8 Effective Ways to Change Guitar Chords Easily

For any beginner who wants to learn guitar, the first obstacle they have to climb over is learning how to change chords. It is important to learn chord-changing skills because if you are able to get past it, only then you continue to learn further. In addition to this, using a few chords, such as (CAGED), you will be able to play tons of songs. 

As a result, to make you play guitar like a true rockstar we are using this blog to showcase 8 effective ways that will ease your trouble of changing guitar chords and build muscle memory so you can smoothly make chord transitions in no time.

i. Hand Placement Techniques For Changing Guitar Chords

One of the first things you need to know when changing guitar chords is that you need to keep your fingers close to the fretboard. It would be better if you chose the least amount of motion and minimized the distance that your fingers have to travel for the chord change.

Check out our lessons on left-hand exercises and effective chord switching.

ii. Practice Strategies For Changing Chord Progressions

When you are learning different forms of chord progressions, make sure to take care of right-hand strumming. See, even if you are not aware of the beat, you can still smoothly get your left hand back in the correct position. But this isn’t the same for the right hand, and when you make your right hand out of position the strings will sound terrible. 

As a result, it would be better to practice strumming by playing your favourite song in the background. In addition to this, if it is possible, then slow it down a bit so it becomes easier for you to match the beat. 
Check out our lesson on chord progression by clicking on this link.

iii. Use of a Metronome For Changing Guitar Chords

When you are playing guitar in a live band, you need to understand that a band as a whole works on a rhythm or a beat, and every member of the band has to follow it; the same goes for a guitarist. Thus, it is best to practice chords using a metronome, as it will enhance your sense of keeping up with the beat. 

Besides this, using a metronome, you too can play like Jimmy Page and produce guitar solos like the one present before the end of “Stairway To Heaven” because the whole shredding and creating solos is the result of practising guitar chords using a metronome.

You may find our lesson on practising progressions with a metronome helpful!

iv. Visualizing Chord Transitions

One of the first things you need to do is prepare yourself for the next chord you need to play. It will help you to keep up with the rhythm and lower your chances of pausing in between chord transitions. The goal here is to get a clear picture in your mind’s eye of where you need to place your fingers next to the fretboard.

You can begin with simple Am-G-D; when you are practising guitar chords, there is no need to play complicated strumming patterns at first. Here, all you have to do is down-strum the chord once with each change.

v. Common Chord Change Pitfalls

Here are the 3 most common chord change pitfalls that you need to take care of when practising guitar chord progression. 

Avoid moving root chord to adjacent letter names

What we mean is C G F Em Dm C, in this progression, starts with a leap downward of a 4th(C-G). After this, the progression proceeds to G F Em Dm C, which forces most of the notes to move parallel to the bass. When that happens, you have to use inversions, which results in a more satisfying progression.

Use Different Keys Or Progressions

We know how tempting it is to play all songs on the same key, but for the audience, it is the complete opposite experience. You can take advantage of chord substitution or change the tempo of the song, which leads to a change in time signature. Doing this will allow you to hide similar progression in the plain site.

Lack Of Predictability

Chords are like freeways; when you are on the freeway, you don’t want to get surprised by a big pothole when you are on it. In the same way, if you add a note that sounds unfamiliar to the other notes, it can feel like a break in an otherwise cohesive rhythm. 

vi. Finger Strength and Dexterity Exercises For Changing Guitar Chords

• Playing Each Note With Different Fingers:- Finger exercise, such as playing every single scale, allows you to build finger strength. Here, you have to play each note of the scale with a different finger, starting with the first finger and slowly moving to the second, third, and fourth fingers. 
• Finger Tapping:- This exercise can be done anywhere; all you have to do is place all your fingers on a flat surface and start tapping each finger in a constant rhythmic sequence, again starting with the first finger and going all the way to the fourth. 
• Spider Walk:- Place your index finger (1) on a low E string, then start playing each fret with successive fingers until your pinky finger (4). Once you reach the last finger, again repeat the process from A string. 

vii. Additional tips for mastering guitar chord progression

As you practice chord switching, it would be great if, every once in a while, you push yourself by performing a one-minute chord change challenge. What you need to do here is start playing two chords such as G and C, and set the timer for one minute. 

Now, in this one minute, you need to see how many clean chord changes you are able to complete. This is one of the best ways to find out your accuracy in chord changing; you can start slow and then, with practice, increase the speed of chord change to quantify your improvement.

viii. Seeking Professional Guidance For Changing Guitar Chords

Even though we have shared some of the most effective ways that could help you practice and learn chord change you might still need to seek professional guidance to further improve your guitar playing capabilities. 

You can take online guitar classes from Torrin’s Instructors to get yourself comfortable with tons of chord progressions. The veteran guitar players not only teach you how to play specific notes and chords, but they also teach you how to play your favourite songs.

The website has a long list of guitar song lessons of various genres for you to explore. So, if you are unable to master the chord change, it’s always good to seek a professional and learn where you are making the mistake.