The Dreaded 'F' Chord

So I'm in Guitar Fundamentals 1 and I finally have to use the 'F' chord in a song but I can't switch to it quickly enough without without it sounding terrible and buzzing. If I slow down and take my time switching to it, I usually can nail it but it disrupts my whole flow with the song and I don't want to move on until I can play the whole song close to perfectly. The 'F' chord is just frustrating and I need some advice, please. In the song you go from 'Em' to 'F'. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. What did you do at this point or whenever you get stuck?

Funny thing: I can only nail it if I'm not trying to hard. My guess is your muscle memory will kick in eventually. Have you tried googling a different song with the same chord changes? I'm finding that changing up the music to something I'm familliar with is paying out in spades. I understand that you want perfection, but maybe skip ahead a little, clear your mind and come back to it.

Thanks for the advice. Just gotta wait for that muscle memory I suppose and just keep trying it. I was faster today than I was yesterday.

Originally Posted by: Grease Hammer

Thanks for the advice. Just gotta wait for that muscle memory I suppose and just keep trying it. I was faster today than I was yesterday.

We believe in you!

Hi Grease Hammer,

The secret of developing muscle memory is to practice slow and be as accurate as possible. If you make mistakes practice even slower so that you can play without mistakes. Don't rush. Do many repetitions. When you can do the changes or whatever you are practicing 5 times without a mistake increase the speed fractionally.

Think about it. When you make mistakes you're muscles will remember them too.

I know. It can get a bit boring. If you find yourself getting bored switch to something else for a while. Play around a bit. Then come back to it.

You WILL get there. Yes. We believe in you. You are not alone.

Joe

Thanks for the confidence boost, guys. Much appreciated.

One suggestion that works for me is to take the measure that is giving me grief and the measure preceding it. Play them as slowly as necessary to maintain constant tempo, and do this over and over for 5-10 minutes a day. Use a metranone and as you get better, speed it up about 5%. When you can consistantly do this at 120% of the tempo you want, you're ready to polish off the entire song.

While doing this, condinue to practice the rest of the song to commit it to memory.

As I said, this works for me.