Chords for Chord Changes: This Tip Is Almost Too Easy

Tempo:
120.55 bpm
Chords used:

G

E

D

A

C

Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
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Chord Changes: This Tip Is Almost Too Easy chords
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Hey there, it's Paul Bright here, founder of thebeginnerguitaristacademy.com. In this
video I want to share with you some really easy tips for improving your chord changes,
especially when changing from the G major to the C major chord, which I know for a lot
of people is a major struggle.
So I wanted to put together this really quick video just
to give you some easy tips to help improve your chord changes, more specifically improve
the chord changes from the G to C, but you can apply this to other chord changes as well.
So again, a big issue people have is going from a G [Em] major chord to a C major [G] chord.
There's
this big pause where they've got to look down, adjust their fingers, and when they're trying
to play a song and they're strumming along, they've got everything right, it's just that
chord change which really puts this whole gap in the song, which is really frustrating.
It did happen to me when I was getting started, so if it's happening to you, don't worry,
but these tips will certainly help you out.
So the first tip is [A] when you're going from a G major [G] chord to a [Abm] C major chord, what most
people will do [G] is they will walk their fingers.
So they'll kind of go from like this to either
walk their fingers down from the thickest to the thinnest, or they will walk their fingers
up from the thinnest to the thickest.
So there's this kind of walking action, so again from
thickest to thinnest, or they'll go from [C] thinnest [N] to thickest.
So there's that walking action.
Now ideally when you play chords you just want to play all down in one go, which does
take time and most likely won't happen at the start, but that's kind of the ultimate
goal is just to put your fingers down in one hit like you do with the G major example,
but with the C major there will generally be some sort of walking action.
If you find
that you are doing that, which most likely will be the case, what you do not want to
do is go from, when walking your fingers, you do not want to walk your fingers from
the thinnest to the thickest.
So if you notice that you're doing that, you want to stop that
because it is so much harder.
Instead, if you're going to walk the fingers, I always
do it the [A] right way and the easy way, and that's going from the thickest to the thinnest
[G] string.
So again, so from G [Em] to a C, [A] walk your third finger down, [E] then your second, then
[A] your first finger.
So [B] going from the thickest to the thinnest just kind of helps [C] with finger
placement [A] and your hand positioning.
When you're going from the thinnest, your hand
is kind of open here, which means your fingers are going to kind of come out from the fret
boards and then you've got to kind [D] of [G] position it down, you've got to look down, it's [D] quite
hard.
So go from the thickest, and [N] you can see if I start with my third finger, naturally
the rest of my fingers is going to be a lot closer to the fret board, so my hand's kind
of almost in that position.
So when I go that, it's almost my hand, if I hold my hand down
like that, it's just ready to kind of place down.
So my first tip is to walk from thickest
string, so start with your third finger, [E] then your second, and then your first finger, and
go down in [G] that process.
It is going to be a case [C] too where just [G] chord changes do [C] take
time, [Ab] so you do just need to practice, and another tip is just to not strum, so just
[G] kind of when practicing your chord changes, just go from a G [C] to a C, [G] and just practice
this [C] chord change with a [G] simple down strum.
[E]
When you add a strumming pattern,
[Em] it just
kind of makes things harder because you're trying [G] to coordinate everything, so just practice
with a simple down strum [C] with that walking action [A] as well, and that will improve with
[N] time.
Now my next tip, which can be a bit of a cheat, but it certainly gets you by in
that interim, so still learn that chord change from the G to the proper C major chord, but
to kind of get you by in the [Dm] meantime, I've got a bit of a cheat, and it won't work with
every song, but it works with a lot of songs that will go from a G major to a C major,
and that's instead of using the C major chord, use the C add 9 [E] chord.
So with Brown Eyed
Girl as an [G] example, the chord progression is [Em] G, [G] C, [D] G, D.
[E] That's the chord progression
of [Bb] Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison, but what I can [G] do is go G, C add 9, G, [D] D, and it sounds
pretty much [G] the same, so G, C add 9, G, [D] D.
[A] So I've substituted the C major with [Gb] the C
add 9 chord.
The benefit of that is to [G] go from the G [Em] to a C major, there's quite a lot
[D] of change there, but to go [E] from a G major to a C add 9 chord, all I need to do is move
my first [Abm] and second fingers down [G] one string each, and I can keep my third and [Ab] fourth where
they are.
So with the G major, you do have to [G] play the four fingered version.
When going
to the C add 9 chord, G, C add 9, G, C add 9.
Very quick chord changes, instead of having
to go like that, I can just go like that.
So [N] that's a bit of a cheat, gets you by.
Ideally
you want to practice the G to the C major, but you can go from the G to the [G] C add 9,
which is going to get you by in the [Gb] interim, so a little bit of a cheat and [N] shortcut for
you.
So there are a couple of tips to really try and help out with your chord changes,
especially going from the G major to the C major chord, which is probably one of the
biggest frustrations a lot of people come across.
So practice those tips, use them,
hopefully they will help out, let me know your success stories, and if you'd like more
tips like this, what's happening is this coming Monday I'm running my guitar kickstarter
Diamond Coaching Program.
So what this is, is a four week course that starts again this
Monday, so lesson number one is this coming Monday, and what will [G] happen is every week
for four weeks you're going to receive two emails per [E] week, or two lessons per week.
First lesson is on a Monday, the next lesson is on a Thursday, then it's [D] Monday, Thursday,
Monday, [Gb] Thursday, Monday, Thursday.
And I'll include a schedule and more information on
the page, there will be a link below, you can click on that and check out more information.
So this is my guitar kickstarter Diamond Coaching Program, four week course designed to teach
you how to play the guitar from the comfort of your own home.
So I'm looking for ten people
[Em] who I can help and [N] teach them how to play the guitar from the comfort of their own home.
It's my guitar kickstarter Diamond Coaching Program, and one thing it does include, which
I've never done before, is a free, as one of the bonuses, is a free 30 minute one on
one Skype coaching session with myself.
So it's one of the bonuses I've thrown in there,
so if there's any particular issues or anything that you come across, or any struggles, then
you can jump on, we can jump live and I can see what's going on and help you out, so there's
that real coaching element, which is certainly a lot different to what you get with most
online courses.
So you can learn to play the guitar from the comfort of your home, still
get that one on one [Ab] guidance, and the course will guide you through the best way for learning
how to play [B] the guitar from [E] the comfort of your own home.
I've got some success stories
on the page where you can see all the information, so you can see the success stories, the course
schedule, how it all works, there'll be a link below this video you can click on and
check it out.
Really great course, highly recommend it, and a lot of people have [D] had
some great success with it.
So again, my guitar kickstarter Diamond Coaching Program begins
this coming Monday, I'm looking for 10 people only who want to learn how to play the guitar
from the comfort of their own home, so if you're one of those 10, love [Ab] for you to join
and love to teach you how to play the guitar.
Hopefully you enjoyed this video, if there's
anything I can do, let me know.
Happy
Key:  
G
2131
E
2311
D
1321
A
1231
C
3211
G
2131
E
2311
D
1321
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Hey there, it's Paul Bright here, founder of thebeginnerguitaristacademy.com. In this
video I want to share with you some really easy tips for improving your chord changes,
especially when changing from the G major to the C major chord, which I know for a lot
of people is a major struggle.
So I wanted to put together this really quick video just
to give you some easy tips to help improve your chord changes, more specifically improve
the chord changes from the G to C, but you can apply this to other chord changes as well.
So again, a big issue people have is going from a G [Em] major chord to a C major [G] chord.
There's
this big pause where they've got to look down, adjust their fingers, and when they're trying
to play a song and they're strumming along, they've got everything right, it's just that
chord change which really puts _ _ _ this whole gap in the song, which is really frustrating.
It did happen to me when I was getting started, so if it's happening to you, don't worry,
but these tips will certainly help you out.
So the first tip is [A] when you're going from a G major [G] chord to a [Abm] C major chord, what most
people will do [G] is they will walk their fingers.
So they'll kind of go from like this to either
walk their fingers down from the thickest to the thinnest, or they will walk their fingers
up from the thinnest to the thickest.
So there's this kind of walking action, so again from
thickest to thinnest, or they'll go from [C] thinnest [N] to thickest.
So there's that walking action.
Now ideally when you play chords you just want to play all down in one go, which does
take time and most likely won't happen at the start, but that's kind of the ultimate
goal is just to put your fingers down in one hit like you do with the G major example,
but with the C major there will generally be some sort of walking action.
If you find
that you are doing that, which most likely will be the case, what you do not want to
do is go from, when walking your fingers, you do not want to walk your fingers from
the thinnest to the thickest.
So if you notice that you're doing that, you want to stop that
because it is so much harder.
Instead, if you're going to walk the fingers, I always
do it the [A] right way and the easy way, and that's going from the thickest to the thinnest
[G] string.
So again, so from G [Em] to a C, [A] walk your third finger down, [E] then your second, then
[A] your first finger.
So [B] going from the thickest to the thinnest just kind of helps [C] with finger
placement [A] and your hand positioning.
When you're going from the thinnest, your hand
is kind of open here, which means your fingers are going to kind of come out from the fret
boards and then you've got to kind [D] of [G] position it down, you've got to look down, it's [D] quite
hard.
So go from the thickest, and [N] you can see if I start with my third finger, naturally
the rest of my fingers is going to be a lot closer to the fret board, so my hand's kind
of almost in that position.
So when I go that, it's almost my hand, if I hold my hand down
like that, it's just ready to kind of place down.
So my first tip is to walk from thickest
string, so start with your third finger, [E] then your second, and then your first finger, and
go down in [G] that process.
It is going to be a case [C] too where just [G] chord changes do [C] take
time, [Ab] so you do just need to practice, and another tip is just to not strum, so just
[G] kind of when practicing your chord changes, just go from a G [C] to a C, [G] and just practice
this [C] chord change with a [G] simple down strum.
[E] _
When you add _ a strumming pattern, _
[Em] _ it just
kind of makes things harder because you're trying [G] to coordinate everything, so just practice
with a simple down strum [C] with that walking action [A] as well, and that will improve with
[N] time.
Now my next tip, which can be a bit of a cheat, but it certainly gets you by in
that interim, so still learn that chord change _ from the G to the proper C major chord, but
to kind of get you by in the [Dm] meantime, I've got a bit of a cheat, and it won't work with
every song, but it works with a lot of songs that will go from a G major to a C major,
and that's instead of using the C major chord, use the C add 9 [E] chord.
So with Brown Eyed
Girl as an [G] example, the chord progression is [Em] G, [G] C, [D] G, D.
[E] That's the chord progression
of [Bb] Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison, but what I can [G] do is go G, C add 9, G, _ [D] D, and it sounds
pretty much [G] the same, so G, C add 9, G, [D] D.
[A] So I've substituted the C major with [Gb] the C
add 9 chord.
The benefit of that is to [G] go from the G [Em] to a C major, there's quite a lot
[D] of change there, but to go [E] from a G major to a C add 9 chord, all I need to do is move
my first [Abm] and second fingers down [G] one string each, and I can keep my third and [Ab] fourth where
they are.
So with the G major, you do have to [G] play the four fingered version.
When going
to the C add 9 chord, G, C add 9, G, C add 9.
_ _ Very quick chord changes, instead of having
to go like that, I can just go like that.
So [N] that's a bit of a cheat, gets you by.
Ideally
you want to practice the G to the C major, but you can go from the G to the [G] C add 9,
which is going to get you by in the [Gb] interim, so a little bit of a cheat and [N] shortcut for
you.
So there are a couple of tips to really try and help out with your chord changes,
especially going from the G major to the C major chord, which is probably one of the
biggest frustrations a lot of people come across.
So practice those tips, use them,
hopefully they will help out, let me know your success stories, and if you'd like more
tips like this, _ _ what's happening is this coming Monday I'm running my guitar kickstarter _
Diamond Coaching Program.
So what this is, is a four week course that starts again this
Monday, so lesson number one is this coming Monday, and what will [G] happen is every week
for four weeks you're going to receive two emails per [E] week, or two lessons per week.
First lesson is on a Monday, the next lesson is on a Thursday, then it's [D] Monday, Thursday,
Monday, [Gb] Thursday, Monday, Thursday.
And I'll include a schedule and more information on
the page, there will be a link below, you can click on that and check out more information.
So this is my guitar kickstarter Diamond Coaching Program, four week course designed to teach
you how to play the guitar from the comfort of your own home.
So I'm looking for ten people
[Em] who I can help and [N] teach them how to play the guitar from the comfort of their own home.
It's my guitar kickstarter Diamond Coaching Program, and one thing it does include, which
I've never done before, is a free, as one of the bonuses, is a free 30 minute one on
one Skype coaching session with myself.
So it's one of the bonuses I've thrown in there,
so if there's any particular issues or anything that you come across, or any struggles, then
you can jump on, we can jump live and I can see what's going on and help you out, so there's
that real coaching element, which is certainly a lot different to what you get with most
online courses.
So you can learn to play the guitar from the comfort of your home, still
get that one on one [Ab] guidance, and the course will guide you through the best way for learning
how to play [B] the guitar from [E] the comfort of your own home.
I've got some success _ stories
on the page where you can see all the information, so you can see the success _ stories, the course
schedule, how it all works, there'll be a link below this video you can click on and
check it out.
Really great course, highly recommend it, and a lot of people have [D] had
some great success with it.
So again, my guitar kickstarter Diamond Coaching Program begins
this coming Monday, I'm looking for 10 people only who want to learn how to play the guitar
from the comfort of their own home, so if you're one of those 10, love [Ab] for you to join
and love to teach you how to play the guitar.
Hopefully you enjoyed this video, if there's
anything I can do, let me know.
Happy