Guitar Forums

Slow chord changes are one of the biggest frustrations for beginners. Here are a few tips that really help:

1. Practise chord changes without strumming
Just move fingers slowly and accurately.

2. Focus on small movements
Keep fingers close to the fretboard.

3. Practise two chords at a time
Don’t overwhelm yourself with too many shapes.

4. Use a metronome at a slow tempo
Speed comes naturally later.

What helped you improve chord changes the most?

Get some chords for simple songs that you love and start playing. Like Mark says, speed comes naturally later.

But enjoying making music is the most inspriring things to keep you motivated in playing more and more playing equals better music!

Start with simple chord changes - Wonderwall is a great start (though has been played to death) but each change is moving one or two fingers with everything else staying the same. You can get the very basics of that song within a couple of hours - even if you have never picked up a guitar before.

There are loads of other songs that are at a similar level of complexity and these should be the focus of someone starting out. Get maybe 10 songs together and then play them every day and you will be a master at changing chords before you know it!

Practising chord transitions slowly without strumming helped me a lot.