Chords for 1 Simple Trick for Smooth Chord Changes | GuitarZoom.com | Steve Stine
Tempo:
114.7 bpm
Chords used:
G
D
E
C
F#
Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
Start Jamming...
[E] A problem I see a lot when people are learning how to play guitar is that they've developed
some strumming elements to their playing and they've learned to a certain degree how to
play certain chords, but when they try and put the two things together, it doesn't work.
They'll try and play and they'll have to stop in between or there'll be some sort of pause
that they don't [G] want in there.
So then they gotta move and practice [N] this sort of thing.
And what I want to do is give you one little trick that you can try and work with to make
this a little bit easier for you.
Now, when you first start doing this, it's going to feel a little robotic at first, but
as you get more comfortable with it, it's going to become more natural and you're going
to notice that most guitar players do this anyway.
So here's what we have to understand about guitar playing.
In order for us to move from one chord to the next chord, we have to lift our fingers
off the guitar.
Okay?
So there's a space between chord movements.
I don't care how fast you are, there's a space between chords where you've got to pick up
your fingers and move somewhere else.
Sometimes you pick them all up, sometimes you only pick a couple of fingers up, whatever,
but the point is you're lifting your fingers and you're moving somewhere else.
Okay?
So let's say I'm trying to move from G to D and my strumming pattern is going down,
down, down, up, down, up.
Okay?
So I [G] go, I want to be on D right after [D] that.
Now what I want you to think about is comfortability, about keeping all of this movement, these chords smooth.
So instead of trying to do something, let's say our tempo was a little bit faster and
instead of trying to move from one chord to the next at lightning speed, right?
We're going, [D] [G]
trying to move lightning fast, what most people will do is they'll use the
last up strum of that pattern to move to the next chord and I call that an empty chord.
And the reason is because it's really not, we're not trying to play a chord there, we're
trying to move from point A to point B, whatever chords we're playing.
So what's going to happen, I'm going to do this really slow so you can see this, and
then you can start kind of working this up.
And I'll show you what it sounds like faster as well.
So I'm going to go down, down, down, up, down, up.
Now on that last up, that's where I'm going to take my hand and I'm going to lift up my
fingers and I'm going to shift to the next chord.
Now again, as you practice this, when you first start doing it, it's going to feel kind
of awkward and it's going to sound kind of robotic and that's okay.
As you get more comfortable with it, it's going to happen naturally.
But let me show you what it sounds like, here we go.
Down, down, down, up, down, [D] up, down, down, down, up, down, [G] up, down, down, down, down,
up, down, up, [D] down.
So on that last up strum, you're strumming up and your hand is already in transition
to the next chord.
So again, I'm calling that an empty chord because it's, here's the whole point of it.
This hand, the strumming hand, doesn't stop.
And that's what I was trying to teach students is when you're strumming, the goal is to keep
this strum going.
Because this is what people are tapping [E] their feet to or nodding their heads to as you're playing.
You don't ever want your strum to become kind of disjointed or speed up or slow down in
a weird way or something like that.
You want this just to keep going.
And you don't [G] even think about it, it just keeps going.
[C]
I've got another video that talks about [G] scratching as well, which is exactly what I'm doing,
just practicing the rhythm.
Now when I come back over and start making these chords, I don't want anything to change here.
I want to keep this strum going, I want to be able to strum loud and soft, keep the dynamics interesting.
I just need to figure out how to move from this chord to this chord.
So with that up in the middle,
[D] [G]
[D] [G]
now [N] you're hearing it.
Now again, this is where your technique comes in.
If you're going at a speed that's slow enough, maybe you don't need to do that.
Maybe you really can switch after that last up and before the next down, and that's okay.
But chances are at some point there's going to become a tempo that's just too fast for
that, and you're going to need a little more time to move from one chord to the next.
You're going to use that up strum in between there to do that.
Let me speed up the tempo a little bit.
[G] [D]
[G] [D]
[G] What happens is that up strum almost becomes part of the song.
That empty chord actually starts sounding like it's supposed to be there as I strum.
Now here's kind of the trick to that.
Again, you want to start slow and you want to build this all up, and once you start getting
it working, what I think about is when I do that up strum, I'm not trying to over
accent that strum.
I don't want to go, [D]
[G] I mean it sounds weird anyway, but the point is that up strum, that
last up strum is fairly subtle.
So you hear it, but I'm not trying to accent it anyway.
So let me play again a little bit faster tempo so you can hear it.
[D]
[G] [D]
[G] So that's a really great way of learning how to keep the strum going and still be able
to move your chords as needed.
Now everything is comfortable.
Everything feels smooth, and that's really important, not just what people are hearing,
but how it feels to me as a guitar player.
Because if I'm trying to go, [D] [G]
I'm like tightening up and all these sorts of things are happening
and I don't want any of that.
I just want it to happen real naturally.
So as I'm playing a song,
[D] [G]
[F#] there's up strums in all of those movements.
It's just happening naturally, so you're not really either, you're not hearing it, you're
not acknowledging it because it sounds very natural, or you're just accepting it because
again it sounds natural.
That's what I want you to think about a little bit.
It's a great little trick if you need to be able to make the connection between your strumming
and your chord changes.
[N]
some strumming elements to their playing and they've learned to a certain degree how to
play certain chords, but when they try and put the two things together, it doesn't work.
They'll try and play and they'll have to stop in between or there'll be some sort of pause
that they don't [G] want in there.
So then they gotta move and practice [N] this sort of thing.
And what I want to do is give you one little trick that you can try and work with to make
this a little bit easier for you.
Now, when you first start doing this, it's going to feel a little robotic at first, but
as you get more comfortable with it, it's going to become more natural and you're going
to notice that most guitar players do this anyway.
So here's what we have to understand about guitar playing.
In order for us to move from one chord to the next chord, we have to lift our fingers
off the guitar.
Okay?
So there's a space between chord movements.
I don't care how fast you are, there's a space between chords where you've got to pick up
your fingers and move somewhere else.
Sometimes you pick them all up, sometimes you only pick a couple of fingers up, whatever,
but the point is you're lifting your fingers and you're moving somewhere else.
Okay?
So let's say I'm trying to move from G to D and my strumming pattern is going down,
down, down, up, down, up.
Okay?
So I [G] go, I want to be on D right after [D] that.
Now what I want you to think about is comfortability, about keeping all of this movement, these chords smooth.
So instead of trying to do something, let's say our tempo was a little bit faster and
instead of trying to move from one chord to the next at lightning speed, right?
We're going, [D] [G]
trying to move lightning fast, what most people will do is they'll use the
last up strum of that pattern to move to the next chord and I call that an empty chord.
And the reason is because it's really not, we're not trying to play a chord there, we're
trying to move from point A to point B, whatever chords we're playing.
So what's going to happen, I'm going to do this really slow so you can see this, and
then you can start kind of working this up.
And I'll show you what it sounds like faster as well.
So I'm going to go down, down, down, up, down, up.
Now on that last up, that's where I'm going to take my hand and I'm going to lift up my
fingers and I'm going to shift to the next chord.
Now again, as you practice this, when you first start doing it, it's going to feel kind
of awkward and it's going to sound kind of robotic and that's okay.
As you get more comfortable with it, it's going to happen naturally.
But let me show you what it sounds like, here we go.
Down, down, down, up, down, [D] up, down, down, down, up, down, [G] up, down, down, down, down,
up, down, up, [D] down.
So on that last up strum, you're strumming up and your hand is already in transition
to the next chord.
So again, I'm calling that an empty chord because it's, here's the whole point of it.
This hand, the strumming hand, doesn't stop.
And that's what I was trying to teach students is when you're strumming, the goal is to keep
this strum going.
Because this is what people are tapping [E] their feet to or nodding their heads to as you're playing.
You don't ever want your strum to become kind of disjointed or speed up or slow down in
a weird way or something like that.
You want this just to keep going.
And you don't [G] even think about it, it just keeps going.
[C]
I've got another video that talks about [G] scratching as well, which is exactly what I'm doing,
just practicing the rhythm.
Now when I come back over and start making these chords, I don't want anything to change here.
I want to keep this strum going, I want to be able to strum loud and soft, keep the dynamics interesting.
I just need to figure out how to move from this chord to this chord.
So with that up in the middle,
[D] [G]
[D] [G]
now [N] you're hearing it.
Now again, this is where your technique comes in.
If you're going at a speed that's slow enough, maybe you don't need to do that.
Maybe you really can switch after that last up and before the next down, and that's okay.
But chances are at some point there's going to become a tempo that's just too fast for
that, and you're going to need a little more time to move from one chord to the next.
You're going to use that up strum in between there to do that.
Let me speed up the tempo a little bit.
[G] [D]
[G] [D]
[G] What happens is that up strum almost becomes part of the song.
That empty chord actually starts sounding like it's supposed to be there as I strum.
Now here's kind of the trick to that.
Again, you want to start slow and you want to build this all up, and once you start getting
it working, what I think about is when I do that up strum, I'm not trying to over
accent that strum.
I don't want to go, [D]
[G] I mean it sounds weird anyway, but the point is that up strum, that
last up strum is fairly subtle.
So you hear it, but I'm not trying to accent it anyway.
So let me play again a little bit faster tempo so you can hear it.
[D]
[G] [D]
[G] So that's a really great way of learning how to keep the strum going and still be able
to move your chords as needed.
Now everything is comfortable.
Everything feels smooth, and that's really important, not just what people are hearing,
but how it feels to me as a guitar player.
Because if I'm trying to go, [D] [G]
I'm like tightening up and all these sorts of things are happening
and I don't want any of that.
I just want it to happen real naturally.
So as I'm playing a song,
[D] [G]
[F#] there's up strums in all of those movements.
It's just happening naturally, so you're not really either, you're not hearing it, you're
not acknowledging it because it sounds very natural, or you're just accepting it because
again it sounds natural.
That's what I want you to think about a little bit.
It's a great little trick if you need to be able to make the connection between your strumming
and your chord changes.
[N]
Key:
G
D
E
C
F#
G
D
E
_ _ [E] _ _ _ A problem I see a lot when people are learning how to play guitar is that they've developed
some strumming elements to their playing and they've learned to a certain degree how to
play certain chords, but when they try and put the two things together, it doesn't work.
They'll try and play and they'll have to stop in between or there'll be some sort of pause
that they don't [G] want in there. _ _ _
So then they gotta move and practice [N] this sort of thing.
And what I want to do is give you one little trick that you can try and work with to make
this a little bit easier for you.
Now, when you first start doing this, it's going to feel a little robotic at first, but
as you get more comfortable with it, it's going to become more natural and you're going
to notice that most guitar players do this anyway.
So here's what we have to understand about guitar playing.
In order for us to move from one chord to the next chord, we have to lift our fingers
off the guitar.
Okay?
So there's a space between chord movements.
I don't care how fast you are, there's a space between chords where you've got to pick up
your fingers and move somewhere else.
Sometimes you pick them all up, sometimes you only pick a couple of fingers up, whatever,
but the point is you're lifting your fingers and you're moving somewhere else.
Okay?
So let's say I'm trying to move from G to D and my strumming pattern is going down,
down, down, up, down, up.
Okay?
So I [G] go, _ _ I want to be on D right after [D] that.
_ _ _ _ _ Now what I want you to think about is comfortability, about keeping all of this _ movement, these chords smooth.
So instead of trying to do something, let's say our tempo was a little bit faster and
instead of trying to move from one chord to the next at lightning speed, right?
We're going, _ _ [D] _ _ _ _ [G] _
trying to move lightning fast, what most people will do is they'll use the
last up strum of that pattern to move to the next chord and I call that an empty chord.
And the reason is because it's really not, we're not trying to play a chord there, we're
trying to move from point A to point B, whatever chords we're playing.
So what's going to happen, I'm going to do this really slow so you can see this, and
then you can start kind of working this up.
And I'll show you what it sounds like faster as well.
So I'm going to go down, down, down, up, down, up.
Now on that last up, that's where I'm going to take my hand and I'm going to lift up my
fingers and I'm going to shift to the next chord.
Now again, as you practice this, when you first start doing it, it's going to feel kind
of awkward and it's going to sound kind of robotic and that's okay.
As you get more comfortable with it, it's going to happen naturally.
But let me show you what it sounds like, here we go. _
Down, down, down, up, down, [D] up, down, down, down, up, down, [G] up, down, down, down, down,
up, down, up, [D] down. _
So on that last up strum, you're strumming up and your hand is already in transition
to the next chord.
_ So again, I'm calling that an empty chord because it's, _ here's the whole point of it.
This hand, the strumming hand, doesn't stop.
And that's what I was trying to teach students is when you're strumming, the goal is to keep
this strum going.
Because this is what people are tapping [E] their feet to or nodding their heads to as you're playing.
You don't ever want your strum to become kind of disjointed or speed up or slow down in
a weird way or something like that.
You want this _ just to keep going.
And you don't [G] even think about it, it just keeps going.
_ [C] _ _
_ _ I've got another video that talks about [G] scratching as well, which is exactly what I'm doing,
just practicing the rhythm.
_ Now when I come back over and start making these chords, I don't want anything to change here.
I want to keep this strum going, I want to be able to strum loud and soft, keep the dynamics interesting.
I just need to figure out how to move from this chord to this chord.
So with that up in the middle, _ _
_ _ [D] _ _ _ _ [G] _ _
_ _ _ [D] _ _ _ _ [G] _
_ _ now [N] you're hearing it. _
Now again, this is where your technique comes in.
If you're going at a speed that's slow enough, maybe you don't need to do that.
Maybe you really can switch after that last up and before the next down, and that's okay.
_ But chances are at some point there's going to become a tempo that's just too fast for
that, and you're going to need a little more time to move from one chord to the next.
You're going to use that up strum in between there to do that.
Let me speed up the tempo a little bit.
[G] _ _ _ _ [D] _
_ _ [G] _ _ _ _ [D] _ _
_ [G] _ _ _ What happens is that up strum almost becomes _ part of the song.
That empty chord actually starts sounding like it's supposed to be there as I strum.
Now here's kind of the trick to that.
Again, you want to start slow and you want to build this all up, and once you start getting
it working, what I think about is when I do that up strum, I'm not trying to over
_ accent that strum.
I don't want to go, _ _ _ [D] _ _
_ _ [G] I mean it sounds weird anyway, but the point is that up strum, that
last up strum is fairly subtle.
So you hear it, but I'm not trying to accent it anyway.
So let me play again a little bit faster tempo so you can hear it.
_ _ _ [D] _ _
_ _ [G] _ _ _ _ [D] _ _
_ [G] _ _ _ _ So that's a really great way of learning how to keep the strum going and still be able
to move your chords as needed.
Now everything is comfortable.
_ Everything feels smooth, and that's really important, not just what people are hearing,
_ but how it feels to me as a guitar player.
Because if I'm trying to go, _ _ _ [D] _ _ _ [G] _
I'm like tightening up and all these sorts of things are happening
and I don't want any of that.
I just want it to happen real naturally.
So as I'm playing a song, _ _ _
_ _ [D] _ _ _ [G] _ _ _
_ _ [F#] there's up strums in all of those movements.
It's just happening naturally, so you're not really either, you're not hearing it, you're
not acknowledging it because it sounds very natural, _ or you're just accepting it because
again it sounds natural.
That's what I want you to think about a little bit.
It's a great little trick if you need to be able to make the connection between your strumming
and your chord changes.
_ [N] _ _
some strumming elements to their playing and they've learned to a certain degree how to
play certain chords, but when they try and put the two things together, it doesn't work.
They'll try and play and they'll have to stop in between or there'll be some sort of pause
that they don't [G] want in there. _ _ _
So then they gotta move and practice [N] this sort of thing.
And what I want to do is give you one little trick that you can try and work with to make
this a little bit easier for you.
Now, when you first start doing this, it's going to feel a little robotic at first, but
as you get more comfortable with it, it's going to become more natural and you're going
to notice that most guitar players do this anyway.
So here's what we have to understand about guitar playing.
In order for us to move from one chord to the next chord, we have to lift our fingers
off the guitar.
Okay?
So there's a space between chord movements.
I don't care how fast you are, there's a space between chords where you've got to pick up
your fingers and move somewhere else.
Sometimes you pick them all up, sometimes you only pick a couple of fingers up, whatever,
but the point is you're lifting your fingers and you're moving somewhere else.
Okay?
So let's say I'm trying to move from G to D and my strumming pattern is going down,
down, down, up, down, up.
Okay?
So I [G] go, _ _ I want to be on D right after [D] that.
_ _ _ _ _ Now what I want you to think about is comfortability, about keeping all of this _ movement, these chords smooth.
So instead of trying to do something, let's say our tempo was a little bit faster and
instead of trying to move from one chord to the next at lightning speed, right?
We're going, _ _ [D] _ _ _ _ [G] _
trying to move lightning fast, what most people will do is they'll use the
last up strum of that pattern to move to the next chord and I call that an empty chord.
And the reason is because it's really not, we're not trying to play a chord there, we're
trying to move from point A to point B, whatever chords we're playing.
So what's going to happen, I'm going to do this really slow so you can see this, and
then you can start kind of working this up.
And I'll show you what it sounds like faster as well.
So I'm going to go down, down, down, up, down, up.
Now on that last up, that's where I'm going to take my hand and I'm going to lift up my
fingers and I'm going to shift to the next chord.
Now again, as you practice this, when you first start doing it, it's going to feel kind
of awkward and it's going to sound kind of robotic and that's okay.
As you get more comfortable with it, it's going to happen naturally.
But let me show you what it sounds like, here we go. _
Down, down, down, up, down, [D] up, down, down, down, up, down, [G] up, down, down, down, down,
up, down, up, [D] down. _
So on that last up strum, you're strumming up and your hand is already in transition
to the next chord.
_ So again, I'm calling that an empty chord because it's, _ here's the whole point of it.
This hand, the strumming hand, doesn't stop.
And that's what I was trying to teach students is when you're strumming, the goal is to keep
this strum going.
Because this is what people are tapping [E] their feet to or nodding their heads to as you're playing.
You don't ever want your strum to become kind of disjointed or speed up or slow down in
a weird way or something like that.
You want this _ just to keep going.
And you don't [G] even think about it, it just keeps going.
_ [C] _ _
_ _ I've got another video that talks about [G] scratching as well, which is exactly what I'm doing,
just practicing the rhythm.
_ Now when I come back over and start making these chords, I don't want anything to change here.
I want to keep this strum going, I want to be able to strum loud and soft, keep the dynamics interesting.
I just need to figure out how to move from this chord to this chord.
So with that up in the middle, _ _
_ _ [D] _ _ _ _ [G] _ _
_ _ _ [D] _ _ _ _ [G] _
_ _ now [N] you're hearing it. _
Now again, this is where your technique comes in.
If you're going at a speed that's slow enough, maybe you don't need to do that.
Maybe you really can switch after that last up and before the next down, and that's okay.
_ But chances are at some point there's going to become a tempo that's just too fast for
that, and you're going to need a little more time to move from one chord to the next.
You're going to use that up strum in between there to do that.
Let me speed up the tempo a little bit.
[G] _ _ _ _ [D] _
_ _ [G] _ _ _ _ [D] _ _
_ [G] _ _ _ What happens is that up strum almost becomes _ part of the song.
That empty chord actually starts sounding like it's supposed to be there as I strum.
Now here's kind of the trick to that.
Again, you want to start slow and you want to build this all up, and once you start getting
it working, what I think about is when I do that up strum, I'm not trying to over
_ accent that strum.
I don't want to go, _ _ _ [D] _ _
_ _ [G] I mean it sounds weird anyway, but the point is that up strum, that
last up strum is fairly subtle.
So you hear it, but I'm not trying to accent it anyway.
So let me play again a little bit faster tempo so you can hear it.
_ _ _ [D] _ _
_ _ [G] _ _ _ _ [D] _ _
_ [G] _ _ _ _ So that's a really great way of learning how to keep the strum going and still be able
to move your chords as needed.
Now everything is comfortable.
_ Everything feels smooth, and that's really important, not just what people are hearing,
_ but how it feels to me as a guitar player.
Because if I'm trying to go, _ _ _ [D] _ _ _ [G] _
I'm like tightening up and all these sorts of things are happening
and I don't want any of that.
I just want it to happen real naturally.
So as I'm playing a song, _ _ _
_ _ [D] _ _ _ [G] _ _ _
_ _ [F#] there's up strums in all of those movements.
It's just happening naturally, so you're not really either, you're not hearing it, you're
not acknowledging it because it sounds very natural, _ or you're just accepting it because
again it sounds natural.
That's what I want you to think about a little bit.
It's a great little trick if you need to be able to make the connection between your strumming
and your chord changes.
_ [N] _ _