Music Practice, jamming and chord changes [closed]

Question

I do like jamming along with some music majorly softrocks and POP on youtube which have chords and lyrics with my accoustic guitar. I comfortably jam do okay in Key of G and still struggling a bit in Key of C. My challenge is when I get to bridge verse (Mostly shift to minor chords) I struggle. How can I work around this?

I play along with the music but I struggle to changing to minor chords and when the verse shifts to bridge. I would like also to start finger picking on those chord patterns to create dynamism in my playing.

My goal is learning to play music and master the fretboard to unlock my ability. I think my problem is getting too comfortable in key of G. I would love to jam along to any music maybe bar classical at this point. That means i would need to have skills on picking(I have basics), smooth chord changes in any key and maybe SOLOing later in the learning. What schedule should I start with to make sure I become solid at ,chord changes,picking and SOLOing?

Answer 1

Sounds like your problem is basically you are not good enough or quick enough changing chord shapes. It doesn't matter too much whether those chord shapes are major or minor, but you just happen to be weaker with, I guess, Am, Dm and Em.

Which is strange, as all three shapes, on open chords, are actually easier to get to than C, F and G open!

If you wish to continue in key C, which I don't consider the easiest to play in on guitar, then you just need to practise those changes a lot more.

Check between any two of those chords. Let's say C and Am. You shouuld notice that a coupe of fingers don't need to move at all as you change. That makes C>Am>C an easy change. Let's take Dm and G. No common fingers there - although if the G is G7, top string fret 1 stays for both.

So, what I'm suggesting is you get far better at each change - C>F>C. Em>F>Em, G>Am>G - there are plenty of chages, both ways. Examine your fingering - playing what a guitar site tells you may not be the best fingering for you. I often have at least a coupe of different fingerings for some chords, depending what precedes and what follows.

All of this for key C! Then the same concept needs applying to other keys. By using a capo, you could play along with songs in other keys than C, using those 'C' family shapes. And - getting used to playing in other keys, too, with their awkward associated chord shapes. There's still lots of work to do! Good luck.

Answer 2

In addition to what Tim has said, not in contradiction to it, I'd add: Yes, it's good to practice jamming, and improvisation is its own skill. But when we improvise, we often simply re-use skills that we learned elsewhere in new combinations. When we practice scales, arpeggios, I-IV-V chord changes, etc., we're building a vocabulary that we can pull from "without thinking" when we need to.

So I'd say keep up the jamming, but also build up your core skills. Learn full songs, on purpose. Start easy, but try to keep challenging yourself with faster chord changes or more complex chords. Try familiar songs in unfamiliar keys. Practice scales. Most of all, as one of the comments suggested, practice undertempo and gradually build up your speed.