Musician Forum - Band Discussion Board - BandMix

Well, I decided to try and learn how to play guitar today. So I borrowed my Dad's guitar and he showed me some chords. I'm trying to learn the song, "Working Class Hero" by John Lenon, cause it's only 3 chords through the whole song and it's pretty easy...

MY FINGERS ARE KILLING ME! MY GOD!

*ahem*...

I have no problem memorizing the finger placement, but I'm having some trouble with going from one chord to the next. All I have to do is switch from "Am" to "G", then back to "Am". But I'm having a hard time switching quickly. Are there any exercises that could help me with this?

hey ryan. glad to see you're taking up the guitar, it's a wonderful release.
as far as chord transitions, what i did to speed it up a little bit is i would use a metronome and start with a low bpm. switch chords at chosen intervals, starting with longer ones first. each time you get that down to where you're comfortable with that transition speed, set the bpm a bit higher and do it again. once you've gotten a decent transition speed, start learning more songs that have different picking patterns and start applying it.

too bad you don't live closer to me, you're into the same genre of music i want to play lol.

Practice, practice, practice and when you get tired of practicing, practice some more. Pick one song and practice until you have it down. Don't be tempted to skip to another song because your tired of practicing the same old song. It will come together with time and..............

Mike Gentry wrote:Practice, practice, practice and when you get tired of practicing, practice some more. Pick one song and practice until you have it down. Don't be tempted to skip to another song because your tired of practicing the same old song. It will come together with time and..............

"with time and"..............gee I wonder.....Practice? lol

Yeah, start slow. Slowwwwwww.
Slow, until it feels natural for you to make whatever chord change you happen to be working on. Then speed it up a little and practice it until it feels natural or 'smooth' again.
The metronome suggestion is really the way to go.

You can also just intersperse making the chord shapes but not actually depressing the strings -- practice changing shapes that way when your fingers start hurting too much.

Remember, practice does not make perfect. It makes permanent.
Perfect practice makes perfect.

Otherwise you end up sloppy, and weird like me.

I've taught for a few years, Ryan. What I tell my students is this -

You gotta either do it or don't do it.

You gotta play through the pain.

You gotta practice through the boredom.

You gotta do it every day, & sometimes twice or three times a day.

You gotta make yourself want to do it when you really don't.

If you can make it through the pain, it might start to get worthwhile.

You also need to have the patience with yourself to allow enough time to learn.

Set realistic goals for yourself. If you just want to be a strummer, that's perfectly alright. It takes practice.

If you want to be Yngwe or Vai, plan on getting up in the morning & practicing scales for 2 hours, then practicing for an hour or so at lunch, & for a cpl more hours after dinner. You won't have much of a social life, but you'll be really good one day.

Segovia (I doubt you've heard of him...he was a famous classical player) once said that "If I skip practice for a day I notice it in my playing. If I skip two days, my critics notice it. If I skip three, my audience notices it."

Having said all that, I gotta tell you that I don't practice every day, anymore. When I started out, though, I worked at it for more hours a day than most people would believe. Now I have "hand memory." That's one of the most important things you need to acquire for your musician's arsenal.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Being able to play has carried me through hard times in my life, better than sex or $ or drugs or even religion. It has allowed me to express myself in ways that transcend words & helped me make contact with my inner self, my god, & other people in ways I cannot describe. It has been the strongest force in my life, for most of my life.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You'll get over the pain, if you work at it. You'll teach your fingers to remember those crazy shapes & patterns if you work at it, so that they move seemingly on their own, without volition on your part.

Pay very close attention to your form. Most people don't, & it causes problem such a CTS (carpel tunnel syndrome). Practicing an hour or more every day creates great strain on you, Ryan. You need to be very conscious of keeping your wrist straight, & such. Have someone who knows & understands check your form occasionally to avoid these problems. You don't need to practice in ways that will eventually hurt you.

When I show something to a student, I show it to him/her very slow, 1st. Then I play it again, slightly faster. Then I play it at my normal speed.

Then I get the student to do it slowly. You have to crawl before you can walk, & walk before you can fly.

It may take you 2 or 3 months to get that "simple 3 chord song" down pat. (Whoever "Pat" is) But the next song will most likely take a little less time. After awhile you'll be working on 4 or 5 or more songs simultaneously, &/or writiing a cpl more, & you will have forgotten how hard it was at 1st.

Working with a metronome helps a whole big bunch. Most ppl don't realize the number of mistakes a performer makes, as long as he stays in time. Once you've learned it, work on your song at an extremely slow speed setting, & you will find that slower is HARDER.

The best way to learn is to DO.

Have patience with your development.

Be a nazi about practice.

In answer to your question, probably not. There aren't any exercizes that I ever heard of that help you learn to move more swiftly from chord to chord, other than practicing to move from chord to chord.

My students often ask that one, too.

Hey Gang,

Ive been a teacher for 16 yrs and I thought a expand on a couple of points already made.When changing from one chord shape to another the brain has to develope the muscle memory to deliver that position instantly on the intended beat whether it be on a 1 , an E, or an + or an A...Alot of newbies overlook this and put fingers down intermittently as the beat for the chord is happening...PLUS , the LH has to work with the rhythmic strum OR arpeggio of the RH so practicing shapes with out the RH is counter-productive IMO...The fingers have to be intransition to the next chord before its about to happen , then landing on thier intended targets similtanously...Its all about timing...The fingers will learn their targets much quicker with meter happening...Playing with records ( jesus...CDs... ) will help you feel those changes and develope an emotional connection AND you will istantly hear whether your on target or not...With todays technology , you wont have to suffer slowing turntable and cassette motors down like we did in the 70s' ...Soaking fingers in pickle juice will help toughen the finger tips and form callouses quicker...However, you may smell like a douche bag... ...In closing, what ever you practice , practice SLOW for right now..Give the brain a chance to develope muscle memory and promote good timing and link up the LS and RS of the brain...

John

Dude, you got yourself some great teachers on here, Lol. When I first started with chords my hands wanted to die. I remember trying to play a C Major and go to D, and I kept hearing clicking and loud sounds. It just sounded horrid. Yes, your hands are going to hurt, and then you will notice your skin will begin to peel (Sounds fun... Lol).

But it is as simple as what the others have been saying. "Practice." There is going to be pain, heck there will be pain even when you are playing for many years. The better you get, the longer you play, the longer you play (In one day that is), the more you stress your hands. This is why most of us guitarist have faced tendonitis, carpal tunnel, and a series of other hand issues, including cutting our fingertips. Nothing is good in excess, so practice as much as possible, but remember to take periodic breaks.

If your fingers are really hurting, stop. If you have pain in your wrist, take a break for awhile. Do not push it, especially since I get the feeling you are just trying to become a rhythm player.

Lead players are the ones who tend to have to go an extra mile (But both can be equally complex in their own right).

So yeah, take your time. Patience is a virtue, man. You are going to hate the "barre" chords. Those will completely bust your playing hand up - I remember learning them and thinking "I will never be able to figure this out."

It takes time, patience, practice, dedication. Now I can switch between chords fairly quickly, and even I tend to lag at times. I think the basic F Major (Non-Barre chord) took me time to get use to switching back and forth with, I still am getting use to it. I never did use that often. But if you listen to my songs in my profile, I am playing it in "Break The Night With Colour."

Anyhow, good luck with this. You will be fine, just pay close attention to what these guys on here say, they are the experts (Seriously speaking).

Peace out, GuitarAnatomy.

One thing I get students to do is to strum the right hand like a metronome or pendulum. You have to keep that beat with your right hand. A simple "scrub" type strum down & up & down & up. ( I know - it sounds poopy!) Then try to change your chords inbetween the strums. It's tough as heck at 1st, but this will force you to place your entire hand in each chord position, rather than to place fingers one at a time on the strings, like you do when you're 1st learning them.

Once you are sure of the chord positioning, then it's time to work on strumming techniques.

GA - I always tell my students that the basic open F chord is the toughest chord they'll ever learn. It takes most ppl weeks to get it. Something about holding 2 strings together with the other fingers working, too, just seems so overwhelming at 1st, but once they get that, & can play it well every time, barre chords are going to be easier.

So many pieces of gold here. Anything performed physically is a function of creating strong and correct neuromuscular pathways aka muscle memory. It is neuro not "muscular" as the term would imply.
The sages of old China, would say you have not done it at all untill you have done it correctly one thousand times. Multiple short sessions of training are more neuro significant than a daily marathon.
Every time that electrochemical impulse travels down the exact same "road" the higher the resistance to stray impulse becomes.
Have fun Ryan. It is the fastest way to learn anything.

its also good to just to get a keyboard and jam along with the drum beats while playing the simplest chords ever power chords lol and have a
little fun


checkout my band
CHAOS THEORY
heavy guitars/funky beats
singer that sounds
alot like everlast

http://www.myspace.com/fudgingcompost << click here

Congrats Ryan. I just took it up myself (I'm tired of trying to fake the sound all the time). It's coming along ok, but I think I'm going to need lessons to learn the B and F chords. From the pictures I just can't figure it out. Are B and F just this hard? For right now I'm ignoring them, but it's only a matter of time before they are necessary.

lalong wrote:It's coming along ok, but I think I'm going to need lessons to learn the B and F chords. From the pictures I just can't figure it out. Are B and F just this hard?

I'm having the same problem! I'm looking at it and thinking, I don't have that many fingers!

Lol. Okay, okay...

B and F? Okay, you have different types... You guys may be speaking of this one:

Fmajor:
e----1--------------------------
B----1-------------------------
G----2--------------------------
D----3-------------------------
A----3----------------------
E----1-------------------------

That up there is what is known as a "Barre" chord. Basically, no you do not have six fingers. You take the side of your pointer finger and lay it over all of the strings on the first fret, it requires a lot of hand strength that close to the nut though. You are most likely going to hear a click, Lol. Because you are not strong enough to hold it down. Basically, let us try this again...

You bar (Barre) the side of your pointer finger over the first fret notes, and use your other fingers to play the 2 and 3's. I hope this makes sense, Lol.

Okay, now the B chord... Alright, that also can be hard, it is also barred and looks like this:

B Major:

e---2--------------------
B---3-------------------
G---4-------------------
D---4-------------------
A---2-------------------
E----------------------

Or

e-------7----------------
B-------7---------------
G-------8---------------
D-------9---------------
A-------9---------------
E-------7---------------

------------------------

Okay, once more, bar the unplayable notes with your pointer finger. It may be best to start barring a B chord on the upper frets (Second example above of it) than the F chord closer to the nut, less string tension since it is heading towards the bridge.

There is one more F Major, this requires that two strings be held down with the side of your fingertip on your pointer finger:

e---1--------------------
B---1------------------
G---2-------------------
D---3-------------------
A----------------------
E----------------------

The ones are where you bar.

So, I hope this helps.

Peace, GuitarAnatomy.