Any suggestions or thoughts?
How Forever Feels questions
Hi Mike, Newbie here. Been playing for a few weeks now working I have completed Guitar Basics one but I need to go back and continue practicing hitting the base note then struming the chord (I think it will help me as I was just ignoring that aspect before and just struming the chord not hitting the base note then strumming) Sorry got off subject. My question is about the song how forever feels I am attempting to make this my first real song to play. The question I have is how best to get from the Em to the C chord on bar 3. I can get to the Em (down down up) and then just cannot get to that C smoothly. I slowed the video down and watched over and over and it does appear that you hold the Em on the upstrum then switch to the C before the down strum. I have even been trying to lifting up on the Em on the up strum and then fretting the C before the downstrum and just cant seem to get it.
Any suggestions or thoughts?
Any suggestions or thoughts?
# 1
Hi thanks for the great question!
The first thing to try is to finger the Em chord with your middle finger on the 2nd fret of the A string and your ring finger on the 2nd fret of the D string. That minimizes the finger movement in grabbing the C chord by using your ring finger on the 3rd fret of the A string, middle finger on the 2nd fret of the D string, and your index finger on the 1st fret of the B string.
Experiment with that fingering and see if that makes a difference in making the chord change quicker. If not, try some other fingerings and see which one feels the most natural and comfortable for you and stick with it.
Then, the most important thing you can do, is to repeatedly drill that chord change over and over at a MUCH LOWER TEMPO. This is critical -- slow down the tempo so that you can make the change in time cleanly and consistently. Once you find a slower tempo that you can make the change nice and smooth -- keep practicing at that tempo over and over. Repetition is the key.
The more practice you put in at a slow tempo, your fingers and muscles will start to adapt and you'll find making the change easier and easier.
Then start to increase the tempo in small doses and repeat the same process. The idea is to keep inching up the tempo, lots of repetition, and eventually you'll be making the change cleanly and up to tempo!
Hope this helps, let me know how it goes!
Mike
The first thing to try is to finger the Em chord with your middle finger on the 2nd fret of the A string and your ring finger on the 2nd fret of the D string. That minimizes the finger movement in grabbing the C chord by using your ring finger on the 3rd fret of the A string, middle finger on the 2nd fret of the D string, and your index finger on the 1st fret of the B string.
Experiment with that fingering and see if that makes a difference in making the chord change quicker. If not, try some other fingerings and see which one feels the most natural and comfortable for you and stick with it.
Then, the most important thing you can do, is to repeatedly drill that chord change over and over at a MUCH LOWER TEMPO. This is critical -- slow down the tempo so that you can make the change in time cleanly and consistently. Once you find a slower tempo that you can make the change nice and smooth -- keep practicing at that tempo over and over. Repetition is the key.
The more practice you put in at a slow tempo, your fingers and muscles will start to adapt and you'll find making the change easier and easier.
Then start to increase the tempo in small doses and repeat the same process. The idea is to keep inching up the tempo, lots of repetition, and eventually you'll be making the change cleanly and up to tempo!
Hope this helps, let me know how it goes!
Mike
Keep rockin!
Mike Olekshy
GT Guitar Coach
# 2
