Changing Chords in Time

Here is the thing that actually separates a beginner from someone who can play: not how many chords they know, but whether they can get to the next one without stopping.

Almost everyone practises this wrong. They play a chord, check it, fix it, strum it, then start thinking about the next one. That builds a habit of pausing, and the pause is the problem.

The fix is a rule that feels backwards: never stop. Play through the change even if the chord is wrong, even if it buzzes, even if you only get two strings down. Keeping time with a bad chord is more useful than perfect chords with a gap between them, because time is the thing the band cannot recover from.

A drill that works: pick two chords, set a slow click, and change every four beats. Four beats is a long time. Use the last beat to lift and move — start travelling before you have to.

Metronome

Start at 60 BPM. Change chord every four clicks. Go slower if you are late, not faster if you are early.

This track is in E minor and uses C, E minor and D. You know all three.

Play one strum per bar, and pay attention to where your hand is on beat four. If it is still holding the old chord, you will be late. Lift on four, every time, until it happens without thinking.

C, E minor and D in a slow rock groove. Lift on beat four, every bar.