4 Tips For Creating Guitar Chord Muscle Memory
Posted in August 8th, 2008 by admin | Filed under Instrument Tips | Comments (0)
Have you learned at least three chords? If you have learned three chords, the next step is to learn how to move from one chord to the next as quickly as possible. You are probably (well, maybe not) moving one finger at a time. You will learn how to get your fingers to work in groups, work together and quickly move from one chord to another as you learn to play different songs.If you pick up a glass of water, you don’t put one finger at a time on the glass. You automatically grasp the glass with your full hand wrapped around the glass. Your goal is to do the same thing with your guitar and the chords that you have learned.
The idea is that when you see a chord letter name, you also see a shape. For example, when I see the letter A standing for the A chord, I see my 1st, 2nd, and 3rd fingers altogether. I know that they lay on the 2nd fret and my 1st finger is on the 2nd string up from the bottom.
So here are 4 steps that will train your fingers to do this:
Form your chord and press your fingers on the string so that you get a great clear sound
After you have played the chord, just let the fingers rest on the strings not pressing them down
The next step is to press down on the strings again. Pretend you are going to play and then release the grip.
Repeat 5 to 10 times
After you have done this, go through the steps again but instead of resting the fingers on the string, raise them just a little bit off of the string (about ¼ of an inch) and then press down on the strings again. Do this for each for each chord you are trying to learn. This will help you get the shape of the chord in your mind and then into your fingers.
The next major step is to take two chords and work on the transition between each chord. Fret the first chord. Lift your fingers about an inch above the fingerboard and then shape your fingers for the next chord that you want to play. Drop that new shape into place on the fingerboard. Make any necessary adjustments. From there you then repeat the process starting with the first chord. As an example, let’s say you are trying to learn the G chord and then the transition to the D7 chord. Go from the G to the D7 and then back to the G chord. Continue to do this until you can easily make the transition between each chord. Once you can comfortably transition between each chord, add in another chord.
Learning to smoothly transition between chords takes a lot of practice. Using this method by learning shapes of the chords and training your fingers to form these shapes when your eyes see the chord letter will make the learning process much easier as well as the transition from chord to chord much smoother!
Courtesy of Cyndie King
