Chord changes

Hi,

I've been playing 2 months with guitar tricks and 4 months total. Now I'm trying to learn C and G chord in guitar fundamentals 1. My question is:

Should I try to put my fingers down on the strings simultaneously from the start or will this develop automaticly with practice? It feels and it is (for now) impossible to get my fingers on the right places at the same time. C, D, Dm and G chords are the ones that I have biggest problems. Now I put every finger down individually, but is this a bad habit that I should get rid off?

Hi JP,

Totally normal problem, and good question.

eventually, yes, your goal will be to get all those fingers to land at once, as much as possible.

Meanwhile, as I teach in Guitar Fundamentals, you always want to be following a specific strategy. Yes, you might be moving one finger first in this case, but there is a specific reason for it, built in to my training process.

And that is essentially: what does this chord have in common, if anything, with the chord that came before it in the song?

I have have long sections on this you might want to check out in Guitar Fundamentals, and they are very specific as to how to get from one particular chord, like C, to another particular chord, like G.

chords happen in the context of songs, which are moving things. So it’s not just about the current chord, but also, what came before, and where are you going next - and finding a strategic pathway to string all those together so the music flows.

Make sense?

-Lisa

Thanks for your detailed answer Lisa. Good to hear that it will come with training. I was just worried that I should do something differently. Thanks again.

Originally Posted by: JP149

Hi,

I've been playing 2 months with guitar tricks and 4 months total. Now I'm trying to learn C and G chord in guitar fundamentals 1. My question is:

Should I try to put my fingers down on the strings simultaneously from the start or will this develop automaticly with practice? It feels and it is (for now) impossible to get my fingers on the right places at the same time. C, D, Dm and G chords are the ones that I have biggest problems. Now I put every finger down individually, but is this a bad habit that I should get rid off?

Something to add to Lisa's post; don't get too hung up on how 'immediately' you can switch from one chord to another. Sure, you want to do it faster than you can do it now. Like Lisa said, it happens in context of a song. What I'd add is chord changes within songs aren't like teleportation and change immediately from one to another. There is a small 'space' between chords during changes. Take the Eagles Lyin' Eyes. While the strum is at a consistent pace, you will hear a sdmall sonic space between the chords (for instance between the G and the C change). Granted, the trick is to make that change within the rhythmic strumming. Still, there is a small space there. Even the most experienced player will have some sort of chord change space to get theri fingers in place. Sure, they can do it nice and quickly.

A tip to add; start with a slow rhythmic strum. Slow but steady pace. Work on that chord change to get it to fit within the space between strums.

Right now you're worried about getting all the fingers to hit at the same time. Right now you are worried about what your hand is doing physically and not about what your trying to achieve; the seemless sound of a chord change. If it sounds right, it doesn't matter if the pinky and middle finger hit their repective strings at the same time. Eventually your hand will get used to where the fingers go all by themsleves.

I've mentioned over the last few months that I've had a wrist injury last fall and it still lingers a little bit. I've been playing since 1981-ish. Suffice it to say, G to C open chords have not been an issue for a very long time...until I hurt my wrist. Because it was my outer wrist, that C chord is really awkward. Less so now but still a little funky and still more sloppy than I'd like. I mentioned Lyin' Eye above because that has a G-to-C transition throughout the song and have a very steady strum. So I use it as my 'therapy'.

Food for thought.

Good points!