D chord struggle

[Mr. Jelly]

When I started, I fretted the lowest string of a chord first and placed the other fingers afterwards. I am talking nano seconds here. Arpeggios work great this way also. So, when you move to the D chord hit the D string first then the fretted G string second and then the rest of the chord. Look at it as a map to fingering and playing the chord. Start slowly and it will come around in a pretty short time.

[yaharadelta]

Hang in there, the muscle memory will come, one day those three fingers will move as one, and you'll be able to play the D in your sleep. No worries, it reminds me of the first book that I read on home brewing beer, the author said: "relax, average people have been brewing beer for thousands of years." Same deal, average people have been playing the D chord for years. Enjoy, your heading down a great path.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by Del

hi all
i wonder if anyone can help
so i am a begginer and old ish, my problem is making the d chord quickly
i am changing from A to D but my 3rd finger does not hit the string the same time as my1st & 2nd there is a delay its just like it wants to stay with my 2nd finger and not move until a few seconds later.
i have tried all the youtube videos on how to progress and practising every day for 2 months now to no avail
is this a common problem ? could it be my age ?
any help would be appreciated
ps i have tried to slide my 3rd finger down from the A chord followed by 1st and 2nd a fraction faster but not as clear and dosnt feel right
cheers
Del

Hi Del
A solution (not necessarily THE solution) is the Justin S version.

I've taught the D to A chord switch from the starting with the D chord perspective…because it's a more familiar chord for most beginning players. Leave your first finger on the 2nd fret of the G string, and then lift and place the A7 around it' for over 30 years (diagram below).

But a teenage student helped me improve it…
I watched a 13 year old young lady during a group lesson just moving her fingers back and forth between these two chords very slowly for about 5 minutes without playing anything with her strumming/picking hand.

I asked why she was doing it and she responded "If I don't try to play anything and just concentrate on switching I learn them faster."

It immediately became something I now do personally, and taught students to do with any tough/challenging switches for the last 20 years of my teaching lessons.

The D to A (or vice versa) switch 'morphs' very easily.

This is a more useful A chord fingering as well since you can simply move the first finger backwards a fret at a time to build an AM7 and A7, or add the pinky to make an Asus, or leave the first finger in place and move the outside fingers up one fret for a Dm.

[TBman]

Originally Posted by ljguitar

.

But a teenage student helped me improve it…
I watched a 13 year old young lady during a group lesson just moving her fingers back and forth between these two chords very slowly for about 5 minutes without playing anything with her strumming/picking hand.

I asked why she was doing it and she responded "If I don't try to play anything and just concentrate on switching I learn them faster."

I've been using that technique for over a half century now. The only trick with it is that you do have to strum the chord every few changes to make sure your fingers are not in a "buzz" situation, that is, that you are putting your fingers in the right position to play cleanly.

Now that I'm teaching myself classical playing, the music often calls for the 3rd and 4th fingers to be used at times where in the past I would use the 2nd and 3rd fingers instead. So multiple silent position changes are called for to retrain my fingers and instincts, lest my wife strangle me in my sleep.

[Riverwolf]

Originally Posted by JPCary

justinguitar has an app that is called one minute changes. you can practice all chord changes and time how many changes you can get in a minute.

I would do this watching TV, I lived alone.
I would also pick 2 chords and do like 300 changes back and forth.
Every single day.
One day it will be three, then four...