Beginner Chord Question

[Aightball]

Whenever I come into the school for my lesson, I run through the chords I've learned so far and practice each one. Any tips for smoother transitions between chords? I start with Em and work through Em, G, E major, and Am...and I really clunk going from Em to Am (you'd think that'd be easy!). Other than practice, practice, practice, haha, any other tips to make chord changes easier?

 

[William B.]

Could try to clap your guitar on the the 4th beat while changing the chords and then go back n forth between them till it's smoother.
So the pattern is like up, down, up, clap+chord change, this with 4 quarter notes.
The clap is like slapping the strings or guitar to fill time ( among other things ) while changing the chords

 

[Formynsane]

E (minor or major) really push the harmony hard into A (minor or major) as it could be considered as a 5th grade.
It is hard to make this smoother, because it really wants to resolve on A, it depends how many beats you have to fill between the two, but you can use Aflat diminished, you can go chromatically from E to A upwards or downwards. It all depends on how many measures you have and what you are going to do with the lead voicing on it (voice or solo)

 

[juiceellish]

There’s nothing more to it that practicing it. Key to it, however, is do it sloooowww Even at an advanced level, I practice new things, whatever they are - min/maj7b5 arpeggios, melodic minor modes, etc - slowly. The most important thing to develop on guitar is muscle memory. Develop it, don’t expect to have it already.

 

[Aightball]

These are all great suggestions! I have been trying to go slow, but I’m much mine my dad in that I sometimes lack patience…and think I should be able to play faster . I will take these for a test run next practice!!

 

[Låww]

Slow and steady truly does win the race on this however frustrating that may be! For me it works to hyperfocus on improving small things while going slow such as economy of motion or perfect left hand positioning so I am too busy to become impatient

 

[Forgetabull]

Something you can also do is just practice the fretting hand position swap without strumming. Let's say you just spend 5/10/15mins infront of the tv just practicing your hand movement from em to am, you'll fairly quickly stop thinking about where your fingers need to go and they'll just go there. This is a good approach for going between big chord shape changes, like G to D or D to C etc.

 

[Aightball]

Something you can also do is just practice the fretting hand position swap without strumming. Let's say you just spend 5/10/15mins infront of the tv just practicing your hand movement from em to am, you'll fairly quickly stop thinking about where your fingers need to go and they'll just go there. This is a good approach for going between big chord shape changes, like G to D or D to C etc.

That’s a good idea. I always think I can’t practice without strumming but just sitting and moving positions is a good idea!

 

[Ed Seith]

For some chord changes, it helps to find a "pivot" point, where you can leave one finger planted (see below), but otherwise, it really is just about the persistent performance burning them into your brain.