Changing Between
Guitar Chords Quickly
by Shawn Bradshaw

One common question that is asked by many beginning guitar players is "how can I learn to switch between different chords quickly"? There are a few reasons why guitarists have trouble switching between chords, and we will take a look at some of them in this lesson.

Placing all of your fingers
down at the same time

Especially when learning a new chord, the tendency is to put one finger down at a time. This is fine at first, but soon enough you will find that it slows you down drastically. It is important to work on placing all of your fingers on a chord at the same time. Here is an exercise to help you learn how to do this.

1. Place all of your fingers down on a chord that you have chosen to work on. I have picked C for these examples. You might have to put your fingers down one at a time at first.

C chord down

2. Very slowly lift your fingers off of the strings. As you do, try to hold your fingers in the shape of the chord. Do not lift more than a centimeter away from the strings at first. Try to watch those stray fingers that do not want to obey your wishes.

3. Put your fingers back down on the strings that they just came from. Try to make all of your fingers touch the strings at the same time.

Watch this video of the exercise

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As you become more comfortable with the above technique, try to lift your fingers further away from the strings each time. Also try to increase the speed that you lift up and put down your fingers.

Page 2, switching between two different chords on the guitar