...or, at least, it's different for me! I'm pretty much out of the teacher-networking loop, so I'm constantly re-inventing the wheel. Anyway, this is a slight shift that's occurred to me when teaching beginners.

I spend most of my energy coming up with creative ways to help intermediate to pro players to learn new ways of looking at the fretboard, learn how to better integrate theory concepts to the guitar, get out of a soloing rut, ect. When it came to beginners' learning chords, I always kind of thought of it as a "dues-paying" thing. Part of the initial learning curve.

THE PROBLEM
Most kids learn chords kind of as islands unto themselves. They think of each chord as a totally different thing from every other chord. They'd be fine, if the songs they played only used one chord, but unless you've got them playing "19th Nervous Breakdown," that rarely happens. As a result, when they're playing a song, going, say, from D to A, they wait until it's time to switch, totally dismantle the D chord (taking their hand off the neck), and build an A chord from scratch, trying to picture the "chord diagram" in their book.


THE SHIFT
Over the last few months, though, I've been encouraging them to think more about the transition itself than the actual chords. This was little more than good advice rarely taken, until I made doing that a part of my lessons.

THE METHOD
I had a kid learning "Blvd. of Broken Dreams," which is a good beginner song in that it makes full use of most of the cowboy chords. Most of the verse uses a 4-chord repeated cycle of Em, G, D, and A (also, once they know it, they've also got a handle on "Wonderwall").

So I made him focus ONLY on the switch from Em to G. We looked at which fingers had to move, which ones could stay in place, ect. Once he was thinking purely about the transition itself, I made him do it 10 times without stopping. It was like the opposite of weightlifting--it got easier each time. By the 10th time, he could do it pretty easily. Keep in mind, by now, he wasn't thinking the old way of "ok, stop thinking about the Em shape now, and remember the G shape." He was thinking, pick up this finger, move it over here, drop it here." It's a subtle shift, but a real one.

Next, we did G to D 10 times, then D to A, then A to Em.

Then, we did all 4, one strum per chord, 10 times: Em,G,D,A.

Suddenly, in his second lesson, he could play the song in tempo, with none of the painful hesitation between chords that characterizes the first couple of months for most people.

And of course, he is actually playing the chords, so his brain is memorizing not only the transitions we work on, but the chords themselves, whether I emphasize that or not.

This might not be news to you guys, but it's made my lessons with beginners much easier.

The transition IS what it's all about.
I haven't taught a beginner in years but this is how I used to do it and how one of my better teachers got me to do it ...

That psycho-cybernetics/"inner game of tennis" visualization thing -

"See the result before you actually do the work".

Visualize how your hand looks on the fretboard playing a G chord while your holding the Em. When you can really "see" that G chord, then move to it. It's amazing how quickly and accurately you (or the kid) will get to the G (or whatever) when you really can see it first.

So true!

That's why I show them 2 ways to finger their open A and E chords (both minor and major) when it comes time to learn how to switch to another chord they will already know of more than one way to finger one in relation to where they want to go next... planitng the seed... from there I let them experiment a bit and make suggestions as to what works for me and every now and then I'd actually be the one learning a trick from their fresh perspective on things.

Doing the 2 chords switching exercises is a big plus. I'll also suggest that they try to combine 3 or 4 chord that they think sounds good together and are fun to play... once they have a few of those chord progressions I start showing them the relations between them... wich is often the "standards"

That is a big breakthrough, instruction wise. Congratulations.

I find that beginners are more instructional for me. They usually ask questions I've never thought of. So, I learn a lot by figuring out how to explain what they ask.

Transitions are everything. Not only do I drill the chord transitions within tunes ad nauseum with students, it's been a staple personal regimen of mine since day one.

Also part of my agenda is drilling the transition beween lead/melody playing and chord rhythm/comping/fills. I'll take the last two bars and the first two bars of a tune, and have students loop and drill the section relentlessly (with several variations), until the dynamics are real world-practical. Same drill I've used on myself for decades.

Now if somebody could just shed some light as to how to teach the almighty F chord... yes, I have exercises and approaches, it's just that most entry level folks struggle mightily with the combined effort of laying one finger flat and straight, while simultaneously arching the other fingers. I don't remember the thing as being quite so difficult back in the late 60's.

For the F chord I have a trick...

I teach them to barre with their 1st and 2nd finger on top top of it. Play with that from the 1st fret to the 12th fret once they manage that with no mistake or so; playing one string at a time to demonstrate that they did got the 6 strings right.

Now that cheat trick goes out the window the minute they achieve the 1 to 12 fret thing.

After that I give them a simple exercise like say 2nd fret 5th fret and 7th fret "progression" but they have to play that with one finger over all 6 strings.

Those 2 exercises are basically just to get some strength in there and get that 1st finger used to the strings because let's not forget that finger never saw strings before if only for the tip of it so it needs some getting used to just like when they started fingering on the fretboard.

Now I do show them the F chord right off teh bat and explain to them that I got exercises for them to go through to get that scary monster down right. If they manage without going through the exercises perfect... but they'll actually practice those exercises without telling me so they can get that F chord right... and it is quite obvious that they did when you give them time to noodle around...

It's not a complicated thing but reinforcing the strenght in the 1st finger by using the 2nd one as a buddy to help push does help but you gotta get rid of that buddy fast but then again you can't really finger the other chords if you do so it's a natural switch for students.


I woudl be interested in other tricks you guys might have about this as it is a hard step for many.

Glorbz, our approaches are very similar. I recommend using the picking hand thumb (or, in the case of a youngster, a parent's [or my own] hand) to apply additional pressure to the index barre, for the simple reason that many index barre chords already include middle, ring, and index fingers. I then ask the student to try and duplicate the pressure (after it has been removed), and perhaps more importantly, straightness and flatness of the barre finger, as well as to try a few different thumb positions. I also employ an exercise that promotes strength with each of the fingers, as barres with 2nd, 3rd, and 4th fingers are all very much a part of the working player's toolbox. As to this exercise, it's fundamental that none of the fretting fingers are to touch ("help") each other.

Nonetheless, despite my very best efforts, I remain baffled by just how incredibly difficult it is for laymen to play a barre chord that rings well and is pleasantly intonated. The different physical disciplines of the fingers sheds new meaning to the phrase "can't chew gum and walk at the same time". It's not difficult at all really, with a reasonable degree of time and effort, but for whatever reasons, it's a total mindfuck for many.

Discussing this a bit further with a student(adult) I realised something about teh barre chord thing.

Now thsi is really a subtle thing but many will try to have the index finger perfectly flat to the strings(or perfectly perpendicular to the fretboard). The thing is this is actually wrong... looking at things closer I realised that you actually have to go from that perfectly flat barring and roll you finger on its side slightly toward the nut. Because having it perfectly perpendicular will be an issue for the strings close to the knuckles joints/fold. Once they start rolling the finger to its side slightly it helps a lot... now most will figure that out on their on over time but for those having a lot of problem I thought it woudl be worth pointing this out... we take such details for granted after years of playing I guess... that's why I love this section of the board we get to share on those idiosyncrasies.

The side of the Index finger, is an important point. I have a "ridge" or callous along the side of my index finger, from playing Barre chords.

I often have a student put their finger directly on the fret. Then, I have them roll off of the fret, onto the side of their index finger. This helps them to find a comfortable position for the finger. Also, it helps to give them more downward pressure through leverage, as opposed to strength.

Also, Barre chords are the perfect opportunity to reinforce how important their posture and the positioning of their guitar is. They usually find a more Classical approach to holding the guitar is very helpful in playing the Barres.