Thank you for this suggestion! I will try this for the chords I’m struggling with.
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It only took Justin 30+ years to make it look so easy!
All kidding aside, it’s not an easy thing to do and it will just take time and repetition. There is no short cut.
With enough chord changes this will start becoming more and more natural until you won’t have to consciously think about it. That’s the nature of repetition and muscle memory.
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Hello @johnchianti welcome to the Community.
Note that when Justin first shows this at slow tempo (@50 seconds) he is shwoing it how you would begin. Very, very slowly. What Justin then moves to within the next 30-60 seconds of the video is something you will progress to over days and weeks.
Hope that helps.
Cheers 
| Richard_close2u | JustinGuitar Official Guide & Moderator
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I love that this is something to ASPIRE to, as in it requires added skill. I do this by default simply because just moving from one chord and just landing on the next makes me anxious, like I’m behind in the song. Since I play a lot of Rocksmith, I have that kind of built in metronome- the song playing with or without me- and I take sections of songs at 100 percent. That let’s me see the WHOLE chord in the tab and then I can slowly form it, land, change rinse and repeat until I can play at normal speed. The air thing plus kind of 'walking my fingers onto each chord helps me. Say I go G to C, lift off G and anchor Finger one to C and the other two know where to go from there. THAT is still taking practice to reach speed but it’s working to make me a little more comfortable and accurate.
I guess I’m finally seeing progress as a guitar player instead of always feeling like I’ll always be useless with the instrument. Now if only my typing could catch up. It took me forever of fixing typos to get this all down!!
Tina S is a child prodigy. Getting to her level is a great motivator and goal but unrealistic for any age. I always wanted to learn guitar, but didn’t because I didn’t believe I could ever play as well as others that started as kids. Then I decided to take a guitar non-credit college class as a start. Half the class dropped out because the guitar instructor expected smooth chord changes after a few weeks. I am learning at my own rate now thru Justin and can see my progress, slow but always improving. I have heard experts say that once they get to an advanced level they realize how little they know. I learned to not compare myself with others because there are so many music styles, genres, directions to take. I spent a year learning music theory, picking, strumming, chord changes before I could fluently play a song. Now songs are my number one priority.
I really appreciate comments on this forum. It’s easy to get frustrated when it takes so long to get thru the basics until you read that others are going thru the same challenges. Thank you Justin and everyone that has shared their learning experiences. It helps.
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Hello @nubonguitar and welcome to the Community.
Might I suggest that running at 100% with Rocksmith is going to ingrain bad habits that you will find difficult to break.
Practice makes permanent.
If you continue to practice with lagging finger placement or out-of-time changes you will perfect the art of playing like that.
Do it slow, do it right.
Hope that helps.
Cheers
| Richard_close2u | JustinGuitar Official Guide
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Hello @Daniel3117 welcome to the Community.
That’s what it is here for!
Cheers
| Richard_close2u | JustinGuitar Official Guide
Well no I don’t rush through following the flowing tabs. I’ll take a section of song in the ‘riff repeater’ and study the chords I need. Then work on the chord changes I need. Then once I’m comfortable I’ll play the riff at whatever speed I can and ultimately work up to regular song speed. The 100% I use in the song is 100% of the notes, not necessarily 100% speed. The game likes to simplify a little TOO much. A D chord will start as just the open D string. Then add the fretted G and B. And THEN the whole chord…it’s a confusing mess and to me doesn’t feel like it’s gradually building up it feels like it’s creating a false muscle memory. It gives you the simplest way in the quickest manner to get you making the sound of the song to stroke your ego. I’m glad I’m a broad study because I figured out early on I’m not gonna LEARN guitar. I’ll just learn to copy songs watching Rocksmith lol.
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I took up guitar in my late forties, the gave it up for about 5 years and now I’m 55. I’m working on passing Grade 1. I think you’re looking too far ahead and dismissing how much time you have left. 40 was a lifetime ago for me. Even looking forward and thinking I have maybe 25+/- years left, I remember my oldest son is 25 it feels like he was born 3 lifetimes ago.
Besides, the fun is in the journey and the challenges it presents, not the destination. You’ll be better in six months than you are today and even better in a year, two years, five years. Enjoy getting there.
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WISDOM
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I mostly started doing this naturally before I even got here
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As I’m going through the course I’ve realized that I haven’t really seen chords in the music I’d like to play. I’ve mainly been practicing thrash metal so bands like Metallica and Megadeth. So should I put more practice into the techniques used in those songs or into chord perfect practice? I do plan on branching out into all different genres of music so I do plan on using chords but that isn’t my priority right now.
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I admit I don’t know very well the output of those 2 bands, but don’t they use chords in their songs? Something must be playing behind the solos 
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They use power chords but almost all of them use arpeggios, scales, palm muting, pull-offs, hammer-on, moving up and down the fretboard but they do use tritones and dyads which I think are chords?
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Have you tried skipping ahead to the power chord lessons in the course?
If you succeed with that, and it gets you motivated and playing the music you like, I don’t see much harm. You can do OMC, PFC exercises with power chords too!
That said, there’s a lot of benefit to working through all of Justin’s lessons…they really do give you a solid foundation that should work with any style of music.
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open chords are the foundation to everything on guitar. The CAGED system is based on the open chords that make up the Name and lay out the fret board perfectly. Even people who put down the CAGED system use it without know that they are.
You’ll find that as you explore music even band like Metallica and Megadeth are a lot more than just power chord. So you may as well learn as much as you can and be a much better player for doing so.
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yeah you’re both right, I might as well perfect these chords and not have to worry about them later. I’m just going to keep going through the course and add the other stuff into my practice. I’ve seen loads of improvement in the past couple weeks so this course is definitely working.
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I referred to this earlier post, because I do something very similar, and it seems very effective.
Don’t have a good name for the exercise yet, but…
Play (press strings and strum) / Slap / Hover / Touch
…is the gist of it.
The differences from Richard’s exercise are:
-
you strum the chord each time. This gives you a quality check. It also highlights any sympathetic tension in your fretting hand that may occur when you strum
-
you slap the strings after each strum. This forces you to reset your fingers and reform the chord, and seems to reduce tension. I find this less disruptive than slapping your knee, as some people recommend.
For me the hover - forming the chord “in the air” without touching the strings - is usually the hardest part. So I usually start out touching one string at a time at first. I experiment with putting fingers down in different orders, then 2 fingers at once, and they seem to learn how to move all at once after a while.
I do it no tempo at first, speaking each step out loud, until it starts to flow. Then I do it against a straight 4/4 drumbeat, with hi-hats on the 8th notes. (Metronome also works…but feels less musical). As slow as necessary to stay relaxed and precise. 40 - 60 BPM usually works for me, but don’t be afraid to go slower.
Do "Play"on beat 1; “Slap” on beat 2, etc.
At all times, the focus is on relaxation, agility, and precision. Not speed!
After a while (often several days or more) your fingers start to effortlessly form the chord shape in the air, and drop down on the strings without fumbling or tension.
Then just press all the strings and strum. Repeat ad infinium, speeding up incrementally.
I’m in the process of relearning my technique with thumb muting, and this really seems to be helping.
If anybody tries this, please follow up with your experience, questions, suggested improvements, etc.
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Hello @SaulU
All guitar based music - including those bands you mention - is built on the most basic and simple of foundations. Those bands guitarists would not have a clue how to play arpeggios, solos, riffs etc if they had not learned the essential building blocks of rhythm and chords.
Stick with the programme, it is everything you need and will take you where you want to go.
This is hard, does anybody have any alternative to it?
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