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Changing
Chords
Having
a little trouble with those "easy" chords?
By Jamie
Andreas
Many people begin to play the guitar by learning a few chord changes
to their favorite song. In fact, I learned this way. There are
many things to be aware of while doing this. There are things
to know and do that can make it easier, and guarantee you will
have success. There are also many things that can go wrong, and
guarantee trouble.
You should first understand that often the term
"simple chords" is very misleading. Most "simple
chords" for guitar require quite complex movements of the
fingers, in order for them to get into the final "form"
of the chord. In the following essay, I am going to analyze one
of the most common chord changes, and one of the most misunderstood
in terms of it's actual difficulty. I am referring to the chords
G and C.
Let's look at this chord change from the viewpoint
of the ideas outlined in " The Principles of Correct Practice
For Guitar". And I am also going to use a real life example
of a student of mine named Kathy. You will see many things in
her story that will be true for you also, and the principles will
apply to all chord changes, not just G and C.
Kathy's Situation
When Kathy came for lessons with me, she had already
been trying to learn the guitar for about 2 years, with a few
different teachers, and with no success. She could struggle her
way into a few chords, but watching her try to change them fast
enough to do a song was an exercise in agony, for me and for her.
Her case is a good example of how bad things can get when there
is no understanding of the mechanics of playing and practicing,
right from the beginning.
First of all, I needed to make her aware of how
tensed up her left shoulder was as soon as she began to raise
her left hand to the neck. This made her whole arm tense, right
down to the fingers. As she tried to get in to the first chord,
the fingers tensed up even more, and started leaning and pressing
against one another, instead of having the proper space between
them.
This tension of the fingers immediately began to
cause a reaction in the rest of the arm, tensing up the large
muscles of the arm and shoulder. All of this created a great feeling
of discomfort, that Kathy had assumed is "just the way it
feels to do a G chord."
How To Avoid "Lockup"
This is a situation that happens all the time to
beginners, and even to advanced players to varying degrees. I
call this buildup of tension as the arm is raised and the fingers
about to move lockup. That is, the fingers, hand and arm "lockup"
with tension, and usually the unfortunate player continues to
try to get them in position by working through the tension, trying
to make the fingers perform while they are "locked up".
The thing to do is stop, go back into the position
you were coming from, and begin to move very slowly, examining
the fingers closely as soon as they release the first chord, and
focus on staying relaxed from the shoulder down to the fingers,
and staying that way as the fingers move to their new positions.
Now, you have to look at the whole situation the
hand is in. For Kathy, her thumb was wrapped around the neck in
such a way that there was no space between her hand and the guitar,
so her fingers had a difficult time, not being free and relaxed,
or having the room to move. By the time she got in to the G chord,
she was holding on to it for dear life! Not exactly in a position
to easily change to the C chord, which is even harder.
Then, as she began to pry her fingers off the G
chord and go for the C, she did what many people do, she led with
the strong finger, the first finger, that is, and smashed it down
on it's note, on the second string, first fret. Now, she was holding
on to that for dear life, with the whole arm, from finger tip
to shoulder, knotted up with tension.
Next came the attempt to get fingers 2 and 3 into
position, which was very difficult for her to do, and me to watch,
as those poor, stressed out fingers did their best to do her will.
By the time she got them in to position, somewhat, they weren't
standing straight enough to allow the adjacent strings to ring
clearly, one of the difficulties of the C chord.
So the net result of all this effort was the inability
to change chords smoothly, and the inability to get the notes
of the C chord out clearly once she got there.
My Solution for Kathy
Here are the steps I used to undo the knots of tension
that Kathy had unknowingly created and allowed, that were preventing
her from performing actions on the guitar which anyone should
be able to do, if they approach them properly.
- I explained the concepts of muscle memory, and how disastrous
muscle tension is, and how difficult it can be to become aware
of it.
- I explained the practice tools outlined in my book, Posing,
and No Tempo Practice, used for becoming aware of , and eliminating
excessive muscle tension.
- I explained how to bring the left hand to the neck, with
the fingers in a relaxed curl as she approached the strings.
- I had her begin practice of Left Hand Exercise #1, using
Posing, No Tempo Practice, and the Basic Practice Approach.
- As a few weeks went by, she developed the ability to have
relaxed fingers come to the neck and strings, and also to
have them stretch out from one another in a relaxed way, while
the arm and shoulder stayed relatively relaxed.
- Then we applied this way of moving to the chord changes,
G to C. She learned how to keep everything relaxed, and how
to keep a good space between the hand and the guitar as the
hand turned, as it must in going from a G to a C.
- I had her place the 2nd finger down lightly on the 4th
string, for the C chord first, not the first finger. As she
placed the 3rd finger next, she kept the hand out, and the
1st finger poised over the 2nd string, first fret.
- Finally, she placed the first finger down, still keeping
it curled, and going down on the tip, but with the fingertip
leaning slightly toward the headstock, and the hand still
out, so that there was enough space between the hand and the
guitar at the index finger that you could stick your finger
in between the hand and guitar.
- I had her stop and Pose at random times, when the tension
would build, so she could learn to be relaxed in these positions.
- After repeated No Tempo Practice of this, we began to work
up speed using the Basic Practice Approach. And she started
to be able to do it faster and faster. Now, I am happy to
say, she is playing many songs well, using these and other
chords.
I really believe that without this approach, she
would never have unlocked the tensions that were preventing her
from being able to do these chord changes. This approach will
work for anybody, and any chords. Try it, with these chords, or
any other changes that give you trouble, or that you would like
to improve.
All of the above can be seen as an illustration
of the first two Principles of Correct Practice, stated in my
last essay, "The Secret of Speed". I will now add the
3rd Principle of Correct Practice:
Principle of Correct Practice #3:
"The fingers are energized by Attention, and
moved by Intention."
I will elaborate on this later, but you should read
and re-read the previous essays in light of these 3 Principles
stated so far, and your understanding of them will increase, and
so will recognition of their relevance to your own playing situation.
And so will their usefulness. That is, by thinking about these
things, when you practice, your practice will be more powerful,
resulting in faster progress.
For more information, and to get answers to your
questions, visit my site.
www.GuitarPrinciples.com
Copyright 1999 by Jamie Andreas.
All Rights Reserved.
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