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Ok,
today we're going to have a look at a very simple progression.
It is a One-Four-Five progression. For those of you that
aren't familiar with the chords, I'll take you through.
We are going to be playing a G Maj chord... We're
going to be playing a C Maj Chord and a D
chord.
These
chords are extremely common in the key of G. Just
a simple explanation: 1 being the G, go four letters
up in the alphabet, we get g, a, b, C being the fourth chord,
and then our fifth chord being the D. One-Four-Five.
Let's take a look at the three chords.
Ok,
taking a look at our G chord. There are a few options
when playing the G chord. To make our change to our
C chord a little easier, we are going to try and
play using our second finger on the A string second
fret. Our third finger on the E string third fret,
and our fourth finger, trying to make it down here onto the
first string, third fret.
And,
it might take a little bit getting used to particularly
if you don't have a lot of control with that fourth finger,
but the idea is to just persist with it because it will
eventually become a lot easier. Strum through the chord
... and you can strum all 6 strings in this case.
Looking
at our C chord. First finger on the first fret of
the second string, second finger on the second fret of the
fourth string, third finger, a bit of a stretch, on the third
fret of the second string. When I'm strumming this chord,
I'm going to strum from the A string down, or my
fifth string down...
Looking
at our D chird. First finger third string, second
fret. Second finger, first string, second fret, directly
underneath that first finger. Our third finger, on second
string, third fret. And we can strum straight down from
our D string or our A string.
One
of the suggestions I'd like to make is when you are learning
a new chord shape get your fingers on the shape, press down
on the chord, strum your chord and then just release the
pressure off the chord, and then put it straight back on
again, and strum the chord, release the pressure, strum
straight down.
Repeat
that with each chord. C chord shape. Strum through.
Release the pressure off the chord. Back on it... and again
strumming through. D chord. Pressure on. Strum through
the chord. Release the pressure. Back on. Strum through
the chord.
The
other thing to be aware of is when you are playing or going
from chord to chord, you have to think of them as shapes.
When you're first starting, we tend to put our fingers on
one note at a time. I want you to be thinking of it as a
shape, and try to get those fingers to work together, so
they came down on the chord as one, not individually.
Just
one other thing I'd like to mention, in case I haven't mentioned
it before. Make sure it is the tips of your fingers that
come down on the chord shape, and don't let your fingers
bend backwards. If you let them bend backwards you tend
to get ... a dirty sound in chords like that. We want to
keep the finger tips up, and push your wrists out a little
bit. It may not feel extremely comfortable, but keep that
wrist pushed out a little bit. That helps to stand those
fingers up nice and high. It stops you from laying one of
your other fingers on top of another string and muting that
string. We push the wrist out, we get a nice, clean chord
sound.
Let's
take a look at the strumming pattern that I use through
the chord changes. As you can see, I am not using a plectrum
this time. I'm just basically strumming using my fingers,
running my nails over the strings, and the rhythm I'm playing
is:
Down, Down, Up, Down, Up, Down
Down, Down, Up, Down, Up, Down
G
chord ...
C chord ...
G chord ...
D chord ...
G chord ...
C chord ...
G chord (2 bars)
D Chord (2 bars)
G chord (1 strum)
D chord (1 strum)
G chord (1 strum)
The
important thing to remember with chord changes is to give
your hands a chance to get used to the shapes. One of the
exercises you can do is just simply play through each chord
once. Work on making sure that those fingers all work together,
they work in unison. They come down on the chord in groups
rather than separately. It takes a little while before that
happens, but if you take your time, work through it very,
very slowly get your confidence up on the chord changes.
Then
when you think you are ready to go, give yourself a little
rhythm. Trying to keep you change nice and even, don't play
too fast. Keep it nice and slow. Good luck with it!
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