Should a beginner guitarist spend a month or two incorporating smooth chord transitions (open chords) with various strumming patterns in order to learn a few simple songs (complete songs) that can be played in time, with confidence and fluidity before moving on to more advanced techniques?
To me chord transitions and rhythm seems to be the key to playing songs. If this is the best pathway for a new guitarist, any suggestions (other than the really great ones in Grade I of Justin’s course) on how to smoothly move between chords while strumming would be greatly appreciated.
This has been the biggest difficulty for me in my guitar-playing journey. As such, it’s something I’m constantly working on. Every time I start on a new chord, or I’m using chords I know in new combinations or in new rhythms, I have to step back and work on smooth transitions.
So many of my previous attempts at learning have involved instructors or classes that pushed me too fast on this specific thing. Self-paced learning (at least at the start) has gotten me to a point now where it’s sticking and I’m making real progress playing real songs (and even playing along with the original recording, which I was never able to do before!).
I started SUPER basic. Just working on 2-finger chords with the same shape. Em and Asus4. Next a few 3-finger open position chords with very clear anchors and minimal movement otherwise. Then when adding new chords to that, slowly increasing the number of fingers and the amount of movement between each chord change.
Previous learning journeys had some basis in music theory. The pathway I used to start with this time paid little attention to music theory and was focused on building muscle memory, making small steps so success didn’t seem so far away, and so on.
I’m right at a year into this go around now and a few things stand out. For one, I’ve been working at it more regularly and more consistently this time. I’m having more fun with it. I’ve made a LOT more progress than I did in the past. I’m using 2 different platforms for online lessons AND I’ve hired a private instructor.
I think people underestimate how long good quick chord changes and strumming can be learned.
And also dont expect to be ‘perfect’ at it before moving on
You’re going to be playing major open chords all the time so once you have something down ok go on to the next thing you will practice it all as you go anyhow.
My opinion here is that the (possibly) single most important aspect of creating music is the rhythm. In order to make a song you’re attempting to play sound like the song you’re attempting to play is to get the rhythm down. In order to have rhythm, the chord transitions have to be at least fairly smooth… Justin demonstrates this often in Grade 1 - he purposely makes mistakes which cause the rhythm to “break” & it really affects how the song sounds. Then, he’ll make a mistake with the chord but keep his right hand moving smoothly & gets back on track. Yes, you can hear the mistake but it’s not as bad as when he stops playing to get the correct chord placement.
So, therefore, my answer to:
is YES.
Spend however long it takes with a few basic 2 or 3 chord songs gaining competence & confidence - they don’t have to be perfect but should be recognizable as the tune you’re trying to play at the very least. Justin has a lot of Grade 1 songs that you can play with only a couple of open chords! Using a metronome or backing track - or if you have Justin’s app, the guitar karaoke option is really a game changer with getting some playing in! Also, if you haven’t already, watch Nitsuj practice. Not only is it rather humorous, it’s good to see this guy who really, really knows guitar struggle with the same things you’re going through!
Oldie but a goodie: start slow.
Slower than you think your current level is.
doing solid strums AND smooth an timely transitions is 3+ jobs at once.
You shouldn’t forget to practice on songs.
Doing pure technical training is ok BUT only if you practice AT LEAST as much applied to a song…no matter how slow the song.
Pure technical changes tend to makes us forget about the flow of a song.
btw, try to keep the strummign arm moving up and down in the same “lomotion” fasihion, even though you don’t need to hit the strings. Son’t stop your strummign hand from moving but keep going up and down and time your hits and your misses.
We’re wired to want to get up to song speed as fast as possible, and that compounds as you progress a bit. We can feel like slowing down is going backwards.
Here’s the thing, if you can’t be clean and have good tone at slow speeds, you’re not apt to sound good at fast speeds.
Whenever I’m learning a new piece, first I practice the chord fingerings and changes in slow motion, even if they’re familiar. Think about what each finger has to do, visualize it, then place.
Identify the tricky changes — let’s say a song has Bm in it and you come into it from both A and G - practice each of those changes. Play to a metronome or drum beat (not the song) and start super slow — less than 60bpm. I like to increase speed in increments of 5bpm. I also like to get the changes up to 10% faster than the song.
You’re really trying to build muscle memory - as you go on with guitar you realize your body has this amazing capacity — you have to build it through lots of quality (accurate) repetition. But you also have to access that automatic “motor” part of your brain.
I’m wondering if anyone has any tips on the best way to access it faster?
When you go slow, you invariably figure lots of things out which add up to tone.
Good music means playing so others want to listen!