Chords for How to Practice Chord Changes // Beginner Ukulele Tutorial

[G] _ [C] _ [G] _ [F] _ [G] _ _ _
Aloha everyone!
Today we have a tutorial on how to practice changing chords.
So I have started up a Q&A over at my Patreon page, another reason for you to join Patreon.
You can join right here, patreon.com slash Cynthia Lin.
So that way [N] I can collect all of your questions from across the internet and answer them in one place.
This is a very frequent question.
How do you practice changing chords and how do you get faster at chord transitions?
So today I'm going to show you a couple of exercises that will help you target that challenge.
But if you've been following my channel, then you'll know I'll tell you that you have to practice slowly.
_ _ [D] Because chord transitions and chord changes are mostly dependent upon your finger strength and flexibility in your chording hand.
And a finger independence which you might not develop in basically any other situation in your life.
So it's just a matter of slow practice, you know like I say, five minutes a day.
But just building that muscle memory which just takes some consistent practice.
Okay, so the first exercise we're going to do is our G to C chord transition.
Today we're just going to use C, G and F which are our most basic chords from our very first lesson, from Three Little Birds.
So G to C, so we're going to hold the G chord position.
We're going to start with G because G is harder, right?
So you have your G chord here.
Now I like to always strum one string at a time so that you can make sure that you're pressing hard [G] enough on your G. _
Right, so you've got to really press those fingers in from the front, press against the thumb in the back.
If the neck weren't there, you would be pinching your fingers together really hard.
Okay, so G.
_ So now we're going to move to the C, but [N] for now don't even strum.
We're just going to do a little exercise.
All you're going to do is move your ring finger, okay?
This might be challenging because it's isolating one individual finger.
You might not have done it before.
Keep these two fingers, right, your index and middle, keep them nice and still.
You're just going to move your ring finger down to its position for C on the A string.
Yeah, just that little movement and you're going to move it back.
Yeah, to the C position and move it back.
Okay, that alone can be really challenging.
It's like your brain is trying to send a signal just to the ring finger
and you have to try not to move the rest of your hand while you're moving that one ring finger, okay?
Just check when you move the ring finger, right, did your finger go flying off to come back on?
Did it overshoot?
It can do that.
It's okay.
Just build up the awareness of a nice, efficient movement.
Ring finger just has to move down here.
That's all it has to do.
Check that these fingers didn't fly up at the same time.
They're not all connected together, right?
Can this one move by itself?
So try that.
Just the ring finger back and forth.
Okay, that's where we start.
Okay, so now to go to the C, you're going to move your ring finger down into its position.
Now, _ see if you can just hover these two fingers just like half an inch above the strings and [C] play your C. _
All right, check that they don't want to fly [G] away there.
Yeah, you want to just keep them really nice and close because we're going to go back to the G.
So go ahead, press them back down, move the ring finger back up nice and strong.
G.
Now you're [E] going to move the ring finger down to the C position.
[C] Hover these two fingers, right?
Just, I have them maybe like half an inch above the string. _ _
_ Good.
Okay?
It's slow.
It's just taking [G] these steps one at a time.
But this is what builds the connections in your brain.
Okay?
So let's put these two fingers down.
Ring finger up.
Strong.
_ Look at you.
_ Ring finger down.
Hover.
[C] _ _ _ Okay, try [Ab] it again.
Press down.
Move the [G] ring finger.
G. _
_ Ring finger.
Hover.
[C] _ Okay?
So this is going to get a little bit [Am] faster.
_ [G] Press.
Move. _
_ _ Move.
[C] Hover.
_ Try it again.
[Bb] [G] Press.
Move.
_ And then move.
[C] Hover.
_ It's all about just the [Fm] most efficient hand [D] movement.
And if you're a beginner, you still want to keep that handshake position.
You want to keep the neck resting on your hand, your hand cradling,
and your wrist and arm strong and [C] straight.
Because all of this should be stable.
All that should be moving are your fingers on the front.
Okay?
[G] _ [C] _ [G] _ [C] _ _
[G] _ [C] [G] That's where you want to get to, where it can be that clear and clean each time.
Okay.
So you can work on that, work on building up that ring finger strength.
Most of us don't have reason to use our ring finger in any particular way at all.
So it can take time to build it.
All right.
So that's the G to C exercise.
Now we're going to do a G to F exercise.
So go ahead and start with your G again.
Yeah.
_ Nice and strong.
Okay.
[D] So to move to the F, you have to—let's try doing it by keeping this ring finger in place.
So you can use this other hand, your right hand, to come over and press this ring finger down
because it'll probably want to lift up.
So keep that ring finger down.
Now we're just going to take the steps one finger at a time to move to the F position.
Okay.
So first the index finger moves to your E string, right?
The first fret on the E string.
And then your middle finger moves up to the second fret on the G string.
Right?
We're going to move that slowly.
Then you hover the ring finger just half an inch above the string.
[F] _ _ _ [Am] Okay.
Now we reverse.
Now take the hovering [G] finger, let it press down.
Let the middle finger come all the way back down to the A string
and let the index finger find its place on the C string.
_ _ _ This can be very confusing and is a lot of signals firing in your brain.
Okay.
So just take it slow.
All right.
Let's try it one more time.
Keep that ring finger where it is.
Now index.
First it [Abm] moves into the E [D] string position.
Middle finger moves up.
Okay.
Ring finger [F] hovers. _ _
Now ring [Ab] finger back down.
Middle finger down.
Index [G] finger over.
_ _ Okay.
So then there's Tanya.
So I call this flipping the fingers, right?
Once [Abm] your hand gets used to flipping the fingers a [Dm] lot,
then it makes a lot of other chord transitions easier as well.
So I call it flipping because in G your index is on top,
your middle finger's below.
And then when you move to F, your middle finger goes on top
and your index comes down.
So just getting used to that idea that it's jumping back and forth.
You can even just try that where the ring finger stays still.
You're not strumming, but you just go jump, _ jump, jump.
But actually it's more of a walk than a jump, right?
So you're just going like step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step.
Walk before you run, right?
Okay.
So let's try it with a slow strum.
So we go [G] G.
_ _ Okay.
[N] Index, middle, [F] hover.
_ _ [Cm] Okay.
Ring finger back [Ab] down.
Middle, index.
[G] _ _ _ _ [E] Index, middle, [F] hover.
_ _ Ring finger, [G] middle, index. _
_ This might seem painstakingly slow, but I mean,
these are the steps that your fingers have to go through
even when you do it fast.
So it's best to clarify it slowly.
Let your fingers learn exactly what they're supposed to do.
And then they will remember how to do that when you move fast.
Let's try it a little bit faster.
All right?
So, they're G.
_ Okay.
[F] Flip.
_ _ _ [G] Ring finger, flip.
_ [Dbm] Okay.
Flip, ring [F] finger, hover.
_ _ [Fm] [G] Press, flip. _
[F] Flip, hover.
_ [C] Press, [G] flip. _
_ [F] Flip, hover.
_ _ All right.
[Ab] Fun, [E] fun, fun.
All right.
So, you can apply this process to pretty much any chord transition
that challenges you, right?
A lot of people talk about in creep that from the G to the B is a challenge.
So then you just work through [G] slowly.
G.
Then the index [E] finger comes down and smushes these two strings.
Then the middle finger has to come up.
Then the ring finger has to come [B] up.
_ [Abm] It just has [G] to be that slow.
G.
_ Take the time to [F] learn to move it down.
Then assemble.
Middle finger, ring [B] finger.
_ [Abm] _ [G] Yep.
[D] _
[B] _ I promise you, a lot [Abm] of slow practice will help get you
to a place where you won't have to think about it anymore.
Okay.
So, I hope these exercises help.
Let me know your feedback and comments below.
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And also, if you have questions, you can post them over there on the Patreon feed.
Thanks so much for watching.
Happy chord [Eb] transitioning.
Happy [B] strumming.
Play five [G] minutes a day,
and you will feel so [N] much better about your chord transition. _ _ _ _ _ _
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