Smooth Chord Changes and Practise Tips?

Hi everyone, i started learning guitar as a beginner from 25th April and over the last almost 3 weeks here is my progress,

1) Have learned all 5 major power chords and 2 minor chords (Am/EM)

2) Have been able to play all chords properly without any issues

3) Completed all Lisa's fundamental course 1 until 3 chord changes

My challenge is I am unable to change chords smoothly and keep up with learn to play songs from Lisa specially from Roll like water song lessons. I just am unable to keep up with the changes and usually taking 2 secs between chord changes.

I have been also trying 60 secs 60 chord changes and my progress is not great. I can do anywhere between 20-25 at the most for all chords with different combinations.

I practise about 2 hours everyday since i bought the guitar but now i am feeling stuck and not sure how long would it take for me to get the chord changes smoothly. I havent moved ahead on lessons until i get this nailed down.

Any tips or excersizes i need to do which would get me to my goal quicker? I am also worried about strumming as that's the next challenge.

Hello Moheet!

You seem to be taking this as a speed contest. You plan to take on jazz right now (with all those chord changes, 60 per minute)? And it seems weird you dissociate them from strumming...

Just slow down your tempo at first, to enable muscle memory to kick in when placing chords (make sure you fret properly), and practice, practice, practice.

Strumming is also important, since you can focus on placing first the part of the chord you are going to strum first and even buy yourself some time by not strumming the full chord on the first strum, just the part you have managed to fret properly. And by the way, as an artistic/feeling choice, you may not need to play full chords (but you should be able to, in case you decide to).

Cheers,

Originally Posted by: moheetdalvi

Any tips or excersizes i need to do which would get me to my goal quicker? I am also worried about strumming as that's the next challenge.

Hi there,

You want to give yourself some time. You might be expecting a bit much from yourself I reckon. I've been playing a while now (about 18 months self taught) and have joined this site for a bit of direction so I'm still in the early stages but in my experience to expect smooth chord changes at this stage is being harsh on yourself. I get very frustrated sometimes and wonder when I'm going to see some progress but it does come eventually.

My step dad has played all his life and used to play with some big bands as a session guitarist and he said when he was learning, he locked himself away for months and months simply practicing chord changes. It's not a race

Everything slowly and I hear the speed will come!

Good luck with it,

theMolster

Originally Posted by: theMolster

Originally Posted by: moheetdalvi

Thank you so much!!

Any tips or excersizes i need to do which would get me to my goal quicker? I am also worried about strumming as that's the next challenge.

Hi there,

You want to give yourself some time. You might be expecting a bit much from yourself I reckon. I've been playing a while now (about 18 months self taught) and have joined this site for a bit of direction so I'm still in the early stages but in my experience to expect smooth chord changes at this stage is being harsh on yourself. I get very frustrated sometimes and wonder when I'm going to see some progress but it does come eventually.

My step dad has played all his life and used to play with some big bands as a session guitarist and he said when he was learning, he locked himself away for months and months simply practicing chord changes. It's not a race

Everything slowly and I hear the speed will come!

Good luck with it,

theMolster

thank you for your help. I will take it slow and focus on practise. Really helpful.

Originally Posted by: Captain_Crunch you probably are right. I am putting in a lot of hours thinking it would help me get their faster . Maybe I am wrong? Should I reduce my practise to 15 mins a day? I think if I do couple of hours a day maybe I would be able to change Chords faster specially then c to g em to d etc.

Hello Moheet!

You seem to be taking this as a speed contest. You plan to take on jazz right now (with all those chord changes, 60 per minute)? And it seems weird you dissociate them from strumming...

Just slow down your tempo at first, to enable muscle memory to kick in when placing chords (make sure you fret properly), and practice, practice, practice.

Strumming is also important, since you can focus on placing first the part of the chord you are going to strum first and even buy yourself some time by not strumming the full chord on the first strum, just the part you have managed to fret properly. And by the way, as an artistic/feeling choice, you may not need to play full chords (but you should be able to, in case you decide to).

Cheers,

Hi,

This definitely helped my third and fourth fingers grow in strength. I would always start practicing by doing two sets of Hanon exercises before anything else, spending maybe 10 minutes at most per day on 'em. I don't know when it hit me, but after a few weeks of doing this, my fingers were much, much stronger.mcdvoice mybkexperience

I agree with the earlier posts and echo their sentiments as well. I`ll just add my two cents.

Being a goal oriented person, I have to fight the urge to try to put pressure on myself to achieve a certain level of competence by a certain date or finish a tutorial by a self imposed deadline. Learning guitar or any musical instrument is a journey with many ups and downs and side trips along the way. Enjoy the journey and embrace the challenge. There`s enough pressure in life ( especially nowadays!) without placing more on yourself while playing guitar. It`s a bit like putting pressure on yourself to try to fall asleep during a restless night; it just won`t happen. Just enjoy playing and know that every hour you spend playing is one hour closer to the goal. That makes achieving it all the more sweeter and satisfying!

Hi there,

I think we may have started around the same time....I get equally frustrated and even more so when I'm trying to play along with Lisa and during the chord changes, I then play the wrong string.....it drives me absolutely mad, but amuses my 15 year old son!

I'll keep trying, as trying as it is.

Best regards

Russell

Originally Posted by: shamsmehra1990

Hi,

This definitely helped my third and fourth fingers grow in strength. I would always start practicing by doing two sets of Hanon exercises before anything else, spending maybe 10 minutes at most per day on 'em. I don't know when it hit me, but after a few weeks of doing this, my fingers were much, much stronger.

Thank you for your help. What are Hanon exercises?

Originally Posted by: Russellrugby

Hi there,

I think we may have started around the same time....I get equally frustrated and even more so when I'm trying to play along with Lisa and during the chord changes, I then play the wrong string.....it drives me absolutely mad, but amuses my 15 year old son!

I'll keep trying, as trying as it is.

Best regards

Russell

Agree only way is practise and the magical moment when it all falls into place. How long do you practise every day? Great to know we started same time :)