Quote:
Originally Posted by Deliberate1
Friends, I am a couple years into my guitar experience and am just having the best time thinking of a song, finding the chords on line, and then having at it.
I find new material to be a great teacher, or at least opportunity to expand my boundaries in a much more pleasurable way than drills.
I also find that many songs have portions I can play with some ease, until I hit a chord or transition between chords that I do not have in my arsenal. And that is where the learning happens. For example, I am working on that old chestnut “I’m an Old Cowhand.” It goes from D maj to B min 7 quickly. I am clumsy and inefficient with barre chords, so this is a good challenge for me.
It seems that the first thing I do is to identify any finger positions common to both chords, to take advantage of movement efficiencies. Like the part of Cowhand that goes from Bmin to F# min. I then look at the easiest and fastest way to make the move. And then I do the transition very slowly. I tried using a metronome yesterday for the first time. It was awkward, but I see the value in it, especially increasing the tempo as appropriate.
I’d be obliged for any comments on my approach, and any suggestions.
Thanks
David
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I very much agree with those. This is how I practice as well. Finding anchor points when you change chords is underrated and I think that's very important to be aware of so I think you're in the right track!
I use the metronome when I'm learning new passages, phrases or licks. I also think it's best to practice sections in isolation first.