When you first start out playing the guitar, there are many different skills you will need to master. You will need to learn guitar chords, how to tune your guitar using a guitar tuner online and how to play guitar scales. You will also need to learn how to change from one chord to the next too and this can prove to be one of the trickier skills to get to grips with. However, with practise and effort, it is something that you will master. Here are the top tips for how to perform speedier chord changes:
Learning the chords
To make smooth chord changes, you must first be confident of the chords. You will need to learn the strings you use and the finger positioning for all the guitar chords necessary. Until you are confident with each of the guitar chords, it is unlikely you will be able to make a smooth transition between them. Learn each one individually and practise until you are confident at playing that particular chord before moving on to the next.
Playing clean chords
Playing clean chords makes all the difference to how well you change from one to another. To achieve clean chords, your guitar must be kept in tune, a guitar tuner online can help you achieve this. Other than using an online tuner, practise the chords by picking each string separately as this will help you to tell if you are playing the chords cleanly.
Coordination
Coordination of your hands is key to a successful chord change. A common mistake made by beginners is to stop everything when it comes to a change. The best way to improve your left and right hand coordination is to continue strumming as you switch from one chord to another. This is a difficult skill to learn, but if you use this technique every time you practise, it will become second nature and you will see a big difference in your changes.
Moving fingers in pairs
The final tip for speeding up your chord changes is learning how to move your fingers in pairs. This is a really useful technique that will improve your guitar playing no end, but it is also one of the most difficult skills to master. Perseverance and plenty of practice will be needed in order to learn how to do this and you will need to try this out with lots of different chord changes until it becomes a natural way to play your guitar.
By making sure your guitar is in tune using a guitar tuner online, learning the chords, playing them cleanly, improving your coordination and mastering the art of moving your fingers in pairs, you will soon notice that you improve the speed of your chord changes and the quality of your playing will also get better as result.