much more.

Also planning to put guitars on wall mounts, so I don't have to worry about the kids so much. So I can just grab the guitar when I feel like it, and as you suggested have shorter sessions more often.

My pleasure. You actually touch on something very important to me personally - sound. I have found that spending a bit of money on an effects board has added more enjoyment. In the Highway to Hell lesson - link in my sig - Mike gives the amp set up to achieve an AC DC like tone. I plugged his numbers into my effects board and voila! Sounds close enough to me. Imagine playing AC DC with a Buddy Holly tone! No disrepect to BH but that's really not going to work, at least for me.

We have a number of pedals at home, but my recent purchase of a dedicated board has shown me that I can have countless tone possibilities in 1 unit at a very reasonalbe price. My G3n cost $200CAD new, but on any given day, pedals and boards on our local music swap are priced from 30 to 50% off retail and musicians are constanly swapping out gear for something new.

Originally Posted by: panu.rantanen

...Les Paul type guitar with humbuckers and I like the sound it much more.

Also planning to put guitars on wall mounts, so I don't have to worry about the kids so much. So I can just grab the guitar when I feel like it,

"House of the Rising Sun" is a perennial classic. I was playing it, or trying to, back in '73 on my nylon stringed acoustic the month I started, possibly the first song I actually learnt, everyone (?) learnt back then, to play through entire. I also revisited it 44 years later on my restart. I still like it too even though I've moved on a ways since then, and you can do so much playing around with it. All useful chord changes starting out, especially the D to (dreaded) F to Am transition challenge so early in the learning journey. [br][br]Re tones. [u]Which amp do you currently have[/u], and although a difficult question at this juncture, do you know what tone you would like or the kind of sound (example soft rock, rock, etc) you are after? Or is it a case of just hearing a tone and either liking or not liking it? I've observed in my journey thus far that there are so many factors that come into play in determining what sound actually comes out when you play electric. In my experience, when we start out [u]we are simply overwhelmed[/u]. No matter how many manuals we read or how smart or diligent in applying ourselves we might be, time and exposure are necessary to assimilate it all to a point of even developing a modicum of competency familiarising what sounds terms like clean, warm, crunch, OD, or different effect actually sound like and how they cross relate to one another all exacerbated by the impact of pickup type and selection and so much more etc. Only now after 18 months of immersive hands on experience with multiple guitars, amps and pedals learning by curiosity, experiment, trial and error have I finally come to a level of confidence and comfort in confuguring those dials I am not intimidated by it all. As you have with your second guitar, the experimental doing is not only fun, but anchors the experience and builds a comparitive library in memory.

[br]You idea to use wall mounts is a great idea to keep them from the immediate reach of inquisitive 'just like dad' immitators. Just remember to I keep any 'junior assault commando' climbing benches, chairs or stools under lock and key too. Haha. I use wall hangers too, for both storage and display in our HT room cum recently my ersatz music studio near ending the current state of flux being repainted, redocorated and modified. Depending upon which I'm playing, the guitars share rotation from MS wall hanger => floor stand in the family room => MS wall hanger. I also have a wall hanger in one of the spare bedrooms to keep the domestic peace in the family room in case the Mrs is otherwise occupying it. None in the PC room/study yet. I am trying hard to keep that a seperate space so I don't get tempted to diverge from tasks when I'm there.

If you haven't got one already, IMO&E, today a digital modelling amp of an output capability suited to your circumstances is the direction to go. Now very affordable and versatile, they render [u]most[/u] pedals essentially redundant for home use, at least until later when different technical or extra operational features might be a practical want.

Have fun with it all. It sounds like you are, which is definitely on the right track. Cheers.

No need William MG. Opinions are just that, based upon one's own experience and predilection.

Here's elaboration of mine based upon the KISS principle. I was actually refencing in my previous post individual pedals used as such, or assembled onto a pedalboard - quite fun in itself and an adjunct to developing understanding of them, rather than something like a BOSS ME-80 et al.

An aside, I do actually own numerous pedals and a pedalboard. Seduced by curiosity complimented by affordable opportunity when I first started out I think. Unusual, as I'm not ordinarily a constantly in need of restimulation by something new! or exciting novelty personality, and generally won't buy something unless I can see a practical fairly immediate purpose for it - even if inarguably I do overindulge myself where I can.

In hindsight however, I've learnt to use my modelling amps as intended over time and hands on application salient to the initially "overwhelmed" and "steep learning curve" factors I mentioned, subsequently my pedals don't get as much use as I thought they would. That's reshaped my perspective that they, once at the forefront of tone shaping technology, are today generally rendered redundant in the home environment by contemporary modelling amps. Where they would come to their fore is deployed in specialist application, e.g. a Wah Wah pedal for instance vs the Wah effects in modelling amps, recording - if not choosing to use DAW effects, or in gigging IMO. For home use, the all in the box patcheable digital modeling amp really has rendered the once expensive pedal pragmaticially redundant, especially for the purpose an amp is used for by most beginners through intermediate players frequenting GT. That said, there are exceptions, obviously, and a personal choice not a rule.

Modelling amp vs modelling amp plus an MEprocessor. Factor into that that the latter are at least as expensive as a decent 40W to 50W modelling amp! At least, where I live they are. Starting out on electric, to learn before long one needs an amp, preferably a decent one. One doesn't need a BOSS ME-80. Starting out, I wouldn't like to spend that kind of money on a BOSS MEP unless I knew exactly what the hell I was doing. A single CAD/AU$25 effects pedal OTOH is an entirely more amendable risk if one wants to exercise curiosity.

Hence I think that sophisticated modelling boards or alternatively for that matter multiple pedals and a pedalboard are for later. Why? Expensive is one objection, but that's relative. Mainly in that to effectively use either, they both have quite a challenging learning curve, particularly when as a neophyte one doesn't really understand spring, plate, reverb, chorus, wah etc, let alone when they might be used or how to apply them. The way modelling amps work, and the effects that come included now are more than sufficient to induce overload and distract from the primary objective, learning to play the instrument. Who would need more? Exacerbating that is the fact that most -not all, solid state modelling amps don't take pedals all that well through their SS pre-amp's circuitary, so unless they have an analogue bypass, even with their clean channel selected the signal chain is compromised.

Stuck with the effect voicings as it comes out of the box? Not necessarily. There are two types of modelling effect solid state digital amp. End user firmware patcheable or rewriteable, and end user non-patchable. An example of the former in home practise orientated amps are Blackstar's ID:Core 10/20/40W series and BOSS Katana 50W. Voices in those can either be self-edited and uploaded to share online or to the amp's memory. Or patches uploaded by other members (& BOSS themselves ?) can be downloaded to alter their voicings and sound profiles.

IDK about the Katana, but the ID:Cores don't have a seperate pre-amp bypass circuit, so pedals or any ME processor will be compromised used on them. i.e. I use Joyo ACTONE and American Sound amp pedals to try and replicate certain amp tones, and I know from the hands on experience that the ID:Core's pre-amp circuitary is ultra sensitive to their settings. They work better on my Fender Champion. A simpler but still digital modelling amp like Fender's Champion series isn't end user editible or patchable. But that's good. It keeps it simple and anyone who says they don't have sufficient versatility as they come out of the box is simply pretentious IMV. Especially insofar as any neophyte is going to want for a number of years. But, if one does want to explore or play more with a MEP or pedals, the great part? The Champion has a seperate second line in by-passing the pre-amp, perfect for use with pedals - of which I have 'quite a few' now, or alternatively an ME processor box.

Just clarifying the why of my take, noting yours.

You’ve put a lot into this manXcat. I wish I hadn’t removed my post. You see, after reconsidering, I felt there was no gain in being contrarian with a gentleman such as yourself.

But I always appreciate a good talk on gear. I like learning about it, messing with it etc. For me, it’s part of the fun. And just for the sake of our discussion - and sorry Panu, not trying to take your thread down this gear “rabbit hole” - my favourite setup right now is running the G3n into a Vox VM50. The little Vox is essentially a clean head with only gain/tone/volume. I run that into a Peavey 4x12 cab. Sounds great for now and I’ll stick with it until I get bored with it and want something new. Then it’s all for the local swap...

Originally Posted by: William MG

You’ve put a lot into this manXcat. I wish I hadn’t removed my post. You see, after reconsidering, I felt there was no gain in being contrarian with a gentleman such as yourself.

But I always appreciate a good talk on gear. I like learning about it, messing with it etc. For me, it’s part of the fun.

No problem either way William MG. I didn't take what you said negatively. Fortunately we seem to be people who can express views and indulge in discussion enjoyably without egos driving the bus to umbrage at the fact.

You're thoughtful in what you say, clearly love your gear and are enthusiastic about guitar and Guitar Tricks. All good stuff beneficial to our micro community.

I get your fascination with tech and gear. I do too to a point. I think it's a fairly common susceptibility in the world of materialistic temptation today.

I realised pretty quickly when I steered briefly in that direction early on, that that wasn't where I wanted either my energy or primary focus to be right now. I'm usually fairly good with high tech and complex, but in my case, whilst I could comprehend the manuals quickly and easily enough, certainly felt overwhelmed in applying it all practically - understatement. o.O

I'm assimilating it on the journey, gradually, savouring each 'mouthful'. After my initial flurry with 'pedaldom', I think I realised I needed to venture further down the experience first track than end up with lots of stuff I had no immediate need or use for, or might not later.

But, if it brings you pleasure adding to making the guitar journey fun for you as apparently it does, and you can obviously afford it, more power to you I say.

I wasn't aware of the VOX MV50. Just to clarify is yours actually the MV50 Clean version?

VOX head into the Peavy 4x12 cab.That sounds like a very tasty setup. Good neighbours have we?!!

Very fortunately I do too at the moment. I spoke with my nearest this morning just to make sure all was OK with my "Sunshine Of Your Love" & "Cocaine" racket over and over and over of late. He and his wife own and run the local bakery - in a small coastal regional holiday town, so he's up very early AM and comes home to sleep at varying hours mid-morning. I think my expressed concern and offer to shift practise times to accomodate him or compromise if it was in any way a nuisance hit a right note.

And to panu.rantanen. Nice to meet you, but also my apology. Didn't mean to hijack your thread. Forgive me, us if you would please?

[br][br]

I read with a lot of pleasure all the posts. I'm 70 years old and I started to learn guitar last January, with no previous experiences in music before, but with a good deal of body awareness, thanks to all the sports that I practice.[br]I'm having a lot of fun and I find Lisa's lessons very, very useful and productive.[br]I practice at least one hour a day in chunks of 15-20 minutes, plus some casual strums every now and then, while whatching TV. My favorite practice is to exercise with the fluidity in shifting from a chord to another, or to put together a sequence of three or four of them just for sake of improving my finger coordination and fluidity, following the metronome. And I can notice how my playing of the three songs that I already know improves.[br]Anyway, although I plan to keep on using and enjoying the Guitartricks courses, I'm going to take lessons from a teacher.

P.S.

Another level of challenge for me is that English is not my mother tongue. :-)[br]It's great to learn something not in my native language, because it's very good for the plasticity and flexibility of my neurons!

Originally Posted by: panu.rantanen

Hello,

I'm 42 years old guy who started learning to play guitar in January 2019. Never played any musical instrument before (I don't count primary school's horrible flute/recorder lessons).

I'm playing an electric guitar and have no interest in acoustic. Interested in rock(60's to more modern) and perhaps metal(some time later). Though my wife would like me to be able to play some kid's songs to my 4 year old boy and under 1 year old girl. :)

I've been doing Lisa's basics for few months now and did play along "Begin again" and "Cross the Line". Really painful. I've not been able to switch perfectly from one chord to another at the speed of the play along. If I strum all the strings of the chord instead of the first + the rest, then I'm doing it perfectly.

Is it a real problem if I can't nail down the chord changes at the speed of the play alongs at first?

Any suggestions how to continue to learn to switch chords faster?

I've been still practicing them and going forware a little, and probably will go forward again and continue practicing all chord changes.

I'm learning 2-3 times a week, about 1-1,5 hours each time.

I'm 43 years old and just started learning guitar last month in April 2019. I joined Guitar Tricks and bought my first guitar all in the same month. I too, am playing electric guitar and have no interest in acoustic either.

I've found the same concerns with chord speed, but have notice considerable improvements on chord change speed once I learned to go with Lisa's advice on going with a lead finger to transition to the next chord. Rather than rely on all the fingers to land on the next chord's strings, I find it so much easier to rely on the lead finger to land first then I "wrap" the remaining fingers on the other supporting strings of the chord before I strum.

The difference in performance for me is like night and day in terms of response time and speed.

I've also tried training myself to not rely on looking at my left hand so much, and try to feel and "trust" my left hand placement whenever possible.

Just know it's going to take time man. It's like the analogy for typing. We couldn't imagine we would ever be able to strike all the keys on a QWERTY keyboard without ever relying on having to look, much more be fast at it. But over time and since repetition is the mother of all skills, it was possible. As will be training our hand to play the guitar fast, swiftly and accurately.

You are not alone.

Hello,

My own amp is Boss Katana 50 from the shop I bought the Squier Strat from. They said the Katana's are really good amp and have effects built into them. And I've tried a few of them. Plugged my computer to the amp and tried the Boss Tone Studio. Lot of effects to try out.

Also I had the chance to borrow a tube amp to try out. A Fender Super Champ x2. The sound feels kind of warmer compared to the Katana. But I still like the Katana as well. Not sure if one sounds better than the other. Both sound good.

I've played with Katana's basic Clean, Crunch, Lead and Brown channels. But there are so many things to try out, and yeah I'm getting overwhelmed by all the possible different effects and sounds you can get out of it. Probably takes time to try things out and test different effects and settings. Even trying different Gain levels makes so much difference.

About the sound of guitars. At first I wanted to try single coils and humbuckers both, so that was the reason to get the Strat with both of them. I changed the string at the shop once to their recommended ones, the Elixirs. But the sound of the guitar changed to too bright or that's how I felt it. Also the strings buzzed and their did some setting up, but it feels harder to play after that.

I wanted more rock tone, perhaps classic rock tone. Not sure how to explain it, since I'm not sure myself. :) I know I listen to metal music as well, but it's not something I want play at least for now. So thats why I got the Les Paul type, which is Schecter Solo II Custom. I got it second hand so it was much cheaper than the one in the shop. Also I had it set up by a local professional who makes custom guitars, does repairs, customization and thats sort of things. So my Schecter feels really easy and nice to play now. I should probably take the Strat to the same place for a new setup and change strings to something else than Elixirs. I'm thinking of putting D'Addarios on my strat to give it another chance. But for now, I'm really happy with the Schecter.

I will keep continuing to practice. Seems things become a little easier each time I practice.

I'm also trying Lisa's tips on how to change from one chord to another. And mostly it works for me too. But for some reason changing from C to D, changing index finger first feels as easy and ring finger first. But I will keep on trying.

Switching from Am to G it quite easy when using the pinky G.

As I mentioned earlier that I really like House of the Rising Sun. The F chord is really a dreaded chord. :D Soooo hard!

But it is something I want to get right at some point, so I will keep on practicing that as well.

Nice kit panu.rantanen. Sounds like you're much more comfortable with your LP style axe. And the Boss' Katana 50 is one of the most frequently endorsed home practise amps. Chris S sings the praises of his, approbation I take serious note of. If I was first buying hands on experience blind, and I was at the time I bought my first electric amp, after researching I'd have narrowed it down to choosing between either it or Blackstar's ID:Core 40. Hey, I did!

Yes open F is a PITA, though as I recall it was easier when I was younger. But that could just be nostalgia? You'll get it down in time with practise. I have deficits now in my left forefinger from neck surgery which makes the two string forefinger bar particularly challenging, and I have. Even I surprise myself with the speed at which I can transition to and from it now and yet still sound all clean before, on, and after chords, even more all finger big move more difficult ones e.g. F to B7 as in rhythm during the chorus key change for "You're Gonna' Lose That Girl" played in original key of E. I alternate between playing it using all barres except B7 if on electric, but all opens on acoustic.

A vital chord though. Although there are alternative voicings, nothing rings quite so true on acoustic as the open form, particularly when used in conjunction with other open forms. An essential chord for rhythm present in [u]a lot[/u] of songs. A useful and pretty progression to help nail it is the C-Am-F-G for four bars and then alternate it to F-G-C-Am, ....rinse and repeat ad infinitum until finishing on the opening C key chord. 50's style Doo-Wop it, rock it!, lotsa' tempo and rhythm flexibility which fits it to maintain interest and develop technique.

Cheers

You've got some nice gear Panu. I think we are all chasing tone. It's great fun and I hope you have fun with it. You will eventually find tone(s) that just feel right to you. There are days when I just dedicate to messing with the gear just to mess with it. Play a few chords, pick a few scales, change some settings and do it all over again. Just to see what kind of noises I can make. And remember tone is also effected by the volume pots, especially on something like a LP, a bit of dirt is easy to get by dialing up the volume pot. Have fun!