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Get Your Fingers as Close to the Frets as Possible
When fretting a chord shape, try to get your fingers as far over in the fret as you possible can. This will not always be possible, but you should endeavour to do this because you will get a better quality of sound from the strings and you will not have to push down as hard to get the note to sound clearly. This is a win win situation for any guitar player!
Look for Common Fingers When Changing Between Chord Shapes
I always want to make playing guitar as easy as possible. One thing I found out early on when learning chords is that sometimes your finger can stay in the same place for two different chords. This means you don’t have to take this finger off the fretboard when changing between the two different shapes. When your fingers are moving unnecessarily on the fretboard, this is actually going to tire them out quicker. I will give you two examples of this below –
Look at this C to Am change. You can leave your 1st and 2nd finger in the same place for both chords.
Look at this Em to C change. You can leave your 2nd finger in the same place for both chords.
It is important to note that many people in the world play chords with different fingers, so don’t worry if you don’t hold an Em or C the same way as me. These specific examples are not as important as the concept of making your changes as easy as possible.
Slide Fingers Where Possible When Changing Chords
Similar to the previous tip, this is another thing you can look out for when changing between chord shapes that will make all your movements much more efficient in the long run, and thus really benefit your all round playing. I’ll give you a few examples of where you can slide your fingers along the same string to its new target instead of lifting them off when making chord changes –
Look at this D to E change. You can keep your 1st finger on the G string, but just slide instead of lifting it off.
Look at this A7 to D change. You can keep your 3rd finger on the B string, but just slide instead of lifting it off.
Minimise Movement
Following on from the previous points, minimising movement is a very important part of guitar playing, especially chord changing. I urge you to always look out for handy little ways of making the changes you need to do more effortless. When making changes, look at what each finger has to do. Where does it start from and where does it need to end up? For example, how can you make sure it doesn’t dance about all over the place and waste time and energy when doing a G to B7 chord change? Always look out for these things and think about how you can improve them.
Check How Clear Your Chords Sound
When holding down a chord shape, check how clear each string in the chord sounds by picking through the strings individually. You may find little imperfections in your C and G chords, but that’s okay! This is normal, and going through this process allows you to find the areas you can improve on within these chords and what adjustments you need to make when fretting the notes.
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