wirt
So, as my sig says, I'm still pretty useless at guitar. Mainly right now I'm trying to get the basics down.
My biggest problem is that I can't get my chord changes down fast enough. What I'm doing to try and improve just playing a chord, switching to another chord and back ad nauseum to the rythm of a metronome. My problem is that I can't play the chords consistently and clearly at more than 40BPM and I feel like I've hit a wall and can't progress past it.
I'm not looking for any short-cuts or anything, I'd just like to know if there's anything else I can work at to help improve my speed a bit besides "just keep at it". ?
Besides the inane chord changes, I also practice some scales, finger stretching exercises and learning some basic songs.
Any advice?
Thanks in advance! ?
joealien22
The best advice I can give you is to keep it real slow at the beginning. It may very well be boring and monotonous but you will get quicker. If you can get it down at a slow pace, then you can increase the speed a little, and when you get it at the increased speed then increase the speed a little more and so on until you reach the desired speed.
Its the way I "try" to learn all my new riffs and songs, but its not always as easy as that, because it can be hard to fight the urge to play it at the original pace as quickly as possible ?
Bob-Dubery
I concur with Luc. Keep it slow and steady early on. If you're trying to play along with your favourite songs then you're trying to keep up with people who have been doing it for years.
Just carry on at whatever speed you can manage comfortably whilst keeping a steady tempo. You will find that with the repetition the speed will improve naturally. Make sure you include some barre chords in your practice.
Do the same for your scales - concentrate on steady timing and getting each note clear (also go backwards and forwards). DO NOT WORRY ABOUT THE SPEED. As you practice you will find the speed comes naturally.
As you improve you will find yourself getting stuck again, but the sticking point will be at a higher level of difficulty. The same principle applies - take it down to whatever speed you can that allows you to play it clearly and with steady timing. Again the speed will come with practice.
Two more things
1) Consider taking lessons
2) Get your guitar checked, you want a decent setup and a low (but not too low) action. Sometimes people think they can't play guitar when the problem is that they've got a guitar that is physically difficult to play.
Blues-Brother
I was in the same position with some licks that I wanted to play a while back. The way I approached this was to slow down the tempo to a level where I did not make any mistakes and yes it was slooowwwwww... ?
Only after I could comfortably play the lick (also paying attention the quality of notes being played), without any mistakes at that tempo, I bumped the tempo up a couple of notches.. I carried on like this until I was at the speed where I wanted to be.
I found that by not doing this, I was working mistakes into my playing and then only practicing my mistakes
So what I am saying is practice makes permanent but PERFECT practice makes perfect :?
Hope this helps 8)
wirt
Thanks guys, I'll try the go-slow approach and keep reminding myself patience is a virtue ?
If I could ask a follow-up in response to:
1) Consider taking lessons
Would it make sense to start taking lessons this early in the process? I can't help but think that it will be like taking lessons in running before I can walk. Currently I'm just following some lesson from Justin Sandercore at justinguitar.com (I've seen him mentioned on this forum a couple of times) and in my (uninformed, novice) opinion it's satisfactory for now. Am I wrong?
(as an aside, I ask a lot of questions, most of which can be considered elementary and annoying. Assumption is the mother of all screw-ups and I'd rather be thought of as a moron than be ignorant ?)
Bob-Dubery
wirt wrote:
Thanks guys, I'll try the go-slow approach and keep reminding myself patience is a virtue ?
If I could ask a follow-up in response to:
1) Consider taking lessons
Would it make sense to start taking lessons this early in the process? I can't help but think that it will be like taking lessons in running before I can walk. Currently I'm just following some lesson from Justin Sandercore at justinguitar.com (I've seen him mentioned on this forum a couple of times) and in my (uninformed, novice) opinion it's satisfactory for now. Am I wrong?
I've never looked at Justinguitar, so I can't say anything for or against it. Tutors come at various levels. Some take only beginners, some take only advanced players. Definitely there are guitar teachers who give lessons to novices.
singemonkey
Justin guitar is pretty brilliant. But obviously he can't give feedback. So lessons may be good if you find the right teacher. You don't have to know anything to start taking lessons.
But you're going about things the right way as it is - using a metronome. Just keep at it. Even now I have to practise changing to an unfamiliar chord shape.
One thing that does help is developing the independence of your fingers. Justin has a lesson on a practise exercise he uses to do that. You should have a look around for that. I think it's in a video that's specifically about how to practise.
DaFiz
I like Justin Sandercoe's stuff and recommend it everywhere I go. I teach beginners myself and if someone wants advanced teaching I refer them to justinguitar.com.
A mate of mine bought himself a genuine Gibson SG a few weeks ago and wanted me to tech him some Angus Young licks.
(That's like buying yourself a Ferrari and asking me to teach you how to drive ???)
I gave him a justinguitar link and has hazzent bothered me since...
More important than the quick chord change is being able to change to the next chord without looking.
Take three chords (G-C-D) and go round and round till you get bored and then go round the other way (D-C-G)
You will get there... ?
wirt
You dudes kick ass!
Thanks for the advice and encouragement ?
Also (last question, I promise), I've thought about creating a little topic in the guitar lessons that I'll periodically update with my progress, so as to keep a public journal of my transition from absolute guitar dumb-ass to (hopefully) being semi-proficient. Might have some entertainment value and would serve to motivate me and possibly others on the path from the place of sucktitude ? Is something like this allowed on the forum?
Thanks again to everyone.
Attila
one of the biggest things I found is that some folks tend to have a grip of steel when chording/barring frets ......
Pay special attention to the applied force when fretting as well as the position of your hand and thumb behind the neck ......soon you will see quicker lighter and more efficient chord changes,
A few do not's
Don't look at the fret board when changing/playing
Don't stop if you've made a mistake - think ahead and play through the chord progression
Beeeeeg thing is make music and have fun
singemonkey
wirt wrote:
Also (last question, I promise), I've thought about creating a little topic in the guitar lessons that I'll periodically update with my progress, so as to keep a public journal of my transition from absolute guitar dumb-ass to (hopefully) being semi-proficient. Might have some entertainment value and would serve to motivate me and possibly others on the path from the place of sucktitude ? Is something like this allowed on the forum?
Of course. Sounds awesome. Go for it.
DonRoos
What you are doing is building up muscle memory. Firstly you need to be playing the chords correctly so that they ring clear and don't stress you hand/wrist. A guitar teacher or good book/site will be able to give you this - the correct fingering, posture and hand position with some good photos. As has been mentioned, applying the correct pressure is also important. It takes time from when your finger hits the string to when you have finished applying pressure to be able to strum/pick. The harder you are pressing, the longer this will take. The optimum is to use only enough pressure to get a clear sound and also allow you to play for longer without getting tired. It also takes time to release the pressure before you fingers can change shape for the next chord. When you are comfortable that you can play the chords from a sequence on their own then continue.
Then it becomes a matter of repetition. Your muscles must be tought to form the chord shape instictively without looking. No harm in looking to start but you need to avoid this in the long run. It has also been correctly stated that you should start slowly and then progress. If you find that mistakes are creaping , slow down and correct the mistake before increasing speed again. Don't learn bad technique, it can take a long time to unlearn bad technique. I recall sitting for hours playing C Am F G over and over again (no prizes for guessing which song that was!). When you get despondent about a perceived lack of progress, flip the guitar over and try with you other hand and see the difference. It has also been stated that you should change the sequence to all the possible permutations so you build a memory of changing from each chord to all of the other chords in the sequence/key.
You can then start adding in variants such as 7th, diminished, suspended 4th, etc. chords into the mix
When you are proficient in one key, then change to a different key and learn those chords. Perhaps G Em C D. It will take a lot of time to be able to quickly move from any chord to any other chord. I am still weak in certain keys and certainly don't know every variant of every chord and doubt I ever will. But I regularly add new chords to my repetoire and am constantly learning after 40 years of playing.
Most importantly, keep it fun or you will tire of the hard work before long and give up.
arjunmenon
Here's another way to approach chord changes (Thanks to Eric Johnson!)..albeit it's a few steps ahead of where you probably are at present. Nonetheless, it could prove useful in the years to come.
Step 1 : Take any one chord and learn to play it all over the fretboard - Let's say you pick C major
Step 2 : Take any one chord diatonically related to the C major - i.e. Dm, Em, F, G or Am (don't go to diminished or half-diminished chords yet) - and play this chord all over the fretboard.
Step 3: Take Step 1 and combine it with Step 2 - The catch is wherever you play the first chord, that's the area of the neck (4 to 5 fret span) where you need to play second chord.
When you've got this down, you can start adding chords.
I wish i'd known this stuff when i started out. It has turned out to be a godsend for learning the fretboard, chord tones & formulae
Good luck & prepare for your social life to die.
Norman86
Arjun Menon wrote:
Here's another way to approach chord changes (Thanks to Eric Johnson!)..albeit it's a few steps ahead of where you probably are at present. Nonetheless, it could prove useful in the years to come.
Step 1 : Take any one chord and learn to play it all over the fretboard - Let's say you pick C major
Step 2 : Take any one chord diatonically related to the C major - i.e. Dm, Em, F, G or Am (don't go to diminished or half-diminished chords yet) - and play this chord all over the fretboard.
Step 3: Take Step 1 and combine it with Step 2 - The catch is wherever you play the first chord, that's the area of the neck (4 to 5 fret span) where you need to play second chord.
When you've got this down, you can start adding chords.
I wish i'd known this stuff when i started out. It has turned out to be a godsend for learning the fretboard, chord tones & formulae
Good luck & prepare for your social life to die.
Thanks Arjun ?
And you Eric!
wirt
Arjun Menon wrote:
Here's another way to approach chord changes (Thanks to Eric Johnson!)..albeit it's a few steps ahead of where you probably are at present. Nonetheless, it could prove useful in the years to come.
Step 1 : Take any one chord and learn to play it all over the fretboard - Let's say you pick C major
Step 2 : Take any one chord diatonically related to the C major - i.e. Dm, Em, F, G or Am (don't go to diminished or half-diminished chords yet) - and play this chord all over the fretboard.
Step 3: Take Step 1 and combine it with Step 2 - The catch is wherever you play the first chord, that's the area of the neck (4 to 5 fret span) where you need to play second chord.
Yeah... a bit ahead of my level here ? I'll be sure to keep it in mind, though. I promised myself to learn as much of the theory as I can and I'm sure this will help a lot. Thanks!
Arjun Menon wrote:
Good luck & prepare for your social life to die.
My good sir, I am a programmer, ex-trading card game player, wargamer, avid reader and regular PC gamer. What is this "social life" you speak of? ?
Thanks to you too, DonRoos. I'm trying to be very self-critical when playing, especially with regards to
how I'm playing and I need to be aware of every possible thing I could be doing wrong, now I can be on the lookout for what you mentioned too ?
wirt
Sorry for the double-post, but I have to give credit where credit is due.
DonRoos wrote:
As has been mentioned, applying the correct pressure is also important. It takes time from when your finger hits the string to when you have finished applying pressure to be able to strum/pick. The harder you are pressing, the longer this will take. The optimum is to use only enough pressure to get a clear sound and also allow you to play for longer without getting tired. It also takes time to release the pressure before you fingers can change shape for the next chord. When you are comfortable that you can play the chords from a sequence on their own then continue.
Attila wrote:
one of the biggest things I found is that some folks tend to have a grip of steel when chording/barring frets ......
So I play some chords tonight, trying to press down on the strings just as much as I need to and lo and behold... it was exactly as you guys said. I was using about 3-4 times the amount of pressure I needed to. Now I need to unlearn that habit. Thanks for the advice!
Daler
Apart from JustinGuitar, which is very good I agree, there is a wealth of great instruction on YouTube. Marty Swartz and David Taub from nextlevelguitar and guitar jams are also brilliant and will become very familiar to you in time, especially if you are interested in playing Blues or rock. Apart from al the Internet help though, I do suggest that you also take lessons. I have been taking them since I started playing guitar (January this year only), and it has definitely helped me.
Most lessons I go to, i dont even play the guitar. Instead, I use the lesson to ask questions about theory and method. For example, what is chord theory and why does it matter. Why do some chords sound good together and others don't? Which scales should I concentrate on first and why? What are the modes and why do they matter etc etc. I don't have any mates who play guitar near where I live so having a coach that I can bombard with questions and steer me in the right direction is invaluable. I then take the theory advice and try to apply it in the week leading up to my next lesson.
Earlier a member mentioned learning to change chords that are in the same key. That is great advice, and the best part is that with a basic rhythm pattern applied, you will sound musical while doing it and your mates will think you actually know what you are doing ? Practice, practice, practice....and constantly challenge yourself. If guitar was easy, it would not be nearly as fun 8)
joealien22
+1 Marty Swartz
His lessons are awesome. Taught me a lot about playing funk. But he does a wide variety of lessons, mainly focused around blues and rock. He has tons of free videos on youtube. I would definitely recommend checking them out.
arjunmenon
wirt wrote:
Arjun Menon wrote:
Good luck & prepare for your social life to die.
My good sir, I am a programmer, ex-trading card game player, wargamer, avid reader and regular PC gamer. What is this "social life" you speak of? ?
? My bad. At least your playing will improve
briang-telkomsa-net
Wirt - your public record of progress is awesome, I'm enjoying it very much. I guess its because your story is very familiar.
When I started playing I couldn't get a decent strum pattern going for up to six months (that was AFTER learning the chord change thing where I had to sometimes use the strumming hand to move the fretting fingers that did not want to obey their master!)
Suddenly one day it just happened - I could strum, sort of decently, without banging into the strings.
A bit like trying to get a wolf whistle going and then getting it right in church.
iow be patient
Also use every opportunity to be with, watch, or play with more accomplished players - I was fortunate enough to have this at school and it really helps. Besides its always more fun if you can do your guitar stuff with someone/s else.
I have found that the more you learn the more you find out that there is to learn!
Will follow your progress.
