Short term memory. LOL

[Buddy21]

If changing cords is all about muscle memory my old fingers are struggling with short term memory. They can get there it just takes them a little time. Coming from a new, older learner.

All in good humor. LOL

[aeisen93]

Keep practicing! You can do it!

[llew]

Sometimes I'll stop in the middle of a song and it's as if I just forgot that transitional chord. I've played it dozens of times...sometime "muscle memory" will take over and get me through but not always? Been playing off and on for 50 years...

[airborne1]

Originally Posted by Buddy21

If changing cords is all about muscle memory my old fingers are struggling with short term memory. They can get there it just takes them a little time. Coming from a new, older learner.

All in good humor. LOL

I can relate!

[Silly Moustache]

Originally Posted by Buddy21

If changing cords is all about muscle memory my old fingers are struggling with short term memory. They can get there it just takes them a little time. Coming from a new, older learner.

All in good humor. LOL

Hi, I have been teaching quite a few people who have is issue.

I give them "homework".

My method is a matter of physical repetition.

Depending on the individual, I'll give them two or three chords to repeatedly change.

This is the important bit - WITHOUT LOOKING !
so,

One person is changing from a full 1st position C to a thumb over F C-F-C-F etc.

Whether you play them with your right hand is optional - it is better to hear but if you are doing this late at night or whilst watching TV etc., it isn't mandatory.

Another is working on G-C-D -C - D- D-G G-C-D7 etc. Now there are at least, two ways of fingering 1st position G choose the one that feels easiest.

Another basic one to practice is D-F-G-C etc., in this case you may well feel that the alternative fingering for G is better.

Then we go on to changing (WITHOUT LOOKING) to I-VI-II-V-I etc.

And so on depending on the client's needs and perhaps up to finding same chord inversions up and down the neck.

If anyone would like face to face guidance on this - pm me.

[JonPR]

Originally Posted by Buddy21

If changing cords is all about muscle memory my old fingers are struggling with short term memory. They can get there it just takes them a little time. Coming from a new, older learner.

All in good humor. LOL

The problem with age is a physical one. That's why it takes you longer. Your hands have become set in their ways - trained to do all the other things they can do. You have to teach those old dogs new tricks.

The advantage with age is that - hopefully! - you have the patience to be able to tolerate the longer time it takes.

[fazool]

Originally Posted by JonPR

The problem with age is a physical one. ....

The good news is that it's mostly just physical.

The old adage "you can't teach an old dog new tricks" is pretty much debunked.

There was once a theory (more an attitude) that very young children learned new things better and our ability to learn new things deteriorates with age. The examples they give is kindergarten kids learning foreign languages simultaneously.

There are a lot of studies and changing attitudes that say "this simply isn't true" - the reason children can learn multiple languages is because they IMMERSE themselves in it for many hours every day five days a week - no adult does that.

So.....

Keep a positive attitude - there is no invisible barrier to learning it....just practice and patience.

[DCCougar]

Originally Posted by fazool

....they IMMERSE themselves in it for many hours every day five days a week...

The U.S. Peace Corps used High Intensity Language Training (HILT), which was highly immersive like that. At age 22, I learned operational Swahili in about a month.

[rllink]

I memorize a lot of songs. It took me a long time to memorize the first ones but over time it has gotten much easier. It isn't that my memory has gotten so much better, it is that I recognize things that the different songs have in common, chord progressions, little riffs, even shared melodies. I mean, if you can play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, you got Ba Ba Black Sheep and the ABC song.

That just comes from learning a lot of songs. I think chords are much the same. Chords share shapes. The D7 and the E6, same chord just strategically located in different places. The more of them you learn, the easier they get. That's my observation anyway, and the more songs I play, the more chords I learn and the more chords I learn, the easier it gets.

[reeve21]

Hi Buddy, welcome aboard.

I was self taught as an adult, and it took literally forever before I could move comfortably between chords, and every time I added another chord the process started all over again.

So nothing to be concerned about, it can be done, with enough time and effort. I never had any exercises like the ones Andy recommends, but I bet they would have helped.

My method was to butcher a song until it gave up and let me win

A good teacher could probably get you where you are going faster than traveling alone. I played on and (mostly) off for several decades before learning this lesson.

[Dr356]

As an older player, quick chord changes are a challenge for me. I've become a little quicker, and repetition is the key for me.

[JBCROTTY]

Wait....what was your question?