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JeffS65
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Joined: 10/07/08
Posts: 1,602
JeffS65
Registered User
Joined: 10/07/08
Posts: 1,602
01/04/2021 5:41 pm
Originally Posted by: paulcavaliere

Hi All,

For context, I just finished Guitar Fundamentals 1. Lisa recommended to go explore songs that would fit GF1 skillsets learned. I went offsite and downloaded a lyric/chord sheet. I want to learn "Small Town" by John Mellencamp. It has chords above the words. It indicates strumming pattern. However in GF1 the learning songs are composed in a way to make it easy to know when to change chords. e.g. A full measure then switch. In "Small Town" the chords are not played for full or half measures sometimes just a beat and a half.

Anyway, my question is with a lyric/chord sheet how do you know when to change chords? (For "Small Town" I viewed some Youtube video's where people teach the song and it made it make sense). But for songs where I download a lyric/chord sheet how is it done?

Something to keep in mind, reiterating what Faith said, when you see it on a sheet, it's is an 'estimation' of a chord change.

There was another thread where a similar question was asked too so this is similar to what I'd mentioned in that thread: If you're going to Ultimate Guitar, know that it is alike a wiki of songs and chords. Meaning that the transcription is only as good as the transcriber and you have no idea who that person is. This also mean that the transcription might be inaccurate. Also, timing for the changes might not be exactly here you need to be.

I'm actually not bagging on Ultimate Guitar at all. A very useful tool but does have some downsides.

So, as Faith said, you have to feel it.

What I'd add is that feeling when that chord change should happen, feeling the groove, is a very, very important skill. In the other thread, I'd mentioned some church band memebers at my previous and very small church, had no sense of time and would either; (A) plow headlong in the the next section ahead of everyone, or (B) Would change/play the note literally from the Ultimate Guitar sheet irrespective of what everyone else arounf him as doing.

Great music has a groove and a swing so it's best to use a tool like Ultimate Guitar to be a rough map of what you want to play but ultimately, play along with the song as that will teach you not only how to play the chord and when to play the chord changes. You'll also notice that there is a common thread of feel on western music grooves that it becomes a second sense after you've been playing for a while.