Oh, and I'll be damned if I can do it in one movement too. At the moment its like a granny parallel-parking.

Well done on your progress ?

The only cure to this is more practice, unfortunately. But...

...try and find some easy songs that you can play along to (or sing) which use those open-chord progressions.

Here's one to get you going which is not too fast and where the chord changes are pretty much always on the first beat of each bar (the "1" of "1-2-3-4").


Crowded House - Better Be Home Soon

C - Am - Em - G --> Verse

C - C7 - F - G - C --> Chorus

Bb - D - G
Bb - A7 - D --> Bridge


The chorus and bridge especially will challenge a beginner because of the barred F and Bb chords (if you choose to play them that way) and the odd 7th chord.

There are a few variations on terms of how people play the song, so check out the tabs at

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/tabs/crowded_house_tabs.htm



You'll find that practicing full songs like these, getting each change nice and fluid, is more interesting and productive than simply going through chord changes all by themselves.

Other than that, there are lots of I-IV-V type songs to choose from, which you can even practice in different keys. Common I-IV-V changes in different keys:

C-F-G (key of C)
A-D-E (key of A)
D-G-A (key of D)
E-A-B (key of E)
F-Bb-C (key of F)
G-C-D (key of G)


Playing through changes in the above order (or variations of them) will be a useful exercise and will be actual changes which you'll use regularly for songs.

just practise, thats all, it feels like forever in the beginning but when your hands suddenly realise what they're suppose to be doing it goes alot faster and you learn new chords very quickly.
You can play songs like Bad Moon Rising wich has easier versions using only the easier chords, wich makes it more fun than just doing the chordhops. But note, I suck, never went for classes or anything, I just download tabs, learn them (if I'm able), play them, get over them and look for something new and more challenging ?

Tonedef wrote: Oh, and I'll be damned if I can do it in one movement too. At the moment its like a granny parallel-parking.

hahaha, had that a couple of days ago with exchanging Bm and F# chords for Hotel California :-[ ?

practice practice practice...

...mario... wrote: hahaha, had that a couple of days ago with exchanging Bm and F# chords for Hotel California :-[ ?

That should be a relatively easy change considering you can keep the first finger barre in the same place and just shift fingers 2,3 and 4 in the same shape:


Bm - X24432
F# - 244322

Thanks for the input, guys. Ive been trying to play Free Falling with capo on third fret an' all, its so bloody easy D-G---G-D-A but its so bloody hard! Sob.

The SUCK must now fokof out of my left hand, its not paying rent. >

ah, thanx, my chart has got different shapes but already got it, so now I know 2 ways of doing that part ?
on my chart it was:
Bm-XX4432
F#-XX4322
and it sounded right so I just practised it 'till I got it
Still a noob :-[

Tonedef wrote:
Ive identified the fingerings that are common between different chords, ...

I'll add in another vote for practice, but also, use the anchor finger between chords (that's what I assume you're talking about ). It makes chord changes faster.

Take a look here http://www.justinguitar.com/en/BC-115-1MinuteChanges.php

...and here - http://www.justinguitar.com/en/BC-114-AnchorFingers.php (example of anchor fingers)

Yeah thats exactly what I meant. Good stuff, I was worried that I might be cultivating a horrendous habit.

...mario... wrote: ah, thanx, my chart has got different shapes but already got it, so now I know 2 ways of doing that part ?
on my chart it was:
Bm-XX4432
F#-XX4322
and it sounded right so I just practised it 'till I got it
Still a noob :-[

If you look carefully, the shapes on your chart are the same as the ones I posted, they are simply omitting some of the lower notes:

- They've left out the extra B in the Bm chord, played on the 5th (A) string.
- They've left out the extra F# and C# notes in the F# chord, played on the 6th (low E) and 5th (A) strings.

The reason you can get away with that and still retain the same chord is because the notes they've left out are doubles of notes that you're already fretting with your other fingers.

This is one good reason to learn the notes on your fingerboard: it really starts to open up how the chords are actually made up.

Try my suggestion of using the 1st finger barre across the second fret, keeping it the for both chords. I'm pretty sure it will make the world of difference ?

Warren wrote:

...mario... wrote: ah, thanx, my chart has got different shapes but already got it, so now I know 2 ways of doing that part ?
on my chart it was:
Bm-XX4432
F#-XX4322
and it sounded right so I just practised it 'till I got it
Still a noob :-[

If you look carefully, the shapes on your chart are the same as the ones I posted, they are simply omitting some of the lower notes:

- They've left out the extra B in the Bm chord, played on the 5th (A) string.
- They've left out the extra F# and C# notes in the F# chord, played on the 6th (low E) and 5th (A) strings.

The reason you can get away with that and still retain the same chord is because the notes they've left out are doubles of notes that you're already fretting with your other fingers.

This is one good reason to learn the notes on your fingerboard: it really starts to open up how the chords are actually made up.

Try my suggestion of using the 1st finger barre across the second fret, keeping it the for both chords. I'm pretty sure it will make the world of difference ?

Yeah, I noticed after trying them out like in your post, the barchords just seem thicker (repeting of notes) and its much easier using the barre than the way I saw it on the chart.
Thanx again, will take better note (haha) of such things from now on ?

Tonedef wrote: The SUCK must now fokof out of my left hand, its not paying rent. >

Wait untill you find the SUCK in your right hand. That one takes some good practising too ?

My right hand has less suck in it though. Discovered over the weekend that I somehow learned to pick the exact string I'm fretting first time without looking down. Was well chuffed, until lefty spoiled the fun ?

Actually having said that. My biggest problem right now, and I MEAN HUGE, is getting both hands to work with each other quickly. Its one thing being able to change chords SUPER fast with your left hand, and another to attack every string faster than the road runner with the right. But getting both LEFT and RIGHT to synchronise and play fast is not fun. If anyone has methods to improve this, that would actually be appreciated ?

FruitarGeek wrote: Actually having said that. My biggest problem right now, and I MEAN HUGE, is getting both hands to work with each other quickly. Its one thing being able to change chords SUPER fast with your left hand, and another to attack every string faster than the road runner with the right. But getting both LEFT and RIGHT to synchronise and play fast is not fun. If anyone has methods to improve this, that would actually be appreciated ?

Right / Left hand issues are very apparent when you start with stuff like fast alternate picking or sweep picking. Feel like a complete nubcake all over again. ?

One way to sort it out is to isolate left and right hand techniques with various exercises. That lets you concentrate purely upon what your right hand is doing, so that you can get it correct before you try putting both hands together.

Having an "anchor" finger helps with chord changes as well, but sometimes you have a completely new shape. What you need to do then is:

1) isolate the finger that needs to travel the furthest (across the strings, not up the neck) and concentrate getting that one down first
2) once that finger is down, use it as a pivot point to stabilize you hand and
3) the other fingers will fall into place because you have eliminated the most difficult part already and your hand is responding more naturally

Also PLAN AHEAD
There are many ways to arrange your fingers for one particular chord and depending on the chord that follows you can arrange your fingers slightly differently to facilitate a quicker change. Basically it's like working backwards. In fact, that's a good exercise too.

Getting both hands to work together is a matter of paying attention. Focus on the note that you are producing and identify with the sound rather than your body. Practice hearing the sound before you play it. Often it's a matter of being unprepared.

Viccy wrote: 1) isolate the finger that needs to travel the furthest (across the strings, not up the neck) and concentrate getting that one down first
2) once that finger is down, use it as a pivot point to stabilize you hand and
3) the other fingers will fall into place because you have eliminated the most difficult part already and your hand is responding more naturally

+1 That's some excellent advice right there, I'm going to try it tonight!

Dude. I still have to do this today. There's a dom7th chord voicing I'm trying to get down, and I just go from the preceding thing to it... over. And over. And over. And over.

At each session my fingers learn the awkward shape a little better. Eventually it will feel as natural as an E chord at the nut. It's just repetition. Nothing else.

singemonkey wrote: Dude. I still have to do this today. There's a dom7th chord voicing I'm trying to get down, and I just go from the preceding thing to it... over. And over. And over. And over.

At each session my fingers learn the awkward shape a little better. Eventually it will feel as natural as an E chord at the nut. It's just repetition. Nothing else.

+1. Exactly the same situation with me