When you are learning how to play the guitar, changing chords will be something you need to do all of the time. When you first start it is quite bewildering and most beginners think they will never be able to change chords because they cannot even manage the simple ones. Well, don’t despair! At the end of the day the simple chords are not given this name because they are easy to play. You are quite right to feel that many of them require complex movements of the fingers to get it just right.

Of course, practice is required to enable you to change chords smoothly but there are a few other things you can do to help yourself along. First of all, make sure you relax. If you fail to do this and your shoulders and arms are tense you will be gripping the guitar so tightly, changing chords will be practically impossible to do smoothly and with speed.

This added tension makes the fingers press against each other and the space which is needed between the fingers in non existent. When this happens, each finger cannot be moved individually and placed on the required string to create the necessary sound of the chord. Even worse than this, the tense and tightly curled hand becomes sweaty and this does not help your guitar playing at all.

In particular, take care to relax your left hand as much as you possibly can when placing it on the neck of the guitar. The fingers, although curled, should be relaxed and loose, separated from each other with space between the fingers and the guitar, especially when changing from G to C chords, which you will find is one of the more difficult moves to make.

Try not to lead with your strong index finger. When playing the C chord, put your second finger on the 4th string first of all, and whilst keeping your hand outwards, place your third finger next and then last of all put your index finger on the 2nd string, first fret. If you allow enough space between your index finger and the guitar to fit a pencil through, you will not go far wrong.

Start slowly when you begin practicing chords. The world as you know it is not going to finish if you have not reached perfection within a couple of days. So sit down with your guitar and practice your chord changing in a relaxed manner and it will not be long before it all becomes clear and your have this skill off to perfection.

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Music General,
Music Theory,
Musical Performance,
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Source: Music Theory

There is a big difference between playing at practicing and actually practicing. Which one of the two do you find yourself doing more often than not? You may think that you spend a certain amount of time each week practicing but what are you really doing? It’s all so easy to pick up your guitar and do your best Jimmy Hendrix impression whilst staring out of the window in your own little world and when you get to the stage where you are taking your final bow to a standing ovation you come back to reality and stop for a cup of coffee. This, my friend does not count as practice!

Come on, wake up and get some serious practicing done! Get the metronome out and settle down to perfecting the newest pieces of your repertoire. A good test is to set the metronome to a slow speed and play your tune through - its really quite difficult but it’s a good way to start, then you can speed it up a little until it is just right. If you find one particular part of the music is proving to be difficult, then do not practice the whole thing over and over again, but concentrate on the bit which is being troublesome. With perseverance, you will eventually get it right.

The average human attention span lasts for between two and five minutes. That is not a long time so make sure you set your timer to bleep in around fifteen minutes and play your guitar until the timer goes off. When it sounds, take five to relax your brain and your fingers and then start all over again.

Don’t forget to breathe evenly when learning to play a difficult tune. Many people make the mistake of holding their breath whilst focusing and this only increases your tension which will result in you feeling tired more quickly and not being able to position your fingers properly. To put an end to practicing becoming all work and no play, you can always play a tune you really like by way of reward when you have perfected the difficult piece and finished your scales and arpeggios practice for the day.

It’s good to take a break during your practice to read up on the theory of guitar playing and music in general. This interlude will stimulate your brain whilst resting your fingers. When you are playing your guitar try to visualize exactly what you are doing. This is a much practiced and useful tool to learn music. Warm up with scales when you first start your practice before attempting to play a new piece of music. If you perform for two and a half hours in fifteen minute intervals, leave your new piece for the second to last session. This will keep your interest and give you something to look forward to towards the end of your practice.

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Tags:
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Source: Guitar

How many people do you think learn guitar online? Going by the number of guitar tutorial websites popping up over the Internet, I would say the number of people attempting to learn guitar is quite high. There are some sites that are really good, and then there are some that just skip through the basics. Yeah, without being noble about it, there are quite a few sites that are not half as good as they claim to be, and are definitely not what beginners should be looking for.

When I decided to learn guitar, I thought it made a lot of sense to do some research on the options I had as far as teachers were concerned. I found out what quite a few others like me must have found out during their searches – that getting a teacher who fit your requirements to a “T” was not all that easy. I discovered the advantages of learning guitar online, and have, since then, advocated the same to anyone I come across who is in the same position as I was. One of the things I tell people is to do their research well before choosing a website, as not all websites are the best in terms of approach or content.

This is  where JamDojo.com steps up to the plate. We’ve researched the online guitar training courses and found one that we highly recommend for beginner guitar players and it’s called “The Beginner’s Guide to Unlocking the Guitar”. Learn more about how to play guitar using this excellent training method.

So you want to learn how to play the guitar? If you’re like me, you don’t want to wait months to be able to “show off” in front of your family and more importantly - your friends? That’s exactly how I felt too!

I found an excellent new guitar training method that taught me how to play a cool song in just a couple of days. Unlike a lot of the crap you’ll find online these days, this simple method walked me right through the whole learning process and it was super easy. I’m not ready to play in a rock band after 2 days but I’m well on my way.

The method is called The Beginners Guide to Unlocking the Guitar and it was fun and easy to follow. You can read more about how to play guitar here.

I encourage you to give it a try and then get back with me with your results. I might post them here as inspiration for others.

Jam soon,

Jam Master Sinsei