Chord Change Frustration

I have made several attempts in the last few years to learn how to play the guitar. I recently bought a year’s subscription to Guitar Tricks and am happy with it. I am more comfortable finger picking and tried a course with Lisa McCormack, Acoustic Fingerpicking Level 1A. And liked it but got frustrated with the chord changes. I decided to go back to basics and have been doing Guitar Fundamentals 1 with Anders Mouridsen but once again am struggling with chord changes. Anders has a very calm patient way of teaching and I like him a lot. Every time I have tried to learn I overthink things instead of letting my fingers learn muscle memory . I find myself watching my fingers to make sure they hit the right strings in the right frets. And then watch as I change chords instead of feeling confident I’ll do it right. 
Our son is a Luthier and he gave us the first guitar he built. I want to learn to play it and not just own it. I need to build up my confidence and don’t know if I’ll ever succeed. I am open to any and all suggestions.
Thank you, Dave Gaiero

Very common Dave. All I can suggest is to put on a metronome at the slowest tempo possible and just keep working it. Probably not what you expect to hear but it’s how I did it. 

here is a video I made a few years back in an attempt to encourage us older learners to keep at it. Hopefully you get something out of it and will continue to practice 

https://youtu.be/xOUwb-XYfxM?si=GfuBvwGONuNtVP5o

Thank you William. I watched your video and appreciated your honesty about your struggles and how many times you tried and stopped. And now you have done it! Older learners is right!! 😊. I just turned 70. I will try using a metronome. I am bound and determined not to give up this time.

Dave

The community appreciates you William. Thanks for sharing.

Glad you found it useful Dave. I wondered about your age, at 70 you will have more challenges than say someone in their 40s or 50s even 60s. Decreased flexibility which will impact how capable you are in forming chord structures. 

However, this is still very doable and there are lots of workarounds to get a person playing. 

Best of luck with it

Bill

Hey Mike,

appreciate the feedback. As with yourself always happy to help a new student. 

Bill

Hey Dave, I am having this issue myself. I'm also in the Fundamentals 1 section. I have just been practising 30 minutes a day three times daily and working through the lessons slowly. I spent three days on D and A chords before I finally figured it out. Some of the other chord changes have been slightly easier. I have been on Fundamentals 1 for 3 weeks now :D. I don't know what I was thinking when I signed up, I guess I just thought it would be faster than the rate I'm going but I'm still making ok progress. 

I try to hold my guitar straight and land my fingertips straight on the strings instead of slanted. I have been tempted a few times to tilt the guitar, so I could see the strings, but I was told not to do that, by another instructor. Some chords I can change right on time with Anders and others I'm several seconds behind him. The only thing I know to tell you is to keep working at it. If you need to spend extra time on some of the lessons before they sink in don't be afraid to do that. Keep at it, eventually, you will nail it.

One thing I did that helped me a lot is I took some black electrical tape and cut small pieces out to paste them on the side of the neck to mark all the frets, so I could see where the frets were. That might help you if you want to give it a try. 

Best of luck,

Christie

Thank you for your suggestions Christie. Both William and you have been very helpful. You both have given me renewed confidence that I can and will succeed. As I said before I overthink things instead of just doing and trust my muscle memory. And I have to learn patience, realizing that I’m not going to succeed overnight.

 I will let both of you know how I’m doing in regards to my journey of learning guitar. Thank you both again!! 😊

Dave

Hi Dave! I hope your journey is progressing along nicely. The only thing that I can add is make sure you are always in tune and to always play a guitar that inspires you to play and pick it up often. Take lots of little breaks. And keep at it. You don't have to MASTER chord changes before you move on but they should be sounding like notes before you move on to the next lesson. Strum a chord, pick the individual notes and make sure they are ringing out clearly, then strum again. If they aren't rigning out clearly make little adjustments with your fretting hand fingers and keep picking the buzzing note till it rings true. Then give it a final strum. This method may not require a metronome but once you start improving your chord changes a metronome can be very benficial as well. Keep us posted on your progress and best of success!

Jibran

Thank you Jibran. Right now I am going back and forth in the Tutorial, Switching Between Chords, in Guitar Fundamentals 1. I really like the way Anders Mouridsen talks, preaching patience and always sounding encouraging. Some days I’m very encouraged. Some days not so much. As I mentioned before, I struggle to stop thinking too much of what I’m doing instead of just doing it. I overthink the next chord and end up messing up the change. I’m my own worse enemy !! Thank you to all of you for your suggestions and encouragement.

Dave