I can do 55 chord changes per minute by now and I still haven’t been able to play any song and get it to sound actually decent. This is getting frustrating.
Hello Alexandru,
Chord changes in songs are not as easy as one minute changes.
Omc’s are repetitive and quite fast, backwards and forwards between two chords. In songs, you’re holding a chord for at least a bar, then suddenly have to change. Quick!
Try strumming the chords only on beat1 for a while. That way you have the rest of the bar to get to the next chord - ready for beat 1 of the next bar.
Next, strum the chords on beats 1 and 3. Now you have a lot less time to get to the next chord.
If you build it up like this, you will eventually be able to strum on all four beats.
Good luck, have fun with it!
I am younger and learning guitar you have a few today pop hits but maybe you could add some more! Also anything Taylor Swift I would love that!
Hi @hruhl01
Justin currently has 7 lessons for Taylor Swift songs
Three of them are for beginner grade 1 level as well.
Good luck and reach out if you need any help.
@Matt10101 See Darrell’s reply above … here.
You need to take a temporary step away from your strumming pattern. It is rare for a song to have just one pattern all the way through - that is what you tend to arrive at when simplifying a song to make it accessible for beginners.
Go from Old Faithful to four Down strums per bar so each chord can have one or two strums at most.
Or reduce your strums to match the number of chords and play each once only.
Examples.
| E E D A |
| Down Down Down Down |
| E E D A |
| Down ___ Down Down |
@hruhl01
If you read up this topic you will see multiple links to where the song request board is: https://www.justinguitar.com/songs
Hi, for some reason I seem not to be able to remember the correct series of chords to be played for any song which results in not being able to play a song. Are there tips and tools to help remember the chords and strumming patterns?
Thanks John
John @jondewi
I don’t think there is any easy answers. What I do is type out the chords for each lyric line, and look for a pattern, if you on module 2 songs then the sequence should not be too complex unless you have stepped beyond Grade 1 songs.
In terms of strumming if you are only on Module 2 I am surprised you are looking at any other patterns than 4 down strums per bar. Having said that I started to try different patterns early on but it made things difficult.
Hope this helps
Michael
Hi John,
I had to brute-force-repetition my learning of songs. I have very few because it takes me a long time.
I tend to do better at learning these early in the morning, and do very poorly after a long day or when tired. If I am required to do a lot of memorizing at work, I do very poorly with learning a song during that time.
See if this stuff helps:
- See if you can adjust when you are trying to learn a song to be in your best part of the day or week
- listen to it a lot: driving, doing mindless stuff (making meals, yardwork, etc)
- think about the song for a minute or two before sleeping and as you wake up in the morning
Thanks to you all for the tips.
I remember: writing down, listening, and … keep going.
John
Is Justin Guitar coming to community for discussions ?
Hello!! I haven’t heard any songs from you yet that are Christian/Gospel. My goal is to play at church, and it would be amazing to have you teach some of the songs I hear on Sundays!!
Hi Stern,
Welcome here and I wish you a lot of fun and …
learn the basics of playing guitar with Justinguitar and then you can look up and find the music/chords sheets on the internet and play what you want
Greetings,Rogier
My favorites are:
- I Can’t Explain - The Who
- Chasing Cars - Snow Patrol
“Leaving on a Jet Plane - John Denver” is for G,C,D - so it should be removed from this list
Apparently, the song isn’t in the app (anymore), but this is probably why it is mentioned in module 2.
I’ve been trying Sonny’s Dream by Ron Hynes (The Once version which is in A, other chords are D & E). It has worked very well me and is a well know in Canada.
I found the song Thoroughfare by Ethel Cain very helpful for practicing these chord changes. The intro is just E, D, and A chords.
Hi Samuel @Whyx147, welcome to the community! Isn’t it great when you find a song that speaks to you and is just perfect to practice what you’re working on? If you have a minute, head over here and tell us a bit about your guitar journey so far!
I cant get the app, cost and things like that…not sure how to go about practicing songs. I did look in the ‘songs’ tab up the top, went where I thought I would find things, (John Denver) but got scared away by some fingerstyle that I didn’t think should be there