Chord Transitions

Note

This lesson requires that you are familiar with both the major and minor:

• Open position chords
• Barre chords

These chord shapes can be seen on the CAGED Chord Catalogue.

Transitioning from one chord to another can be a challenging experience. When familiarising chord shapes it takes time to memorise and recall these shapes when playing. This makes the chord transition a gradual process, which usually consists of placing one finger at a time to form a shape. As we progress and become more familiar with chords, due to the process of muscle memorisation, we can process chord shapes quicker and form shapes with our fingers simultaneously. This enables us to process shapes as a whole rather than note by note.

The following lessons are made up of two important categories to develop chord transitions

1. Timing
2. Hand Position Movements

Tip

To make the most out of these exercises, practice all excerpts:

1. Forwards and backwards
2. Substitute chords of your own

Timing

Playing chords in the correct rhythmic position is essential. The result of a chord being played too early or late could destabilise the timing of a song and potentially throw out the entire rhythmic groove.

The exercises below are designed to develop your chord transition timing by modifying the duration between each chord training us to think ahead.

Tip

The importance of this excercise is that you arrive on each chord on time. Therefore it is better to leave the preceding chord earlier in order to arrive on the chord that follows. Start with one strum per chord and practice minimising the audible gap between chords before attempting strum patterns.

Cmaj

1

2

3

Amin

1

3

2

Fmaj

1

1

1

2

4

3

1

Gmaj

3

1

2

• Ex.1

4 Bar Duration

. .

C

G

Am

F

. .

• Ex.2

2 Bar Duration

. .

C

G

Am

F

. .

• Ex.3

1 Bar Duration

. .

C

G

Am

F

. .

• Ex.4

2 Beat Duration

. .

C

G

Am

F

. .

• Ex.5

1 Beat Duration

. .

C

G

Am

F

C

G

Am

F

. .

Hand Position Movements

The second aspect involved with chord transistioning are the hand position movements involved from getting from one chord to the next. This section focuses on the relationship between muscle memory and the minimalisation of movement your fretting hand makes when changing chords. Below are the two categories of hand position movements:

1. Stationary Chord Playing (Anchoring Notes)
2. Directional Chord Playing (Vertical, Horizontal & Diagonal movements)

Stationary Chord Playing

There are times when multiple chords played in succession will share common notes. By being aware of common notes, we can minimalise movement by training our fingers to only move when necessary.

Tip

1. Keep common notes anchored pivoting
2. Only move necessary fingers

Cmaj

1

2

3

Amin

1

3

2

Fmaj

1

1

1

2

4

3

1

Gmaj

3

1

2

• Ex.1

The following progression requires anchoring fingers:

• 1 & 2 during the C - Am transition
• 1 during the Am - F transition

. .

C

Am

F

G

. .

Directional Chord Playing

The guitar is a visual instrument by design and playabilty. An anology of the fretboard is that it shares the same construct as jigsaw puzzle; it is formed by shapes fitted together. Another visual aspect of the guitar is the process of navigating the fretboard. When we navigate the fretboard we can think in terms of directions such as vertical (up/down)(across strings), horizontal (left/right)(along strings) and diagonal (up+right/up+left/down-right/down-left)(across and along strings). In this section, we will approach playing from a visual perspective, looking at the movement involved in playing directionally.

Muscle Memory Movements

1. Place all fingers down in unison
2. Lift all fingers off in unison
3. Keep all fingers slightly above strings and maintain a similar finger postion from previous shape
4. Move all fingers in unison and adjust shape if necessary
5. Repeat all steps above

The Vertical Hop

The vertical movement comes from slightly bending the fretting hand’s wrist back and forth, allowing your hand to move freely over the strings to perform a chord hop.

Open Position Chords

Position

A position refers to a specific fret location on the fretboard determined by the lowest fret number contained within a chord, scale or arpeggio

The following exercises involve using 4 variations of the major & minor E and A shapes in open position

Emaj

1

3

2

Emin

3

2

Amaj

3

2

1

Amin

1

3

2

• Ex.1

. .

E

Am

. .

• Ex.2

. .

Em

A

. .

• Ex.3

. .

E

A

. .

• Ex.4

. .

Em

Am

. .

Barre Chords

Let’s apply the same process using the E and A shape barre chords in 2nd position.

F♯maj

2

1

1

2

4

3

1

F♯min

2

1

1

1

4

3

1

Bmaj

2

1

4

3

2

1

Bmin

2

1

2

4

3

1

• Ex.1

. .

F♯

Bm

. .

• Ex.2

. .

F♯m

B

. .

• Ex.3

. .

F♯

B

. .

• Ex.4

. .

F♯m

Bm

. .

The Horizontal Glide

The horizontal movement comes from the fretting hand’s forearm moving adjacently left and right along the fretboard to perform a chord glide.

Look where you're going

When it comes to horizontal playing always focus on the endpoint rather than the starting point.

Open Position Chords

The following exercises involve keeping the A shape and transitioning from open position - 2nd position without barre.

Amaj

3

2

1

Amin

1

3

2

• Ex.1

. .

A

B6

. .

• Ex.2

. .

Am

Bm6

. .

Barre Chords

Let’s apply the same process using the E shape barre chord from 3rd - 5th position.

Gmaj

3

1

1

2

4

3

1

Gmin

3

1

1

1

4

3

1

Amaj

5

1

1

2

4

3

1

Amin

5

1

1

1

4

3

1

• Ex.1

. .

G

A

. .

• Ex.2

. .

G

Am

. .

• Ex.3

. .

Gm

A

. .

• Ex.4

. .

Gm

Am

. .

Let’s apply the same process using the A shape barre chord transitioning from 7th - 2nd position.

Emaj

7

1

4

3

2

1

Emin

7

1

2

4

3

1

Bmaj

2

1

4

3

2

1

Bmin

2

1

2

4

3

1

• Ex.1

. .

E

B

. .

• Ex.2

. .

E

Bm

. .

• Ex.3

. .

Em

B

. .

• Ex.4

. .

Em

Bm

. .

The Diagonal Hop & Glide

The diagonal movement combines both vertical and horizontal movements and comes from both the slight bending of the wrist as well as the forearem moving adjacent along the fretboard to perform a simultaneous chord hop and glide.

The exercises below are 4 variations of the E & A shape barre chord transistioning from 7th - 9th position and vice versa

Bmaj

7

1

1

2

4

3

1

Bmin

7

1

1

1

4

3

1

Dmaj

5

1

4

3

2

1

Dmin

5

1

2

4

3

1

• Ex.1

. .

Bm

Dm

. .

• Ex.2

. .

B

D

. .

• Ex.3

. .

Bm

D

. .

• Ex.4

. .

B

Dm

. .

The exercises below are 4 variations of the E & A shape barre chord transistioning from 7th - 9th position and vice versa

Bmaj

7

1

1

2

4

3

1

Bmin

7

1

1

1

4

3

1

F♯maj

9

1

4

3

2

1

F♯min

9

1

2

4

3

1

• Ex.1

. .

Bm

F♯m

. .

• Ex.2

. .

B

F♯

. .

• Ex.3

. .

Bm

F♯

. .

• Ex.4

. .

B

F♯m

. .

Combining All Directional Movements

To wrap up, the last exercises in this section combine all directional movements and can be practiced in multifarious ways:

1. Using the E & A shape barre chords in 3rd & 5th positions
2. Using a combination of both open position chords and barre chord shapes

Amaj

5

1

1

2

4

3

1

Amin

5

1

1

1

4

3

1

Gmaj

3

1

1

2

4

3

1

Gmin

3

1

1

1

4

3

1

Dmaj

5

1

4

3

2

1

Dmin

5

1

2

4

3

1

Cmaj

3

1

4

3

2

1

Cmin

3

1

2

4

3

1

• Ex.1

. .

Am

Gm

Dm

Cm

. .

• Ex.2

. .

Dm

Am

G

C

. .

• Ex.3

. .

Gm

D

C

Am

. .

• Ex.4

. .

Cm

D

G

Am

. .