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Question: How can I clean up my chords!?
I've been playing guitar (acoustic) for a while now but it still seems like my transitions between chords can get a little sloppy and / or clumsy!. For example, one song that I've been learning to play involves an Em, C, then a D and I always bump into innocent bystanding strings on my way from Em to C, and on my way from C to D!. My precision is okay but I'm no Vai!. So, all you acoustic guitarists out there, how did YOU learn to keep your transitions clean!? Is it just lots of practice or did you / do you have a method!? Please help, and thanks so much for your time!Www@QuestionHome@Com
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
What I did was just focus on my fretting hand!. No strumming or anything with the right hand!. I'd watch what my left hand was doing when forming chords, and correct them!. If I had a hard time switching between two chords but got everything else down pat, I'd focus on those two chords for a bit until I got them solid!.
Once I got my left hand getting down the chords, I'd play one down stroke for every chord, so hear if all the strings-or the muted strings, since some chords call for a string or two not to be sounded-come out correctly!. If not I'd fix something!.
Eventually your fingers will get to their positions themselves and you won't have to look down at your left hand anymore!.
Try my method and see if it works for you! :-D
Believe me, the basic chords are nothing compared to other chords you'll see and have to tackle!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
Practice, slowly!. Play transitions smooth and slow, and focus on just making it work right!. Playing too fast too soon just screws you up for later, you have to go back and do the basics anyways if you want to get better!.!.!.!.
The most important thing for me is learning how to play each chord correctly, cleanly, flawlessly!. It takes time, mostly, but the way that I checked my fingering is to fret the chord, then play each string, one by one, making sure that each string that is supposed to ring out does!.!.!. if I get a muffled string or whatnot, then figure out what I'm doing wrong, fix the string positioning or whatever the issue is, then do it again!. This trains the fingers where to go!.!.!. muscle memory!. You don't want to have to think about any of this when you're playing!.!.!.!. you want to think "G major" and automatically have your fingers go to the right chord, and be able to play it cleanly, each string ringing out!.
You can do it!.!.!. it just takes dedication!. It's the type of dedication that doesn't yield a lot of "wow" factor, but playing cleanly sounds a hell of a lot more professional than a sloppy, poorly fretted solo, for instance!. At least, to musicians!. =)
SaulWww@QuestionHome@Com