I have only been playing guitar for 4 weeks. I bought a Yamaha F310. I have been using the Justin Guitar app and tutorials. I have moved on to Module 2 of Grade 1. I was able to get 30 A to D chord changes in a minute by memory. I have not been able to move out of Module 2, because I can’t get the A to E changes by memory (I was able to get 30, but not from memory). I can only get 20 D to E changes right now. My issue/concern/frustration is I cannot figure out why I’m not getting the changes. When I look at my Tuner I can see that I’m hitting the correct notes and chords. Due to the fact that I am new, and addicted, my index finger and ring fingertips are very sore. I feel like I am not able to push the strings down hard enough, because of the finger soreness. It’s frustrating and I can see how people would quit and not continue on. As I’ve stated I am addicted and I want to stick it out. I’ve shortened my practice time to give my fingers time to callus (taking forever!). I bought the strumming skill to practice other aspects of playing. I’ve also learned and memorized all the notes on the fretboard. Any advice regarding this rambling is greatly appreciated.
That’s all completely normal in my opinion. Guitar is a hard instrument in the opening weeks and months.
I don’t know how much you are practicing but my approach was to do a few short sessions every day, as little as 5-10 minutes at a time. I found that it helped with keeping concentration high and finger pain to a minimum.
Are you being efficient with your chord changes? Take D to E for example… Often beginners will remove their entire hand from the fretboard and then start forming the new shape from scratch which is inefficient. If you take D to E, you can slide your first finger (pointer finger) across from fret 2 to fret 1 and pivot the other 2 fingers into place, much quicker. Maybe you do this already but looking at each transition and seeing how to make it as efficient as possible really helped me
I figured it was normal. I’ve backed off the amount of time I practice to no more than 30 minutes a day. Sometimes twice a day. I’ve been using my anchor finger and sliding it over. I have a string groove on my index finger. I feel like I have to push very hard to get the note to ring out. Thank you for your advice.
I think you have to do what Matt says. Short regular practices are what work in the beginning as there’s only so much your fingertips can take. Actually, in the lessons, Justin mentions this and stresses that you shouldn’t overdo it.
I still have that now. I practice about 1 hour most days but recently I started increasing my practice time to between 1 and 2 hours each day and my fingers were quite sore somedays and limited how long I could play.
So I think that what you are experiencing is normal and in time you will be able to extend your practice time.
Hi Nathan,
Good comments above.
Building some toughness on my fingers took about 6-8 weeks. I was also breaking practice up into two to three 20-30 minute sessions per day. I never suffered from sore fingers until Grade 3 bends and slides. What did change was my ability to press on string while not having my finger flatten out and touch an adjacent string.
Additionally, for finger soreness, you only need to hold the string hard enough to anchor it against the fret. It won’t go down to the fretboard in most cases. It only needs to not buzz, so you may be able to ease up and eliminate some or all of the finger tenderness.
For the trouble remembering the E->A change, see if you can alter how you think of a chord. Are you thinking as three independent finger positions or are you thinking of a grouping of positions? I know that some things have given me trouble that others do quickly and some things are very simple for me others struggle with. You will run into that stuff and you want to think through why it is hard and see if you can approach the task from another viewpoint.
For example: I have a great deal of trouble memorizing songs. I have been talking to another forum member and he has no trouble, can memorize something very quickly. We examined how we approach the memorization and he was thinking solely in chord sequence structure and I was thinking in a far more detailed set of position shifts of my fingers. I started to try to approach as chord sequence structure and had a much faster learning time.
I guess that everyone experiences things that take longer to learn than others. In most cases, my chord changes got faster and it was just a question of time and patience. But some chord changes just seem easier than others and you just have to put in the time and get the muscle memory. However, even though I learnt a Bm barre chord about a year ago and use it in several songs, I nearly always have to do some practicing of chord changes from D > Bm and G > Bm, before playing those songs. It just doesn’t come naturally. So I think your A > D or A > E slowness will just take a bit more time and then it will likely just click.
Hi Nathan
Most peoples finger tips will harden their up in 6-8 weeks but that also depends on how often and for how long you practice a day. If 30-60 minutes a day they should harden up in that time. But some peoples skin takes longer.
One of the most important things when starting out playing guitar is to ensure it is properly set up and set up for you so it is not hard to play, or worse sounds bad. When you purchased it if it was not set up or checked over you may want to address the following.
The strings on an acoustic are harder to press down for two reasons, the fretboard (scale length) is shorter than say a an electric guitar, the strings are under more tension to get the same pitch note, and generally the action is higher (distance of strings from frets).
There are 2 things you can do to make it easier, put narrower gauge strings on, see https://rewindcaps.com/best-guitar-strings-for-yamaha-f310-daddario-strings/ you could go to EZ890s or EZ900s until things get easier, and you could get the action lowered a little, if it needs it. You might want to take the guitar to a local luthier to lower the action as this involves replacing the bone/plastic saddle that sits in the bridge where the strings go over and setting it to the height wanted for the strings. Also if the guitar already has heavy guage guitar strings on and you replace them with much lighter strings then the truss rod in the neck might need a tweak to compensate for the less tension. have look at this to understand fully https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgsN_HOjV2c, If you are not confident in making any changes yourself then take it to a luthier.
A properly set up guitar will definitely help and it will be more enjoyable to play.
To learn changes from one chord to another I would advise this. First learn one chord at a time, the on and of method I find is best and is often recommended.
The method is to form the shape of the chord slowly on the strings and lightly press down then quickly remove it from the fretboard and shake your had hand out, do not bother even playing the chord. Keep repeating this gradually speeding up, unit you can easily grab the chord, the try playing it, you may need to make slight finger adjustment to ensure all the strings ring out that should. Keep practising this until you are happy. Once you have the two chords say D and E (open) then practice grabbing D and then E and visa versa until you can do it quickly. It is all about muscle memory and repetition, start slowly and build up speed. All guitarists have to do this when the learning new chords or have chord changes they have not done before, but it gets easier as your fingers become more agile, and work more independently to each other. It takes patience but it will improve.
Hope this helps.
Count me as another who recommends very short sessions very frequently.
I took a guitar class at the local community college a few years ago. The pace was too fast for me, and as a result I had to spend a LOT OF TIME practicing. About halfway into the class, I developed neuropathy in my fingertips. My guitar playing plummeted and I fell off the course pace pretty hard. I simply couldn’t feel where my fingers were anymore.
When I picked up guitar again about 2yrs ago, I took it much slower. Built up my fingertip calluses before I really started pushing it for practice time. Among other things, it helped a lot. Even though I really wanted to spend a lot of time focusing on guitar, I absolutely had to pace myself so I didn’t burn up.
Some chord changes definitely take me longer to grasp, too. Sometimes it comes down to how I move/place my fingers. If I have trouble doing it one way, sometimes I learn if I force myself to do it a different way that it’s faster. I’ve hit a bit of a wall with barre chords lately. I know many of the shaped and can make that chord on command. But not quickly enough to play in a song. Sometimes I spend entire practice sessions just working on a chord progression with a barre chord to a metronome/drum machine just to work on it. Progress is slow.
Hey, I’ve literally just been through a very similar experience. The calluses on my fingers peeled away and I was left with extremely red, soft, sore fingers. Very frustrating indeed. It has taken about 10 days I think and I’m back to practicing 1-2 hours per day (and loving it! 
).
You’re doing the right things. I focused on a lot of strumming with a muted fret board and I actually feel that’s given me a boost starting on grade 2.
I also started the theory and ear training courses, which I love and will stick with them both.
Another exercise I found helpful was doing the chord changes (making the shapes above the correct srings) with just your fretting hand without pressing on the strings or strumming. Again, not time wasted.
So hang in there! You’re not alone 
A to E changes.
I find using you index finger to “slide” from fret 2 up to fret 1 means you only have to lift 2 fingers when changing chords in either direction. As mattswain stated this works for A to D changes too.
It’s amazing how much quicker you can switch when one finger doesn’t have to leave the strings.
What do you mean by “by memory “? Do you mean without looking at your fretting hand or do you mean something else?
You re not supposed to do that in Grade 1
same is for not looking at your hand , dont try to not look at this stage
go slowly
in my view , the perfect changes exercice is a good thing to do butyu should not focus only on that
play songs !
starts with the super duper easy ones in the app
playing is not about how many changes you can do in a minute but how you can use them when playing songs
I have been playing for a similar time and I really advise to check the progress of “Nitsuj”! (aka Justin following his own course, but left-handed).
https://www.justinguitar.com/guitar-lessons/nitsuj-module-1-practice-1-nj-101
That will show you what the “correct” mindset it, and when you can progress. I initially had way too high standards for myself which made progressing slow, and getting a high number of chords changes impossible.
Good luck, have fun and welcome to the forum!
Good advice above, mine would have been:
try learning a new cohrd and start pracitcing that as well. don’t let this be a showstopper for now. training -other- mechanical actions into your muscle memory will help the others as well; since the smallest, most granular parts of “mechanics” of changing chords are “transferable skill”. Each motion and move->touch->tactile feedback->adjustment cicle has smaller parts of process. practicing some other chord changes will elevate your more problematic change as well.
Try changing from a new chord to the problematic chords and vice versa but be a bit more patient for yourself on those 
Your intrinsic motivation will be fed elsewhere for a while, with progress in other things. This way you won’t drain your mental battery and gain confidence that you will conquer that part eventually. Nobody I ever knew learned in a straight line. It is an efficient path and a guide but no holy bible.
Do so some stuff in parallel, make sure to do some fun stuff and schedule at least 5 minutes of practice every day.
You’ll probably do more than 5 minutes but when trainign muscle memory, recalling someything, repeating the action and sleepign over it is a magic circle that is the foundation to learning…whether it is math or guitar. @Richard_close2u will concur, as he has a lot of experience teaching both!
Pain is very normal in the early days. It took me months to feel like I was making any progress.
Even now I sometimes still get some finger pain after long sessions.
The other advice is good, stick to 30 mins a day. Twice a day should be fine too if you’re eager. Don’t worry too much about chords taking a while to get used to, it’s very normal at this stage. You’ll make progress from being consistent if you’re doing everything Justin tells you to do.
Hiya ncarkcmu05 and Welcome to this amazing community and journey.
Your frustrations are perfectly normal, I know its cliche and one that I’m reminded of often by others when I hit a proverbial wall but be patient and remember this is a journey and try and enjoy the process as much as possible.
The fact you have already remembered the entire fretboard is incredible and something to be celebrated, don’t aim for perfection or even completion, especially this early on.
Just aim to pick up your guitar and enjoy it, if you can improve at or learn just 1 thing a week then thats a huge win. Advise I need to take myself too.
Generally Justin advises not using a tuner for playing to allow your ears to start to work.
If you’re itching for something to do while your not playing due to fingerpain or traveling or something else then the practical music course is definitely worth it.
I’ve been recovering from surgery and although frustrated I’ve not been able to play much the last 4-6 weeks I have finally sat down and started learning theory and it has made a world of difference to both my mood and understanding as well as giving me something to do that still progresses my goals.
The other thing I would look into is “Active listening” Just pop on an album and sit and listen to it while doing nothing else, Justin covers it somewhere but I can’t remember witch module it is in.
Lots of great advice in this thread. Very nice to see how thoughtful the community is.
I have little to add, but would just remind that there will be a period of several weeks, at least, where your fingers really hurt. There really isn’t a way around this completely, so be ok with it.
Pretty much everyone who doesn’t quit managed to pass through that annoyance, so persevere. It will pass, and you will be glad you did it.
I remember feeling like I could hardly play at all for a bit, wondering how anyone plays guitar, then, one short time later, it just wasn’t a problem anymore.
The lesson @AaronAddams mentions is “Mindful Listening” in Grade 3 Module 15 (I just finished that module recently so I remembered where it was). Definitely worth checking out if you’re finding you have time to think about guitar but your fingers can’t stand any more practice time.
We overestimate what we can do in a day and underestimate what we can do in a year. You’re just getting started. Each day will feel better and you’re totally normal.