“How do I change chords quickly and clearly?”

People often come to me with the question, “How do I change chords quickly and clearly?” There is, of course, more than one answer to this question. As always, there’s no trick to it aside from time doing it.

 

We’re going to go through a few different methods of approach to getting chord changes under your fingers with more speed and precision. Stick around for a song at the end on the topic and always remember to use your metronome.

 

Single chord approach

This approach is what I (and probably way too many other people) call the “single chord approach.” This is just as it sounds: you’re focusing on a single chord for your practice.

 

Let’s do this for three different chords. We’ll use G major, A major, and D major for this method of approach.

 

What you’ll be doing in this exercise is repeatedly placing and removing your fingers from the given chord shape. Let’s start from the end with D major.

 

Place your fingers in the D major shape and then strum. Make sure you can hear everything clearly. After you have a chord sound that you’re happy with – that doesn’t include any dead or buzzing notes – remove your fingers from the fretboard and do it again.

Keep repeating this method for at least 5 minutes. It isn’t meant to be wildly exciting because we’re just working on getting our fingers used to that chord shape and then getting the best sound of each note out of it when we strum.

 

The goal is to gradually speed up how quickly we can produce a clean and clear chord. So start with your metronome around 60 BPM and practice fretting the chord for 1 beat and resting for 7 beats. Then fret the chord for 2 beats and rest for 6 beats. Then fret the chord for 3 beats and wait for 5 beats. Then when you get to 4 beats, fret it for 4 beats and wait for 4 beats.

 

Video example:

 

 

After getting this process down comfortably, gradually speed up your metronome or, alternatively, switch when you’re fretting and when you’re resting. For example:

 

• Fret the chord for 2 beats, rest for 2 beats. Repeat
• Fret the chord for 1 beat, rest for 1 beat. Repeat

Repeat this process with the other chords and any other chords you’re working on.

 

Video example:

 

 

Two chord approach

This approach involves switching between two chords as smoothly as you can. Start this time with G major and then switch to D major. Make sure you can hear both chords in their entirety before switching. It’s better to pluck the strings gradually than to strum it outright at the beginning because, again, we’re aiming for both clarity and speed. As you get the changes more comfortable and you notice that you’re plucking every string with a successful sound every time, then you can begin just strumming the chords instead of plucking them.

 

Again, the goal is to gradually speed up how quickly we can produce clean and clear chords.

 

This time our process can be the following at 60 BPM:

 

• Fret chord one for 4 beats, rest for 4 beats, then fret chord two for 4 beats and rest for 4 beats.
• Fret chord one for 2 beats, rest for 2 beats, then fret chord two for 2 beats and rest for 2 beats.
• Fret chord one for 1 beat, rest for 1 beat, then fret chord two for 1 beat and rest for 1 beat.

Repeat this process with the other chords and any other chords you’re working on.

 

Video example:

 

 

Three Chord approach

Now that we have worked on getting two chords together, it’s time to add the third and try to make a song out of it.

 

Let’s add a little bit of strumming (see here if you need some tips on strumming)

 

Remember the metronome we’ve definitely been using? Let’s keep that at a nice and slow 60 BPM. From here, let’s practice it a little bit to get a flow going and then use our practice session to make a song.

 

Video example:

 

 

Make a song with three chords

Now that we have a good pattern and a set of chords under our fingers, let’s put those to use. We’ll use a similar writing style to this other post on writing a 1-5-6-4 song, but we’ll keep it more simple because we’re just using the three chords we’ve been working with. Time to write some words.

 

Lyrics

Well I guess it’s time to sing a song
Build it right up from the ground
We started out with a little practice
Now a singalong can be found

 

With a little bit of harmony
And a little taste of melody
We can find the peace of mind
That we want at this time

 

Chorus

 

Take it slow
Don’t rush it even if you’re ahead
Life is always passin’ by
We don’t need to be fast instead

 

Take it slow
And take a breath if ya can
Simple songs take simple things
Life’s better when it’s simple, man

 

Verse

 

Remember what we talked about
Take your time when you’re changin’ chords
It’s just like when you’re changin’ your mind
It takes time to adjust your course

 

Give a little bit of effort
And a little bit of somethin’ inside
Try to give a little reason
For us to let out what’s inside

 

Chorus

 

Take it slow
Don’t rush it even if you’re ahead
Life is always passin’ by
We don’t need to be fast instead

 

Take it slow
And take a breath if ya can
Simple songs take simple things
Life’s better when it’s simple, man

 

Simple songs take simple things
Life’s better when it’s simple, man

 

Let’s listen to the song:

 

Parting thoughts

Now we’ve practiced forming and playing chords and have seen how simply we can write a song out of using just a few of them. A good way of working on something is to make it fun and musical. Take the same chords – or different ones – and make a song for yourself and share it in the comment section if you’d like. It would be a pleasure to hear from you.

 

As I said in the words: take it slow, don’t rush it even if you’re ahead, take a breath if ya can. Though I wrote those as simple lyrics, they’re also a good thing to think about whenever you’re doing anything, especially trying to learn, play, and write music for the first (or 100th, or 1000th) time.

 

You’re always welcome to contact me for questions or booking a package of lessons or you can click here to book single lessons.

 

Thank you for your time and I hope this has been a fun and educational experience for you.

 

All the best and see you in the practice room,

 

– Matt