Tips for Making Smoother Chord Changes

One of the complaints I hear most often from students who are working on chord songs is that they have difficulty making quick chord changes--especially in songs where the chord is changing every beat, or every two beats.  And I get that--I can clearly remember the frustration of trying to keep up with the songs I was learning as a younger student!

There is good news, however, and a couple of really simple techniques can help you to make those chord changes quickly and cleanly.

THE BOUNCE TECHNIQUE
The bounce technique is great for students who are just starting to work on chord progressions, and it involves simply making the chord shape of a particular chord with your fretting hand (start with a G Major chord, for example), and just bouncing that formation lightly on the strings--over and over and over.  This will help with your muscle memory, and will also help to "burn" that image of a G Major chord into your head.

Then move on to another chord formation, i.e. C Major or E minor.  Just like before, bounce that chord formation off of the strings over and over and over.

As an aside, it does not matter if you are working with first-position chords, barre chords, or even power chords.  The same bouncing technique works for any fingered chord!

MOVE FROM BOUNCING CHORDS TO "LIFTING AND SHIFTING"
Once you have worked on bouncing single chord formations for a while, the next step is to bounce a chord formation once, then immediately bounce to another chord position that you have been working on.  Start with just "lifting and shifting" between two chords, then as you get more comfortable with the transitions, add a third chord, then a fourth chord, etc.

Students often tell me that they are having problems moving from one particular chord to another, but often, this is because they are lifting their hands completely off of the fret board between chords.  In the "Lift and Shift" method, you keep your fingers hovering slightly above the fret board, and snap quickly to your next memorized formation.

Truth be told, if you have worked on bouncing the chords and burning them into your brain and muscles, it shouldn't matter which chord you're coming from and which one you're going to--your muscle memory will get you quickly to and from!

For a visual demonstration, click on the video link below.  Have fun--and Happy Pickin'!

CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO