How to change chords faster.

To change chords faster on guitar, move fewer fingers a shorter distance. Keep any finger that sits on the same string and fret in both chords pressed down (an anchor finger). Slide any finger that stays on the same string but moves fret (a guide finger). Move the remaining fingers together as one shape instead of placing them one at a time, and start the move a beat early, while the old chord is still sounding. Measure it with one-minute changes: count how many clean changes you make in sixty seconds, every day, for each chord pair.

The fingerings below use string numbers: string 6 is the thickest, low E, and string 1 is the thinnest, high E. A chord written as x32010 lists the frets from string 6 to string 1, with x for a string you do not play and 0 for an open string.

Why your changes are slow

A slow change is rarely a slow hand. It is usually one of four habits, and you can see all of them in a phone video of your fretting hand.

• Fingers lift too far. Every centimeter a finger travels away from the strings is a centimeter it has to travel back.
• Fingers land one at a time. First finger, check, second finger, check. Three separate placements take three times as long as one.
• Fingers that could stay, leave. Lifting a finger that belongs in both chords throws away the one landmark you had.
• The move starts late. If you only think about the next chord on the beat it is due, you are already behind.

Anchor fingers: what stays down

An anchor finger sits on the same string and fret in both chords. It never lifts. It keeps your hand located on the neck and leaves fewer fingers to move. Look for anchors first, every time you learn a new pair.

• C (x32010) and A minor (x02210). In both shapes the index finger is on string 2 at fret 1 and the middle finger is on string 4 at fret 2. Only the ring finger moves, from string 5 at fret 3 to string 3 at fret 2.
• D (xx0232) and A (x02220). Play A with the middle finger on string 4, the index on string 3, and the ring on string 2, all at fret 2. The index is now on string 3 at fret 2 in both chords, so it stays down while the other two fingers trade places. This is the fingering the GuitarHub curriculum teaches for the first change.
• G (320033) and D (xx0232). In this version of G the ring finger plays string 2 at fret 3 and the pinky plays string 1 at fret 3. D also has the ring finger on string 2 at fret 3, so it becomes the anchor and the rest of the hand pivots around it.
• E minor (022000) and G (320003). Finger E minor with the index on string 5 and the middle finger on string 4. G puts the index on string 5 at fret 2 as well, so it stays while the middle finger moves to string 6 at fret 3 and the ring finger lands on string 1.

Notice that two of those depend on choosing a fingering. When a chord has more than one standard fingering, choose the one that shares a finger with the chords around it in the song.

Guide fingers: slide, do not lift

A guide finger stays on the same string but moves to a different fret. Instead of lifting it, ease the pressure and slide it along the string, keeping light contact. The string acts as a rail, so the finger arrives in the right place without you looking for it.

The key of A shows it best. Using the A fingering above, the index finger is on string 3 at fret 2 for D, stays there for A, and slides back to fret 1 for E (022100). Across A, D and E, the one, four and five chords in the key of A, the index finger never leaves string 3.

Shape moves: travel as one unit

When no finger can stay, the fingers that move should move together, already arranged in the next shape. Two pairs show how much of a change this removes.

• A minor (x02210) to E (022100). The fingers make the same shape in both chords, one string apart. A minor sits on strings 4, 3 and 2. E is the identical shape on strings 5, 4 and 3. Keep the shape locked and move the whole hand one string toward the ceiling.
• G (320003) to C (x32010). Play G with the ring finger on string 6, the middle on string 5, and the pinky on string 1. For C, the ring and middle fingers step across one string together, to string 5 at fret 3 and string 4 at fret 2, and the index lands on string 2 at fret 1. Two fingers moving as a pair is one move, not two.

A useful drill for any pair is the shape drop. Form the destination chord, lift every finger a few millimeters while keeping the shape, hold it in the air for a beat, and drop all the fingers at once. Then strum and check that every string rings. Ten clean drops trains the hand to arrive as a unit.

Look ahead and leave early

The fretting hand should start moving before the new chord is due. On a four-beat bar, think the name of the next chord on beat 3, and start the move on the last “and” of the bar. Your strumming hand keeps going through the gap. If the last upstroke of the bar catches a few open strings while the fingers travel, that is normal and, at tempo, it sounds like part of the strum.

Your eyes lead too. Once a pair feels familiar, look at where the next chord's anchor or lowest finger lands, a beat before you need it, instead of watching the chord you are holding.

One-minute changes: the number that tells you

The measurement for all of this is one-minute changes. It is in Stage 2 of the GuitarHub guitar curriculum, and it works for any pair of chords.

1. Choose one pair of chords, for example D and A.
2. Form the first chord. That position is zero.
3. Start a sixty-second timer. Change to the second chord and strum once: that is one. Change back and strum: two. Keep alternating.
4. Count only changes where the chord was fully formed when you strummed. Do not stop to fix a bad one. Just keep going.
5. Write down the count with the date. Do two or three rounds per pair and keep the best.

Run it every day for the pairs in the song you are learning. The number moves day by day in a way that your sense of the change does not, and the practice evidence log shows the trend once you have three sessions in it. For D and A, the A-to-D chord practice routine times both directions for you, starting on A and starting on D.

Put the change in time

A one-minute count measures speed. A song needs the change on the beat. Once a pair is climbing, move it to the metronome:

1. At 60 BPM, strum each chord four times (one bar) and change. Four clean bars in a row moves you to the next step.
2. Change every two beats.
3. Change every beat. This is the hardest step and the one that makes the bar-length change easy at song tempo.
4. Raise the tempo in small steps and repeat. The tempo ladder builder sets the starting speed, the target, and the steps between.

When the change holds against the click, play it inside the song again: two bars before it, two bars after it, then the full section. The isolated drill only counts once it survives that.

A ten-minute chord change session

1. 1 minute: check both chords string by string. Fix any string that buzzes.
2. 2 minutes: silent shape drops into each chord, anchors and guides held.
3. 3 minutes: one-minute changes, three rounds, best count written down.
4. 3 minutes: the change against the click, four beats, then two.
5. 1 minute: play the change inside the song or study it came from.

Strumly's guide to smoother chord transitions goes further into finding which single finger is arriving late. When the change you need is into a barre chord, the barre chord guide covers the F chord and the moves in and out of it, and the strumming guide keeps the other hand steady while the changes speed up.

Questions that come up

Is it OK to let the open strings ring while I change chords?

Yes. On the last eighth note before a new chord, many players lift the old shape and strum whatever is open while the fingers travel. At song tempo it reads as part of the strum. What does not work is stopping the strumming hand to wait for the fretting hand, because that breaks the time.

Should I look at my fretting hand during a change?

While you learn the shape, yes. Once the one-minute count for a pair is climbing, start looking at the next chord's position a beat early, then practice a round with your eyes up. A change you can only make while watching is not finished yet.

Which chord change should a beginner practice first?

D to A. The index finger can stay on string 3 at fret 2 for both shapes, so only two fingers move. It is the first change in the GuitarHub curriculum. After it, C to Am is a quick pair to add, because two fingers stay exactly where they are.

How many one-minute changes is good?

Work it out from the song. At 100 BPM in 4/4 there are 25 bars a minute, so a song that changes chord once per bar needs 25 changes a minute, and one that changes every two beats needs 50. Aim above the song's number, so the change has time to spare.