Im struggling with speed on chord changes, i do the 1 minute changes i practice for at least 30 mins every day, but just cant seem to pick up any speed, going to the D chord from any other chord is my biggest struggle. And starting to get frustrated.
Im 52 and been learning for around 5 months, approx 60hrs.
Hi John & Welcome to the Community!
First off, try not to get frustratedā¦ learning guitar is a marathon, not a sprint! There are lots of hurdles ahead so donāt let them bring you down before youāre around the first bendā¦
Lots of Track & Fieldā references, eh?
Seriously, when Iām encountering something difficult, the best thing is to try not to focus too much on whatās causing you stressā¦ keep working on the issue while also focusing on things you can do well.
Chord changes are very challenging, especially for newbies. The good news is that you will improve! The ānot so goodā news is that it never seems to happen as quickly as you want it to!
Technically, what helps for me is to slow the tempo WAY down & make sure youāre getting your fingers in the right place. I donāt worry at the early stage to even strumā¦ just laser focus on moving your fretting hand. Then when you think youāre doing better getting to the āDā from another chord, try keeping time with your foot tapping. Again, either donāt worry about strumming or only 1 strum per bar. Keep it really slow until it feels pretty natural. Iām not sure what other chords you have āunder your fingersā, but use all that you know!
When youāre ready to increase the tempo a bit, use small increments at a time & practice consistently. Again, periodically step away from this & work on something elseā¦ keep practicing fun!!!
Good luck!!!
Tod
Iām certainly no expert, but I think doing one-minute changes for 30 minutes a day is way too much. I wouldnāt do them for more than 5 or 10 minutes. Beyond that will just cause frustration and burnout. Play songs that have the particular chord changes instead.
I agree, and if I remember correctly, the course material recommends not spending too much time on one aspect of the practice routine.
Maybe the community could tailor recommendations better if you say what module/grade youāre on, @Hodgy73?
I would suggest slowing down. Itās much more important to play in time than to play fast and panic every time the D chord is coming.
I found chords like the D chord and the ones that have alphabet letters in them, hard to place and transition between as well.
I found that a major hindrance for me was that I would have a ālead fingerā and the other fingers would follow it. So it was a slow sequence of fingers placed one after the other. That is slow by itself, and even slower when the chord before it had the wrong finger farther away.
To train myself out of that, I practiced placing the chords while leading with different fingers , so every finger got practice going first. Then that slowly transitioned to landing all the fingers at the same time. When you start doing that, Justinās air chord lesson is helpful, taking time to set your fingers in position above the strings and placing them all at the same time, lifting up and repeating. A lot.
It is still a work in progress 4.5 years in and I go back to these types of exercises frequently. Especially when I start a song lesson that has chords that I find still difficult, you know, the ones with alphabet letters in them.
Let me guess, youāve seen dozens of videos on YouTube with titles like āLearn a hundred songs by lunchtime by mastering these easy beginner chords!ā Which of course are G, C and D. Wonderful a resource as YouTube is, itās probably responsible for making more beginners throw in the towel thinking they obviously donāt have ātalentā than any other single thing. There are no beginner chords! They are all really strange things to ask your inexperienced fingers to do! The hardest thing iāve found in three solid years of learning is ignoring the voice in my head which constantly asks me why iām not better than i am or further along the path. You will get there, my friend!
I started playing aged just over 50 and the difference that I see with your practice to how mine was is that you are doing practice sessions of 30 minutes+ whereas I was practicing 5-10 minutes at a time, albeit often a few times in a day. I found it took a few minutes to get my fingers moving, a short time when I was actively improving and then Iād either plateau or get worse and so Iād put the guitar down and come back maybe an hour or 2 later and repeat. Maybe others disagree but I donāt find long sessions to be any more productive - my brain and fingers just get tired.
Iād also ask, how are you doing your chord changes? If you go from D to A for example, what do you do? Are you lifting your fingers off and then forming the new shape fresh each time? If so, thatās inefficient. I think much more in terms of where each finger is on the fret board and what direction it needs to move in, so maybe my index finger needs to move across 1 string and up 1 fret, the next one doesnāt move and the next one moves up one fret (thatās not the sequence of D to A, itās just how I taught myself chord changes). It was also how I taught myself no-look chord changes
Iām 65 and started learning in mid-January of this year. Iāve made slooow progress through the first 6-7 months, but Iāve noticed that in the past 2-3 weeks, Iāve suddenly made a jump in ability with chord changes, strumming and even ability to sing lyrics with new songs!
I spent a LOT (and I mean a LOT) of time learning Cortez the Killer and Chocolate Jesus. They both only use 3 chords and with Cortez, Iāve had a lot of trouble landing the D and then the A chords accurately but now Iām finally doing it and can play the song pretty smoothly (and sing it, too!) With Chocolate, that song was much more difficult for me (especially the D minor chord) and because the āpick/strumā was really challenging for me. Then, when I decided to throw in lyrics, that REALLY took me a long time to accommodate, but my pesistence has paid off. I can now play both songs reasonably well (which, for me, are difficult for my skill level - Iām in Grade 2).
Iāve just started playing around with Eleanor Rigby and House of the Rising Sun and have been able to pick up these songs much more quickly than I have done with past songs (even singing the lyrics!). I started picking the House yesterday and did pretty darn well!
Anyway, in closing - persistence and maybe trying pieces that may seem too difficult for SHORT periods of time (Iāve also learned the Wish You Were Here riff and am now struggling through Californication) - these are HARD for me, but Iām starting to see some positive results! Neural networks are forming!
Keep Going! It works!
I have to say, JustinGuitar is the BOMB. Iāve recommended it to my 63 year old brother whoās just starting out with his guitar.
Donāt all chords have letters in them? C, Am, F#, Bā, Gmaj7 , etc. etc. every single one named with letters!
That would be the point.
You may be doing this already, but Justinās concept of using anchor fingers helped me increase my speed on changes. I think this is what mattswain above is presenting as well. Time and practice allow the movements to become more automatic. I found the short 5 minute practice points to be more effective than continually banging away for long stretches of time on a single objective. Good luck and hang in there.
How many chord change sets a day are you doing? 
Thatās a lot of sets. 
Are you using the practice assistant? If not you should, its great and it is all set up for you. Hit the button and go. Do one set for 1 min. When timers goes off you move on to the next one and you are done with that until the next day. Work the routine.
If you want to do extra you should but dont redo the fast changes, in that way. Pick a song that has the cord changes and play it. Its much funner you will get a goove, learn a song and you are playing music. You will feel better while acomplishing the same thing.
Good luck
When Iām doing the one-minute chord changes, should I be watching my hand? or should it just be memory and feel?
Some are definitely easier than othersā¦but Iām struggling C to D without looking at my fingers.
Iāve always been surious how everyone else improves the skill.
by playing songs , songs and even more songs 
The thing to remember is that you only need to change chords as quickly as the song youāre learning requires.
No point in practising chord changes until you need them in a song. Then one day youāll suddenly realise that youāve covered all the main/common progressions.
Oh god no, i do the 1min changes, and then normal practice 30mins, as in strumming playings simple songs etc.
Thank you and no, you tube i avoid, i learn with justin and only justin.
Im on grade 2
I meant i do the 1 minute changes, as part of my 30mins practise.