Breaking these movements down to the smallest possible increment makes a huge difference and if you can master changing from A to D to E, going from Aadd9 on the 5th fret to D2 to E will become a breeze. Each string needs a different amount of pressure, each chord requires a different placement in each fret. Sometimes one finger plays the same note in all the chords of a progression, but most of the time each finger plays a different note in each chord. Think about all that happens when we play a chord progression. Now that you can play one chord perfectly, it’s time to work on our ch-ch-changes. Staying in time while moving to a new chord is a challenge too. Playing the chords correctly is only half the battle. If you’re a beginner, it won’t take long to realize changing chords is one of the great challenges we face as guitar players. Strumming the chord with too much strength can cause the strings to ring sharp. Is the chord in tune? Your guitar can be in tune, but too much pressure or not enough pressure can cause the chord to be out of tune.

Can you hear all the notes in the chord? Are you playing all the notes that should be in the chord? Those little “X”s on the chord diagrams are really important because they show what notes should be muted. How does it sound? It’s useful for even the most advanced among us to check in on how clearly we are playing our chords. Try this exercise: Play your favorite chord. If we don’t master this basic skill, we will miss so much in our playing. Too often we think, because we are holding the correct shape, we are playing the chord correctly.

Too often, we learn our chords, start playing tunes, and go, without ever revisiting how they actually sound and if we’re nailing the changes. If you think about it, this skill is one of the most fundamental and basic of all we do on the guitar, and one of the most important to master.

Master of none chords