Super Easy 2 Chord Songs

Beginner Grade 1 Module 1: A & D Chords + Play Your First Song!
25

You Sound Good to Me is C and F but requires a capo on the first fret which you haven’t talked about yet at this point in the course. Just another FYI that might confuse and discourage new players when they realize that what they are playing doesn’t sound like the original recording.

Thanks!

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26

I know you haven’t taught F and G yet but Dreams by Fleetwood Mac is just those two chords and is a super popular song that many people are familiar with.

Thanks!

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27

It’s funny, because of the 7 songs listed, only 2 of them are in A and D!

Boys Round Here
&
Blowin’ Smoke

As someone else pointed out, this could instantly turn off new players! You only need 2 songs anyway to know that you can play the A and D chords.

Might want to re-think the list. Also new players will have no idea what a capo is or how to use it etc.

Thanks.

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28

I didn’t use the app but the practice assistent on the website. I’d like to share my experience. If you did your A-D switch practice you’re gonna be fine, at least for the first two songs. The third doubles in speed. You won’t play perfectly but try it for a few days. After three days I was able to do the final song quite consistent and clearly. Here are my tips:

  1. Try to put your fingertips as much on a 90 degree angle on your strings as possible. This helped my from bumping my ring finger against the first (e) string.
  2. Use your anchor finger truly as a pivot and move your hand position for the chords. I noticed once I started doing that the side of my hand stopped touching the e string.
  3. The A-D 1 minute exercise makes you race yourself to the point you get sloppy. This is okay and gives you the speed to play the practice songs. I’d say once you get to about 40-45 per minute you’ll be able to keep up with the final song.
  4. Don’t get frustrated during the song. You just started to learn, so making little mistakes in natural. Focus on the rythem and once you get the hang of that, start cleaning up your chords. Listen and look which strings aren’t vibrating (most likely the e string) and try to adjust your finger/hand position slightly to clean up and make your chord sound better.

Remember. Have fun!

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29

Thanks for the heads up @buckingham76 Great to know it wasn’t my ears that were out of whack. :sweat_smile:

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30

@buckingham76 & @Argonaut779237 - Just FYI a capo at the second fret will allow you to use the D and A shapes in the right key to play along with the original :+1:

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31

Fantastic, thanks for the help @Notter :+1:

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33

Heyy everyone!
I started practicing songs recently and while doing the play alongs, i was facing a problem on where to look, as I need to look at the play along on my screen to know when to change chords but also i needed to look at my right hand because i was also having a problem with strumming the wrong strings while playing a and d chords, and i also needed to look at my left hand to know if my hand is positioned close enough to the fret and i’m pressing the right strings (i generally play the right strings but there are some errors with proximity to the fret when the chord changes get faster), so can anyone please suggest how to approach this, also it would be really helpful if you could suggest any practices for improving my precision in playing the right strings while playing chords, like a lot of times i also strum the 5th string while playing d chord so is there any way to improve on that

34

Hi @Shaurya16, the key is not to try to focus on different learning points at the same time. The chord perfect exercises are there to teach you the correct fingerings and strumming the right strings, the one minute change exercises are there to build speed, … The song exercises are there to bring it all together, but mostly to have fun - and to make you realise that it’s not always necessary to be perfect for your playing sound good enough. Like playing the 5th string on the D-chord isn’t so bad you absolutely have to avoid it - it will still sound ok. Yes, try to avoid it, but don’t go in a frenzy when you hit that 5th string during a song, and most of all: don’t stop the song - continue. Because coping with a mistake mid song is also an important thing to learn. Besides, most people in your audience won’t even notice.

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