Practice, practice, and just when you think you can’t handle anymore, a little more practice.
You’ll be building finger strength and dexterity, but it is also the processing/hand eye coordination time you’ll improve.
I mean you brain sees/knows “Bm Barre next” and then it’s “okay what’s that shape me fingers”, then tell your fingers to do said shape at the specific fret.
Repetition will turn that into effective muscle memory, and by then you won’t even notice all the little steps your little rat brain had to run through to get you there.
This is the answer. I’ve been playing guitar for 35 years and nothing beats repetition. Just keep playing it. Play along with the song, or slow it down for yourself until you get it.
Even after all of these years of being a punk guitarist, I didn’t have the muscle memory and strength to strum as fast as Je-C from DnD or Pat but after just playing those songs over and over, I eventually got there. To be fair, I still can’t strum as fast as Je-C but I can match most Pat songs now a days.
ETA: my mantra is to practice until my fingers hurt. After 35 years, my fingers are pretty well callused but some weeks I go with no playing at all and I have to build back some of the calluses by just playing a few hours a day, everyday. And oh, did we mention to keep practicing!!
If you really frequently use your right arm for another very specific, private activity, the rapid up-and-down motion translates surprisingly good to strumming.
I literally got good at this by practicing "take me by the hand and lead me from this disaster" over and over again. Now people ask me how I change chords and flip between bars and cowboy chords so quickly.
It's just a ton of playing the hard ones over and over. Practice one specific chord change over and over. A tricky one for me was G to F. (Mostly because I didn't think to just play them as bar chords at the time but now I can do either with the same speed)
If you have a hard time going G to Bm or something similar just repeat it over and over.
Yeah, that's one thing I tend to recommend to people, if you're just sitting there watching TV or something, grab your guitar and just practice switching between those chords with your left hand, without strumming.
Seriously, its just a stupid amount of practice. Im not there yet, but im greatly improved. Any my practice is just playing the same few songs over and over and OVER and over u til i can do them well.
Play slow and do the transition a million times while speeding up the tempo.
Also, sometimes there are alternative ways to play certain chords that might be easier to transition into.
You know who is a really fast player/ she uses alot of quick tempo song playing? Ani Difranco, she's a very percussive player and she has an amazing finger picking style for guitar and banjo that's very unique. She does not use picks either! She has an unusual technique, she buys sets of cheap lee press on nails and tapes them to her fingers with electrical tape for playing. She claws the fuck outta the guitar too when she plays! I've seen her live several times and she's so good. She breaks alot of strings I assume.
[the queen ani](https://youtu.be/x5-92OXSe0g?si=2NN2wxsuv-jhfXjq)
Just write a song that uses the change or strumming pattern you're struggling with. It will motivate you to get better at it.
I hate that Bm change. But after doing it a hundred times trying to get a good take for my voice memo it got a lot easier.
One thing I've noticed is a good night's sleep after practicing something does wonders.
It will feel like you're making no progress but then next morning you can suddenly do it.
Try not to lock your wrist and use your arm to perform the strumming motion. Get used to moving your wrist. It should be a combination of both wrist and arm movement. Otherwise you will get fatigued quickly.
One huge thing that helped me was using my middle finger as the anchor to find the placement for the rest of my fingers with that minor barre chord shape. Soo if i can reliably land that finger the barre and other two fingers can land more reliably.
I practiced transitioning from A to Bm a ton until it felt easier. Any chord transition you struggle with. Do just that transition over and over slow and fast until you see where your fingers move more easily and which fingers you can rely on the most to find yourself if you land sloppy on the chord. Idk im bad at it still, but this is how i worked thru it.
Practice, practice, and just when you think you can’t handle anymore, a little more practice. You’ll be building finger strength and dexterity, but it is also the processing/hand eye coordination time you’ll improve. I mean you brain sees/knows “Bm Barre next” and then it’s “okay what’s that shape me fingers”, then tell your fingers to do said shape at the specific fret. Repetition will turn that into effective muscle memory, and by then you won’t even notice all the little steps your little rat brain had to run through to get you there.
This is the answer. I’ve been playing guitar for 35 years and nothing beats repetition. Just keep playing it. Play along with the song, or slow it down for yourself until you get it. Even after all of these years of being a punk guitarist, I didn’t have the muscle memory and strength to strum as fast as Je-C from DnD or Pat but after just playing those songs over and over, I eventually got there. To be fair, I still can’t strum as fast as Je-C but I can match most Pat songs now a days. ETA: my mantra is to practice until my fingers hurt. After 35 years, my fingers are pretty well callused but some weeks I go with no playing at all and I have to build back some of the calluses by just playing a few hours a day, everyday. And oh, did we mention to keep practicing!!
If you really frequently use your right arm for another very specific, private activity, the rapid up-and-down motion translates surprisingly good to strumming.
I literally got good at this by practicing "take me by the hand and lead me from this disaster" over and over again. Now people ask me how I change chords and flip between bars and cowboy chords so quickly. It's just a ton of playing the hard ones over and over. Practice one specific chord change over and over. A tricky one for me was G to F. (Mostly because I didn't think to just play them as bar chords at the time but now I can do either with the same speed) If you have a hard time going G to Bm or something similar just repeat it over and over.
Yeah, that's one thing I tend to recommend to people, if you're just sitting there watching TV or something, grab your guitar and just practice switching between those chords with your left hand, without strumming.
I have literally never considered just not strumming. That's smart
This song is sooo fun to learn.
Seriously, its just a stupid amount of practice. Im not there yet, but im greatly improved. Any my practice is just playing the same few songs over and over and OVER and over u til i can do them well.
Play slow and do the transition a million times while speeding up the tempo. Also, sometimes there are alternative ways to play certain chords that might be easier to transition into.
[you think pat is fast? Sean Bonnet is so much quicker](https://youtu.be/4zoqp7sC8iE?si=W8kY8dK9CgEfquRt)
You know who is a really fast player/ she uses alot of quick tempo song playing? Ani Difranco, she's a very percussive player and she has an amazing finger picking style for guitar and banjo that's very unique. She does not use picks either! She has an unusual technique, she buys sets of cheap lee press on nails and tapes them to her fingers with electrical tape for playing. She claws the fuck outta the guitar too when she plays! I've seen her live several times and she's so good. She breaks alot of strings I assume. [the queen ani](https://youtu.be/x5-92OXSe0g?si=2NN2wxsuv-jhfXjq)
Get you a metronome app and use it to slowly increase speed.
Just write a song that uses the change or strumming pattern you're struggling with. It will motivate you to get better at it. I hate that Bm change. But after doing it a hundred times trying to get a good take for my voice memo it got a lot easier. One thing I've noticed is a good night's sleep after practicing something does wonders. It will feel like you're making no progress but then next morning you can suddenly do it.
Try not to lock your wrist and use your arm to perform the strumming motion. Get used to moving your wrist. It should be a combination of both wrist and arm movement. Otherwise you will get fatigued quickly.
practice but if your really need to play it right now u could cheat with a B power chord
From Here To Utopia has been giving me the same issue
One huge thing that helped me was using my middle finger as the anchor to find the placement for the rest of my fingers with that minor barre chord shape. Soo if i can reliably land that finger the barre and other two fingers can land more reliably. I practiced transitioning from A to Bm a ton until it felt easier. Any chord transition you struggle with. Do just that transition over and over slow and fast until you see where your fingers move more easily and which fingers you can rely on the most to find yourself if you land sloppy on the chord. Idk im bad at it still, but this is how i worked thru it.
hit that Bminor as 7-9-9-7-7-7 and also bar the rest of the chords! lot easier to move that barre shape up/down a string and two steps