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Beginner Guitar Lessons – The 3 Most Common Pitfalls Trying To Learn Chords On The Guitar

By Mike Hayes | March 11, 2009

Guitar players usually accumulate a number of things in their
quest to learn their chosen instrument. Apart from the obvious
collection of guitars, amplifiers and electronic effects there is
a library of DVD’s, “how to play guitar” software, and of course
a huge selection of books.

Have you ever thought about how much money you have invested in
these learning aids? When you add it all up the average guitarist
spends approximately ten times the amount of money trying to
learn to play the guitar than they actually spent on buying a
guitar!

Among the pile of books there will no doubt be at least one
(there’s usually several) thick chord books. If ever there was
something that would slow your guitar playing to a grinding halt
it would be these chord books.

What grisly fate awaits the guitarist who religiously studies
their chords daily from a chord book? Suffice it is to say that
after 30 years of teaching I have never met anyone who has
successfully learnt how to master chords from a chord book.

You best plan of attack is to either (a) throw all your chord
books out the window, (b) mail them to someone you don’t like or
(c) read through the following pitfalls and how to overcome them.

Pitfall #1 – not knowing the chord spelling – every chord has a
unique spelling. Guitarists tend to learn chords via chord shapes
believing that the fingering pattern is the chord therefore there
is only one way of playing that particular chord.

solution: Instead of learning generic chord shapes a better way
to  learn chords is to learn to spell chords in exactly the same
way we  learn to spell words.

For example, the spelling for a C major chord is C-E-G, therefore
it stands to reason that any combination of these three notes on
the guitar fingerboard will produce a C major chord.

Which chord voicing you select will be determined by the musical
situation, this means you have options and are not restricted by
one random shape from a chord book.

Pitfall #2 – not being able to remember the correct chord names
associated with the chord shapes – your fingers are not the
thinking part of your body, it’s pointless blaming your fingers
for landing on the wrong chord.

You must be clear in your mind what each chord shape is called
before your fingers fly into action.

solution: Get the guitar out of your hands. Learning to identify
each chord correctly is a data memory skill that is best achieved
without the guitar.

Simply create a data memory card by writing the name of the chord
on one side of the card and drawing the chord shape on the other
side.

Basically these cards will act as question and answers cards
it is a data system where you can easily add new chords to your
collection as required and most importantly you will be able to
remember them!

Pitfall #3 -  not knowing the sound of each chord – it’s one
thing knowing what a chord shape looks like however,the real test
is knowing what each chord sounds like?

This is vitally important because music is not a visual medium,
basically no matter how long you stare at a chord shape our eyes
will never be able to hear, that’s not their function.

solution: Record each new chord as you learn them. Record the
chord as follows:

step 1: give the chord an ID, e.g., example #1, example #2 etc.,
don’t say the name of the chord.

step 2: strum the chord once, let the sound ring out.

step 3: make a note of each chord’s name and matching ID so
you can check you answers.

I invite you to use these tips and tools when you play the
guitar.

From Mike Hayes – The Guitar Coaching Guy & the Express Guitar System

http://www.GuitarCoaching.com
http://AdvancingGuitaristProgram.com

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