Welcome back guitar heads! Last time I showed you how to learn guitar chords quickly and easily. Granting that you have learned many three-string chords, another obstacle yet arises- how to change from one chord to the next smoothly and quickly enough.
Before going on further, I want to emphasise that we approach the guitar when practising is different from when we are playing. Why? Practising means building up your chops, slowing things down to ensure you only get the good things out of your practise and none of the bad things like bad habits and even injuries. If somewhere along your practise session you make some mistake, you simply stop what you are doing and redo again and again until you eliminate that mistake.
Playing however means playing the things you already know, particularly songs or small parts of songs. You don’t care or worry so much on how you do things (since they are being taken care of during practising) but carry on even if you make mistakes along the way. You only need to make those mistakes not so obvious to the listeners.
It’s just like boxing. The boxer undergoes every difficulty during training and tries to overcome it. He builds up strength, stamina, strategy and proper technique. But when the actual boxing match comes he doesn’t have time to think about these things nor keep on carrying weights and tire himself out from running but do his best (positive thinking plus the results of his training) to win.
In the same manner we apply this way of thinking to playing the guitar and every aspect that comes with it. So now let’s talk about changing chords.
Practice
When learning songs, take the time to look at the chords involved and make sure you are able to fret each one of them. If you are not able to, then learn it first.
Once you already know all of them learn their sequences and simulate the chord changes without having to strum the strings (so stare at your fretting fingers and ignore the picking/strumming hand for now).
As usual, try to do each chord change slowly and smoothly at first and gradually build your speed up.
You can further make the process easier by breaking them into song lines and integrate them into what comprises the entire song. Get the picture?
Playing
So after having done the procedure above, you can now change from one chord to the next at will! The only difference this time is you actually have to strum the strings and make sure you do it every chord change.
But wait a minute... You can even make this easier! You can cheat if you still get behind chord changes. You can strum the strings even when you are not fretting any chord. And you can place this between any two chords to buy you more time to prepare for the upcoming chord. A lot of camp fire guitar players do this!
So remember playing and practising complement each other. Only through investing sufficient time for each will help you become a better guitar player. Have fun! :)
