7 EASY WAYSTO MASTER CHORDS

& CHORD CHANGING

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A common problem that I see a lot with beginner guitar players (speci!cally those that teach themselves) is that they really struggle with getting their chords to be consistently clean

and having the transitions from one chord to the next to be smooth and fast. The reason why this happens, and the reason why it takes so many so long to get results, is because they only focus on ONE or TWO ways of practicing their chords and chord changing. This usually involves just simply trying to form the chord and/or move from one chord to the next without thinking about speci!c things or movements. For some it clicks after a long time but for others the frustration is too much to bear and they give up.

When I teach beginner students, I approach things from multiple di"erent angles because it gets results faster. There is no “one way” or “one size !ts all” method to guitar playing and there is no sin-gle magic bullet to getting chords mastered. Everyone is di"erent and has di"erent challenges and I feel that is important to come at problems from multiple points of view. Because when you do that, you grow exponentially!

So…here are my 7 ways to attack practicing chords and chord changing. This guide accompanies and supplements the video.

I promise you….if you consistently implement this stu" into your practicing, you will see amazing results and playing songs will be-come much easier.

Jon

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METHOD 1MEMORIZE YOUR CHORDS & CHECK GENERAL TECHNIQUE

On the following pages you will see chord diagrams of the most popular “Open Position Chords.” The !rst job in mastering anything is to remove the restriction of having to look at the paper diagram/book/video. You want to be able to recall these chords completely on your own without any aide.

Some tips on memorizing…

1) Try grouping the chords into little “families” according to the general shape. For instance, E and Am have the exact same shape but are played on di"erent strings, so it may help to look at them from that point of view. Try memorizing the chords in the following order and you’ll notice a lot of overlap in either shared notes between the chords or the general shape of the chords:Family 1 – E, Em, E7, Am, B7Family 2 – C, F, G7Family 3 – G, Cadd9Family 4 – D, Dm, D7Family 5 – A, A7

2) Memorize away from the guitar. While you’re driving, walking, showering, daydreaming, etc…quiz yourself! Ask yourself questions like “what !ngers are used in a C chord?” Also, visualize the shapes of the chords. Picture yourself playing them and playing them perfectly. Never underestimate the power of the mind’s eye.

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Check your general technique. Refer to the video to see more detailed instructions but the 3 important things to remember:

1) Keep a small gap between the palm of your hand and the bottom of the neck.

2) Strive to have an “arc” or “bend” in your !ngers so that they don’t lay #at and touch adjacent strings. If you have a problem with this, there are a few more techniques that I will show you to help correct that.

3) Manipulating the position of your thumb (from “over the top of the neck” to the middle of the neck) to allow more of a bend in your !ngers

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METHOD 2CROUCHING TIGER

If you have trouble getting your !ngers to bend, try this exercise out. Bend your !ngers to look like the picture below.

And while your hand is in this con!guration, simply squeeze for about 15-30 seconds and then release and shake it out. Repeat as much as you’d like. What’s great about this exercise is you can do it anywhere and anytime!

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METHOD 3FINGER INDEPENDENCE EXERSICE

There are a ton of great !nger independence exercises out there but I like this one best for beginners because you can do it with or without the guitar.

If you are doing it with the guitar, you simply put all of your !ngers on the G String. The index will be on the 5th fret, the middle on the 6th, the ring on the 7th, and the pinkie on the 8th. Your starting point should look like this:

Then…you are going to move JUST your index !nger from the low E string to the high E string WHILE KEEPING YOUR OTHER FINGERS ON THE G STRING. Repeat 10-15 times.

Then switch !ngers…keep your index, ring, and pinkie on the G string…and move JUST your middle to the low E and high E. Repeat again with moving JUST your ring and just your pinkie while keeping your other !ngers !xated on the G string.

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You can also do this without a guitar. You can do it on your arm or a steering wheel. Some students even make fake guitar necks out of cardboard, draw lines on them for strings, and do this exercise throughout the day.

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METHOD 4PRESS & RELEASE TECHNIQUE

This method is probably the best way to ingrain the shape of each chord into your muscle memory and is also great at training your !ngers to get in the right spot for consistently clean chords. Here’s how it works:

1) Form any chord you need to work on. Pick each string in the chord, one at a time, to see if there are any muted or unclean notes. If there are, make the necessary corrections.

2) Press your !ngers hard into the strings. Use WAY more pressure than needed to fret the chords…and then hold that pressure for 10 seconds.

3) Release the pressure o" the strings, take your !ngers about a centimeter o" the strings…but KEEP THE SHAPE of the chord and HOVER over the intended strings. Hold that hover for 10 seconds.

4) Repeat steps 1-3 as many times as you’d like.

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METHOD 5GET TO THE CHORD FROM NOWHERE

This is a great supplement to the Press & Release technique. I like to look at it like this; Press and Release ingrains the muscle memory and Get To The Chord From Nowhere reinforces the muscle memory. Here’s what to do:

1) Pick any chord you need to work on.2) Place your fretting hand on your knee.3) As fast as possible, try to get to the intended chord with all of

your !ngers at the same time. If the chord is brand new to you or di$cult, this may be tricky and awkward…and your !ngers might go to the wrong spots. That’s OK. Do it anyway! Just give it your best.

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METHOD 6RAPID FIRE CHORD CHANGE STRATEGY

This is probably my favorite exercise to teach beginner students because its super e"ective and I’m always amazed at the results that it gets. The reason why it’s so powerful is because it breaks chord changing down to 2 components of focus, Accuracy and Speed. It’s truly my secret weapon!

It involves using a metronome, which is a device that keeps time. There are plenty of free apps out there. Search the app store on your phone or just Google metronome and you’ll !nd tons of options. Ready? Here’s how it goes…

1) Pick 2 chords that you want to practice changing between. Refer to the Chord Change Cheat Sheet on the last page for ideas.

2) Set your metronome to 60bpm. 3) You now are going to do “Component 1” of Rapid Fire.

» Fret your !rst chord and be as sure as you can that it is as clean as possible. Strum the chord one time directly on a beat.

» You are now going to change to chord 2. Take your time and let as many beats elapse as you need. You could let 2 beats go by, 4 beats, 8 beats….it doesn’t matter how many. We want to allow your brain some time to process the information of the chord change.

» When you are ready and have chord 2 formed, go ahead and strum it once directly on a beat.

» If you have a tendency to put one !nger down at a time when forming chords, that’s ok for now…but I would highly recommend alternating which !nger goes down !rst when

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doing Component 1 of Rapid Fire. For instance, if you are making a C chord and you always put your index !nger down !rst…. the next time you go to the chord, put your middle down !rst…. and then the time after that, put your ring !nger down !rst. The ultimate goal is to have them all move and put down at the same time and alternating your !nger placement helps expedite that.

» Repeat Component one for 1 minute4) You are now going to do “Component 2” of Rapid Fire.

» Using the same 2 chords you used for Component one, you are now going to throw caution to the wind and try to change between them on EVERY single beat.

» This is going to be tricky and chances are, your chords are not going to sound very good, so you don’t have to strum if you don’t want to. Simply just make the fretting hand movements.

» DON’T TRY TO BE RIGHT…TRY TO BE FAST! Don’t worry if you don’t get to the right strings/frets. Don’t worry if your hand is all jacked up looking. MAKE A CHANGE EVERY BEAT!

» If you are a perfectionist by nature, you’re going to hate Component 2 at !rst…but you’ll love it when you are changing chords like a pro!

» Repeat this for one minute5) Repeat steps 3 and 4 as many times as you need/like to.

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METHOD 7STRUMMING & SYNCHRONIZATION

The last thing we are going to look at is introducing some strumming into the equation when changing chords. This is another big area of frustration that I see with beginner players. They’ll get the chords memorized and can play them to a good degree of pro!ciency, but then struggle mightily when strumming is introduced. This exercise helps solve that issue.

1) Pick 2 chords from the Chord Change Cheat Sheet.2) Strum with a simple and consistent “Down, Up, Down, Up”

rhythm/pattern on the !rst chord.3) Get ready to change to the 2nd chord…but…KEEP YOUR

STRUMMING HAND MOVING AT ALL TIMES!!! DO NOT STOP STRUMMING WHEN CHANGING CHORDS!!

4) If your chord changes are slow or unclean, that’s ok…the other exercises will help improve that. But while you are building up your chord accuracy and change speed, you also need to work on synchronizing your 2 hands. The point here is, I would rather you do this exercise and have the chords be unclean, then for you to stop or pause between strumming chords.

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That’s it! Each exercise by itself maybe pretty valuable, but when you combine them all together and work on all of those di"erent areas at the same time, you are really going to super charge your chords and you’ll be sounding soooooo much better in no time! �

If you have any questions on this lesson, or just want to shoot me some feedback, I would love to hear from you. You can reach me at jon@reallyeasyguitarlessons.com. Hope to hear from you soon!

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CHORD CHANGE CHEAT SHEETI broke these chord changes down into three tiers of di$culty. Tier 1 being the easiest and 3 being the hardest. I also highlighted the most popular/common chord changes to give you a starting point.

TIER 1 TIER 3A ї Dm A ї D7 A ї Em Am ї E

Am ї Em Am ї E7 A7 ї D A7 ї E

A7 ї E7 Cadd9 ї G

A7 ї Dm C ї D7 C ї Em

C ї F Am ї F C ї G7

Cadd9 ї D Cadd9 ї Em

D ї E D ї Em D ї G

Dm ї E Dm ї Em

Dm ї F D7 ї E7 E ї B7 Em ї G E7 ї B7

A ї C A ї Cadd9

A ї G Am ї Cadd9

Am ї G A7 ї B7 A7 ї C A7 ї G C ї D

C ї Dm C ї G D ї F

Dm ї G D7 ї G7

E ї G Em ї F F ї G

TIER 2A ї B7 A ї D A ї E

A ї E7 Am ї C Am ї D

Am ї Dm A7 ї D7