Tips for Chord Transitions

So many of my students have been working hard on playing their guitar chords cleanly and quickly--and I can sympathize with them.  It's a hard and painstaking process--but if you put the time and effort into it, you will get there.  I promise!

Just a few quick tips as you work on the transitions:

1. Keep your fingers as close to the fret board as possible.  Let your fingers "hover" over the fret board, just above your strings. When that pinkie and third finger start flying out in space, it takes longer for them to come back down to a new chord.

2. Build your chords from the bottom string up.  For some reason a lot of students get into the habit of building chords from the highest string down--for example, they will finger a C major chord starting with the 2nd string, then 4th, then 5th.  The problem with that method is your pick is going to hit the bottom strings first, so get those notes placed first!  Find the root of the chord on the bottom three strings, and aim there first!  That extra split second will give you a chance to get the last top bits of the chord in place.  I know it seems like a negligible amount of time, but you’ll be surprised how it can improve your guitar playing.

3. When moving from one chord to the next, move the finger that has the farthest to go first.  For instance, in moving from G major to C major in the open position, your first finger has to move all the way from the 5th string to the second.  Lead with that finger and you’ll find that your other fingers naturally pull along behind to end up close to their intended frets as well.

4.  Stay relaxed and let the natural movement of your hands help you get to the chord.  Believe it or not, the guitar is actually designed very well to accommodate the natural movement of the human hand.  When you use tip #3 and lead with the farthest finger, your other fingers will follow along behind it naturally and you can get them to settle in the right place.  If you tighten up they won’t move as naturally, so stay loose.

5. Keep your right hand moving.  The way your brain works has a lot to do with how your hands react.  As a beginner, your brain is giving you permission to stop in between chords and rationalizes it as “we’ll get it eventually.”  It’s normal and happens on a subconscious level.  You can easily change that by setting up a dissonance in your brain--in other words, presenting your brain with a problem it needs to fix.  Here’s the way it works:  You brain loves when your hands are moving together.  So if you force your right hand to keep strumming, no matter what happens in your left, your brain will want to solve that dissonance by making your left hand move faster to keep up with your right.  Exactly what we’re looking for.

Good luck--and Happy Pickin'!!  Enjoy the video below:

Video--Tips on Changing Guitar Chords

Basic Fingerpicking--3 Fingers

Greetings pickers!  Today, I simply want to introduce you to a basic finger picking pattern that is outlined in the video link below.

While this technique is a little difficult, it is well worth learning, as it will bring a whole other dimension to your playing, your repertoire, and your guitar skills!

You will be using your thumb, your index finger, and your middle finger for this pattern, and this is a pattern that fits nicely into almost any song that is in 4/4 time.  With so many genres (rock, country, pop, classical) using this pattern, you will have no trouble finding songs to practice on!

In essence, your thumb will be playing an eighth note pattern, utilizing the root of the chord along with the next adjacent string, while your 1st and 2nd fingers will be doing a dotted quarter-quarter-dotted quarter type of rhythm.

It's probably best just to watch the video below--so enjoy, and Happy Pickin'!

Video Link to Basic Fingerpicking

Tips For Cleaner Chords

One of the greatest challenges of playing the guitar is learning to play clean-sounding chords--chords where all the notes are sounding, with no fret buzz or accidentally-muted strings.  It's always a challenge, especially for newer players and those working on barre chords, but it is also a challenge that can be overcome with time and practice!

Here are a few tips that I can offer for helping produce these clean chords:

1) Remember that your thumb is a balance/fulcrum point for playing chords; at times, you will be using it as a "counter-force" to help your other fingers press the strings down, and at other times, you will be positioning it out of the way of your other fingers.

Everyone's hand is a little different in terms of size and finger length, so it's important to spend the time figuring out how to use YOUR thumb to help make clean chords.  If your strings are buzzing because you're not completely pressing the string against the fret, re-positioning your thumb is a good place to start the chord-cleanup process.

2) In the same way, the wrist on your chording hand is able to flex up and down as well; people with longer fingers sometimes find that they have to flex their wrist out a bit away from the guitar neck in order for their fingers to be more perpendicular to the fretboard.

3) I should also mention that when playing chords, you do not want to use the pad of your fingertips--rather, you should always be using the tip of the finger just below the nail.  You will eventually get calluses there--wear them as a badge of honor!

4) Finally, when fingering chords, you want to make sure that you are as close to the fret as possible without being on top of it.  It takes a little work, but the closer you can get to the fret you are trying to finger, the cleaner the note will be.

In the video below, I show a little bit of the thumb and wrist positioning.

Video on Playing Cleaner Guitar Chords

Enjoy, and Happy Pickin!