Originally Posted by: stevechristian1Any advice on how to get past being stuck on a transition for weeks on end? It feels like an insurmountable barrier at the moment.
Also, it is normal to spend weeks on end attempting a single chord transition or am I just going about practicing in an inefficient way?
Hi stevechristian1 
"Normal"? Hmmm.... Everyone learns at their own rate, and it's OK to be slower than a average, ...if that's how you perceive yourself? True or false, perhaps because of the way we are using the tools or energy we are putting into the swing of the axe required when we are truly determined to get the job done.
Using "three weeks" as a datum is like asking how long is a piece of string. How individuals determine time on task, and how they apply it definitely varies wildly IMV, and that's before application of exaggeration to which most of us are prone which similarly varies according to the individual personality.
According to the mean of your estimate, you practise under 4 hours (3.85hrs) per week. Over 3 weeks, assuming no exaggeration that's a total of 11½ hours approximately. It's doubtful you spent that entire time just on those Em-D-Em transitions, but If so, then yes, IME you should have achieved a [u]reasonable[/u] competency transitioning between them by now even if not necessarily at the tempo or even in perfect timing with the song's rhythm.
As Billy said in his post, there is no common finger string connection so the each change requires a complete liftoff and landing. Watch the lesson again taking particiular note to see if or where you might be misapplying the required taught technique.
That said, it sounds to me most like you really just need to take a step back and focus on those specific chord changes, reviewing as you are now where you might be setting up a roadblock for yourself, before reapplying yourself to accomplishing the transitional goals by changing back and forth [u]over[/u] and [u]over[/u] and [u]over[/u] and [u]over[/u] to the accompaniment of a measurable set datum like a metronome.
Start slowly at a speed you can comfortably do at first, and work toward the speed you want to accomplish increasing incrementally as each speed setting becomes a piece of cake. Focus on body English, hand & thumb form, and importantly accurate finger placement and landing order, and ultimately melding it all together into smooth actions. It will start to become reflex with repetition so you will find youself doing them subconsciously without thought before too long. Do maintain a positive "can do" frame of mind, and don't worry or overthink it. Best you cast off the is it/am I "normal" personal comparitive and just focus on the task instead.
Do ensure you [u]actively[/u] [u]apply[/u] yourself 100% mentally and physically to that task in what is really just a few minutes of the day you're practising, and do so for a focussed half-hour at least every second day minimum [u]consistently[/u] rain, hail or shine. The competency will develop.
And here's an amazing tip I'll share which I've discovered about the body's malleability [u]learning guitar in the particular[/u]. I've found that, that if I apply myself to learning something tactile, a new lick, riff, scale, chord et al, then sleep on it, the next day whatever it is I attempted or did at the previous attempt is easier, tactilely improved, smoother. The mind body relationship seems to process the previous experience to subliminally retain the info, learnt from it so that the fingers now comply with its (your) will with increased instinctivity. I can't explain it any better than that really other than to say the symbiotic relationship between the mind, intervals of rest, and subsequent muscle memory retention has become overtly noticeable and obvious to me in my learning path over the past 18 months.
GL with it. You will get there.
