Going crazy with cord changes in GF1

i am having a devil of a time in GF1 changing cords to basic songs. I practice for hours everyday and just can't change in time with Lisa. I am getting every frustrated. Is it just me because I'm going crazy! My fingers hurt but I keep on going. Somebody help me before I just give up as Im struggling and don't seem to get it!! Know I'm old but there has to be a better way and I just don't know it!!

Hi Vicki,

I'm sorry to hear you are having difficulties and can understand your frustrations.

What I think you ought to do first is take a step back. Have a day or two off and don't touch the guitar at all. If you want to keep your mind on guitar playing, spend some time browsing the Forum or have a poke around on YouTube . Just don't touch the guitar. Basically, chill out and relax..

You have been practicing far too much. Too much practicing is counter productive.

Practice 10 to 15 minutes at a time. You can do this 2 or 3 times a day. This will allow what you have learnt to sink in and give your fingers and muscles time to recover.

When you practice, take note of your posture. Sit or stand up straight. Follow Lisa's tips.

Warm up for 5 minutes doing Lisa's Spider exercise.

When you practice your chord changes, start VERY slow.Take time to place your fingers in the correct positions. Now play the changes,even slower than Lisa.

Keep a steady SLOW rythm. You are now beginning to develop your muscle memory. Do this 10 to 15 times very, very slow. When you can make the changes with no mistakes you can begin to speed up a very little and go through it all again. Continue like this and your speed WILL increase.

You can't rush this stage. It takes many repetitions to get it into your muscle memory but the rewards are worth it.

As your fingers harden up and your muscles develope things will become easier and you will go forward at a faster rate. Just don't be impatient.

As you develope you can increase your practice time a little bit at a time but I would say 30 to 45 minutes tops each session.

I'm 72 years of age and started this course about 5 weeks ago.I have made steady progress using this method The beginning was hard. But I've been patient. Now it is much easier.

I very much hope this has been some help to you. If you get any problems, don't hesitate to tell us on the Forum. We are here to help and make your guitar learning experience an enjoyable one.

All the best,

Joe

Well, welcome to the wonderful world of music. If it was easy, there would be more performers on the stage then people in the audience. It's hard and guitar is one of the harder intruments to learn. I totally agree that you need to completely slow it down. You are not supposed to make "music" in the beginning. You are supposed to learn how to hold, strum, pick, find notes and frets and start to understand timing. This all could be boring and frustrating. There will be times when you may want to quit. Just remember, you are not studying for a test at school or working through a demanding project at work. You are supposed to be having fun. I started playing as a young teen but gave it up. Back then there was no Guitar Tricks or, even an internet. Today it's much easier to learn. I picked it back up 50 years later and my only regret is that I lost all those years. I most enjoy learning new stuff on the guitar but I sneek in new songs as well. One final note. The frustrations that you are going through now, you won't remember soon. It will become second nature. Example- I couldn't move from an open C chord to an open G chord. Last night I caught myself "doodling" while watching a YouTube video. I was actually going from chord to chord rapidly without thought. It will happen. Hang in there and have fun.

Thank you both for replying and I'm going to go back some and take it easy. I guess I want to play so much that I'm overwhelmed. Going to take the advice you've given and go slow. Lisa is such a good instructor and when thinking about it I'm practicing to much.

Thanks to both of you

You are very welcome Vicki,

I hope it goes better for you now.

It would be nice if, after a while, you could let us us know how it's going.

All the best

Joe

I have every sympathy for you Vicki I'm going through that section too currently and as expected am struggling quite a bit, drives me mad at times but I'll get there ultimately in my own time, I keep telling myself that any progress however small is positive and that in itself encourages me to carry on and keep at it, be patient - easier said than done though I know lol.

All the best, you'll get there in the end.

Still very early on for me too, finally got round to buying my first guitar 2 weeks ago and I'm still trying to master the simple C to simple G change. Going to G I'm pretty good, although sometimes not stretching my finger far enough over, but going the other way I find I'm not going back in with the correct posture and resting my finger ever so slightly on the 1st string causing a bum note. This improves if I watch my fretting hand but if I watch my hand I lose rhythm with my strumming hand.

should I be trying to do this without watching my hands at this stage?

Bryan, Lisa says for beginners we will need to watch our hands for good placement of our fretting fingers and after a while the muscle memory will just make the cords naturally.

I'm still having to watch mine and hoping that's the case! Just keep practicing and together we will make it work!

Yes, I second vickidalton386's response: I as well started in December, and am improving with chord changes still in GF1. I still have to look at the fret hand sometimes. Usually I will try then alternating to watching the pick hand so I don't hit the unused strings. It's a challenge, but practice will show improvement!