Now it's time to learn a game-changer exercise for beginner guitar players. :) In this lesson, we’ll discover the One Minute Changes Exercise, the best trick I can give you to help you play songs nice and easy! Seriously, this exercise works better than any other method I know for learning to change chords fast. I first started teaching this as a game for kids, but I now teach it to anyone learning guitar - even more advanced players struggling with fast changes!

While the Chord Perfect Practice we've learned in the previous lesson helps you with chord accuracy, the One Minute Changes Exercise is about speed when switching between chords.

So, if the chords sound a bit wonky as you go through this exercise, don’t worry. Our focus here is on getting the fingers into the basic chord shapes fast and on time.

Let's see how!

Exercise for Fast Chord Changes

The idea of One Minute Changes Exercise is simple. Follow this three easy steps:

Step 1

Pick two chords and see how many times you can switch back and forth between them in one minute.

Step 2

Your goal is to reach around 60 chord changes per minute. That’s one per second! It'll take you a few sessions to reach your goal - keep track of your results with My Practice Assistant or download my Beginner APP!

Step 3

Do this exercise every time you put a new chord into your practice routine.

If you're following my Beginner Guitar Course, you'll do the One Minute Changes Exercise with the A and the D chords. Further, we'll revisit this idea and learn how to prioritize items in your practice sessions.

FINGER PAIN? THIS EXERCISE HELPS IT TOO!

There are two common obstacles for any beginner guitar player: finger pain and changing chords fast enough to play a song. The One Minute Changes Exercise helps you get past both of them. If your fingers hurt after this exercise, that’s ok. It means they’re getting tougher! Also, remember you can take a break before moving on with your practice session.

ARE YOU STRUGGLING TO PLAY YOUR FIRST SONG?

Nothing gets in the way of playing a song more than slow chord changes! The good news is that the One Minute Changes will help you with that too. Focus on the chord changes that you find the hardest - or the ones in the songs you want to play!

KEEP TRACK OF YOUR PRACTICE!

The key point in this lesson is to focus on only one chord change during one minute. It's essential to keep track of your practice sessions, so you'll see where you have to put more effort on. There are many ways you can monitor your progress! When I was first learning, I used an old kitchen timer - My Practice Assistant is way better than that. :) It gives you statistics about your progress - a great motivator and practice optimizer! Make sure you’ve logged in to use My Practice Assistant - it's free.

My Beginner Song Course App also has this exercise, and it's very cool and interactive! It's another excellent way to keep track of your progress while you learn to play guitar with actual songs!

If you don't want to use an application to monitor your progress, all you need to have is a countdown timer. I just recommend you take note of the number of changes you're doing, so you know what to do next!

WHEN TO MOVE ON?

It can take you some time until you reach 60 chord changes per minute. It's completely normal - I still remember how much I've struggled with changes using the G chord, for example! Before you move on to the next lesson, try to get up to 30 chord changes per minute between D and A chords.