I would use caution when playing electric guitar without an amp only because electric does have a lot of extra noise. Part of electric practice is containment of that extra noise and muting the other strings. By not hearing that extra noise you could develop habits that will be difficult to break later. Headphones would be really good, maybe an acoustic. I totally get that you gotta do what you gotta do. So if this is what you have by all mean practice with what you have.
As far as your plan of changes with some strumming mix, I am not sure, its not the goal really.
Remember the goal is to isolate the muscle groups for the specific chord changes so they become muscle memory and you can do them without thinking. The strumming will be there own individual excersizes to concentrate on. But go for it if you want, I would focus on one thing at a time at the start, but like I said its an individual learning process. I do think setting the goal of 120 changes a min is fast and maybe a little ambitious. I think the stated goal is 60? There are a lot of different chord changes to get accustom with. As well as many more to come. You dont want to get burned out or overwelmed. We all have different ways we learn. As long as you are having fun and moving forward try different think, we all learn a little differently. There is a lot coming up, so keep these short each day because soon you will have 8 different chord change excersizes per session. Even more after than, Plus the other lessons practice items.
Its great that you are making practice plans and setting up practice items. This is very important, and without that you will just sort of wander. So great job doing this. Justin said in one of the Blue immersion lessons that setting up practice routines and then following them is as important as the practice its self. I also know this to be true from playing horn for many year.
To clarify: My goal of 120 is for the BPM, chord changes to be done only every 4th beat, so that makes for 30 chord changes. But I shall rethink that because that sounds like very rapid strumming and may just be too much to do at this stage while also making even just 30 chord changes. I am actually of a mind to move to the next lesson only when I can reliably move between A and D 45 times a minute, and can keep pace with a metronome set at 45 bpm.
When I first moved to electric after the first couple of weeks on a nylon acoustic, I was actually thrown by the higher âotherâ sounds and a long sustain. But playing unplugged allows me to practice much more without troubling neighbours. Occasionally I use headphones with a plugged in mini amp to get a sense of the plugged sound. And when I just strummed on the acoustic today, I was startled by the sound levels!
Longer term, my intent remains to play acoustic, but I need to defer that to a time when my practice starts to sound musical. Just now it is far from being so.
Oh thats great, 45 is a solid number. Yeah go to the next lesson for sure. But keep practicing the one min changes until you get the 60 of course. I never stayed on one lesson until I had it up to 60. I moved on and was working on them all at one point, it was only until It got one at 60 did I drop it off the practice routine. I was working on them all at different levels in a group. I didnât linger too much personally.
Its also fantastic that you are working with a metronome this early. Well done Kumar. The metronome is such a valuble tool.
The metronome is great to keep the time. A question: longer term I see myself settling with acoustic guitars, but it is electric for at least a year. Is there something I should be doing now, perhaps in a separate session, to keep the acoustic from feeling like an alien instrument? Or will skills transfer later in a few weeks to the acoustic, which by the way will be the nylon stringed version?
If you play nothing but an unplugged electric guitar when you switch to an acoustic every little bad habit youâve picked up will be amplified by 1000%.
Plus the neck will feel a lot larger. It will be a totally different animal.
If you want to practice quietly with and electric I recommend using headphones. Youâd be surprised how many more mistakes youâll hear and fix before they become a problem.
So is it a good idea to keep in touch with the acoustic once in a week or so while continuing the bulk of the practice with the electric where half the practice time I am able to plug it into my portable speaker?
For sure. I play both equally. I honestly came into guitar planning on punk and Alt rock and found a true love for acoustic. I gain a lot of respect for a whole different side of music than I had coming in. So yep both, I wish I had more time to play both more.
I got 33! It helped me to go â1, 2, 3â as I went to help with finger changes and rhythm. This is how I did it:
(fingers already on A)
1 (strum)
2 (move second finger)
3 (move third finger)
(fingers already on A)
1 (strum)
2 (move second finger)
3 (move third finger)
(fingers now on D)
1 (strum)
2 (move second finger)
3 (move third finger)
(Fingers now on A)
Hope this is alright!
I did about 30 changes in a minute after doing this exercise a few timesâŠHowever the second finger lands on the string before the third finger⊠how can I put them down at the same time or does it come over time?
Nice Betti, welcome to the community. Keep working at that, we all went through same issue with different chords some worse than other. These one min. Changes are key.
Glad you found the community and some help. Good job reaching out for a solution. People Like @stitch are great and very helpful.
Consider coming over here and starting a thread Introducing yourself people are nice.
Have fun and keep up the hard work.
Iâve managed to hit 43, they did not sound clear, but I am pretty prod that I did it without watching on frets. So Iâll keep practicing. Honestly A-> D seems to be easiest one to change between. For example I am really struggling between C â G or A â G (I am talking about big G with 4 fingers)
The C to Rock G and A to G dont have the Anchor Finger like going from D to A and A to E does. You could try doing the Folk G to C chord then your ring finger is only moving from 5th string to 6th string. And then once you get a bit fast incorporate the rock G. There are 3 basic versions of the open chord G. You will learn them all eventurally. Keep up the great work. It takes a little time but you are doing it right it sounds like.
You asked about the practice tab. Do you mean when you add the practice stuff to your practice assisstant? That wontât be until the end of the module, a few more lessons to go. I love the practice asssisstant. Follow justines guildlines for it. If you want to practice things long no worries go back after you finish the perscribed practice.
Hello! Apologies if this has already been answered before. Am I supposed to do the Chord Perfect/Anchor Fingers/OMC exercises blind, or can I look down at my fingers? (I can get to almost 30 changes, but thatâs with looking.)
The final goal would be able to do chord changes without looking but as a beginner looking is fine. Some people just stop looking with time, others looking become a bad habit and takes a long time to correct.
Once you start singing when playing youâll need to not look at your fingers to learn/read the lyrics
