Beginner question

[musicman1951]

Yes, everyone goes through this muscle memory process. Lots of good advice here, and any way you repeat the chord is good. It will absolutely be easy when you've done it enough times. You have no idea how many is enough times, so just be patient with yourself and it will happen.

The only horrible thing I've seen along these lines are students who lift their finger a great distance away from the strings between chords. Don't do that.

[Gdjjr]

Some words of encouragement, if I may, from a new old timer, or, an an old new timer (YMMV on perspective).

I got my first guitar when I was 14 and a buddy taught me how to strum a G7, C and F. Somewhere along the way, in the next 58 years, I picked up a G and D.

Fast forward to last year, April, 2020 I got back into playing, or at least I play at playin- the internet has been my teacher, not you tube. Songs with tabs where when you hover the cursor shows where to put your fingers

https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab...chords-1499588

That is the first song I learned at 14- Still don't do a barre F- i use the other shape and I don't know the nomenclature of it.


Today, July 30, 2021, from using that site (I just googled lyrics and chords to a song I was thinking of on a particular journey), I can now play, without much trepidation,
A [3 finger], A7 [two finger], E, B7, C7, D7 and I write songs using those chords. Since last fall I've written 5 songs using them all, one way or another.

When I got back into playin I had just cancelled cable TV- the only TV I watch is when I live stream a sprint car race (or occasional netflex or amazon movie) on my lap top through an HDMI connection. The point? I did nothing except play at playin guitar. I can count on one hand, and not use all my fingers, how many times in the past 15 mos I haven't played at least an hour a day. Occasionally I would get blood under my index finger nail- but, tomorrow is another day and you start all over.

Some conversations bring lines from songs to mind. This conversation brings this to mind; some days are diamonds, some days are stones

shameless promotion- most recent original

[rmp]

It is as mentioned previously all about muscle memory

It's going to happen slowly over time, until one day, you realize your fingers are just somehow landing where they need to.

[Methos1979]

Adding more after reading a few other's comments brought back some memories. I, too, did the 'mindless couch/TV' thing early on. Playing when you first start out can be frustrating because in addition to the non-fluidity of your playing (while watching others seemingly doing it SO easily) it can also be quite boring. But it's really necessary to spend the time with your instrument doing the mundane. It really is all about becoming intimately familiar with your guitar. And the only way to do that is to play, play, play. I found that if I waited until late at night when everyone was asleep, I would put on the TV and just make a chord shape and gently and quietly strum over and over and over again until my hand got cramped then change over to another chord, repeat. Doing this while watching TV took the boredom out of it.

The second thing that I found worked wonders for me was actually playing songs. Back when the internet was relatively new there was something called the OLGA which stood for Online Guitar Archive which was basically an early TAB site where people would post simple tabs for songs. Although I was learning a few chords they were still pretty boring to just play without the context of a song. Once I found a simple song that I knew and loved that also contained the few chords I was just starting to be able to very slowly play, only then could I really get into practicing changing from chord to chord with interest because even though it was slow and rough, I could HEAR the song in my head.

So I second the use of the Ultimate Guitar tab website. Find a song that you love that is very simple to play with only a few chords that you're working on. Then use that to help you practice. You'll be surprised at how using these two techniques helps you make strides like never before.

Here's a link to a song that helped me quite a bit. There are four chords and some of them are 'weird' (not standard) but what is great about this song is that you only use the same two fingers to make all the chords and they are all played on the same fret (second fret) so the changes are easy and come pretty fast. Check it out here:

Horse With No Name

[Bushleague]

Originally Posted by Lead Pipe

When learning cords do you memorize the shape of your fingers making the cord, then place them on the strings? If I’m learning C for example I know where my fingers belong but I find each finger is feeling around for the right string. Not sure if I’m. Explaining this correctly..

Thanks!

Personally I think I learned by finding a "refference note" for each chord, once I get that finger down the rest of my fingers found their places in relation to the first finger. Quite often this would be the bass note, since I could actually start the strum a tad before all my fingers had quite found their places which would buy me some time.

I dont conciously do this anymore, but there are still some more complex chord patterns that I dont use very frequently that I'm pretty sure I often use a similar thought process when I play them... start the chord with a couple notes that might fall into a more familiar pattern and then find the less familiar notes from there.

Too I started with power chords, as I learned full chords I would play familiar songs and substitute real chords for power chords as I learned them. For instance if you are working on a D major chord, play some songs that use this chord. Instead of struggling with all the chords just use power chords for the other chords, and just work on transitioning into and out of the D major chord untill you have that down, then start working on another one. This is more effective and enjoyable than just slogging away at random chord changes.

[Tytlynz]

I found combining the Justin challenge with another tip I found online (for3vErfaithful) was making the chord then lifting the hand off and relaxing and then making the chord again. Singularly this associates the left hand muscle memory to make and individual chord. My problem with changes was the panic going 1 to the other where in the rush my fingers would sweep other strings. So I combined them. Make a G. Hands off. Make another G hands off. Make a C, Hands off. Make another C hands off. Then make a G hands off make a C hands off. In a about two College football games you will be switching from G to C cleanly and without thought. I am using this still for difficult barre chord transitions or for moving a chord up the neck. Have fun, I am.

[Pnewsom]

For those practising changing from one chord to another,such as D,A,G, etc., I recommend learning to sing a song that uses those chords as part of the exercise. You are adding to your repertoire and getting a chance to work on rhythm as well. It also more fun than just strumming chords in a random fashion.

[Silly Moustache]

Hi Lead.

About "muscle memory" This is important for you!

With lockdowns and such, I find myself teaching people how to play guitar via zoom meetings. I never set out to be a teacher, but every session teaches M stuff that I learnt a few centuries ago and reminds me of how I picked stuff up.

Teaching a client a while ago showed me something important about so called "muscle memory".

You (or most of us humans) don't learn muscle memory by looking at our fingers on the fretboard - as (I think) it registers as a visual memory rather than a physical one.

So I set exercises fretting chord shapes WITHOUT looking at the fingers/fretboard.

I've tried this with two clients recently and it worked quickly and effectively.

Best, Ol'Andy