Tips For Mastering Tricky Chord Progressions On Guitar
Once you start to get past your basic guitar chord forms
, you can get to some really interesting chord progressions. Let me give you a few tips to avoid tripping over your own fingers.
Tip #1 - Always concentrate on using the least amount of movement possible. This is what makes speed possible in any playing situation. You know how your favorite player barely looks like he's moving his fingers even though they're flying all over? It's because he's barely moving his fingers!
Make sure that you're staying as close as possible to the frets. They further away they are, the longer it takes to come back down to the string.
Tip #2 - Look for common notes and common shapes. If you've already got a finger or two where they need to be for the next chord, keep them right where they are instead of removing them and having to place them again.
Let's a take a simple example like moving from C major to A minor in the open position. In playing your C major, notice that your first and second finger are already on the correct notes for A minor. You'll simply move only your third finger from the 5th string, 3rd fret to the 3rd string, 2nd fret.
A more complex example would be moving from Am6 to D9:
Am6 D9
------ ------
--5--- --5---
--5--- --5---
--4--- --4---
------ --5---
--5--- ------
You can see that the upper three strings of the chord are the same in both. Make sure that you keep those in place and just move your 2nd finger to change the root.
You'll also want to look for common shapes. As easy example would be moving from A minor to E major in the open position. Instead of moving the fingers individually, simply move the entire three finger shape down one string.
A more complex example would be from Am7(b5) to D9
Am7(b5) D9
------ ------
--4--- --5---
--5--- --5---
--5--- --4---
------ --5---
--5--- ------
Here you can see that your 3rd and 4th fingers on the 5th fret simply move down one string as a unit. From there the 4th finger moves up to the second string. And your first finger moves up to the 5th string.
Tip #3 - Build your chords from the bottom string up. Not every finger hits the strings at the same time necessarily. Once you've had enough practice it will look like they do, but there is an order to it. Rather than starting with the highest string of the chord, start with the lowest. Why? Because that's where your pick will hit first. That gives you that extra split second to get the rest of your fingers in place before the pick reaches those strings. It seems like a negligible amount of time, but every little bit helps as the tempos get faster.
Tip #4 - The first finger to move should be the one that has to go the farthest. If you have a chord change where the first finger needs to jump four strings, lead with that one. That may seem to contradict the last tip in some cases, but it actually doesn't. When you move the finger that needs to move the farthest, the muscles in the rest of your hand will follow along because they're all connected. If you use the natural movement of your hand rather than fighting it, your transitions will happen faster and smoother. You'll still be placing the lower string fingers first, but you'll do it while the other fingers are on their way to the higher strings.
Tip #5 - Don't try to attack the whole progression at once. Take each pair of chords and work with just those until you've got them smooth.
Tip #6 - Use a metronome and keep your right hand moving. The metronome will force you to stick to a tempo. And keeping your right hand moving on the beat, no matter what happens in the left, tricks your brain into speeding up your left hand. You brain really likes when both hands move together. When they don't it will do everything it can to fix that dissonance. Your left hand will speed up to match your right. But make sure your right keeps beating away with the metronome regardless of how mangled the left hand chords get. It will come together.
That being said, simplify the right hand part if you're working on some tough left hand moves. Instead some crazy arpeggiated figure, just bang out some quarter notes until the left hand is in shape. Then you can focus on getting the right hand to where you want it.
Again, all of this emphasizes minimum movement. That's the big trick to the whole thing. Go tame those beasts!
Tips For Mastering Tricky Chord Progressions On Guitar
By: Phil Johnson
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