Chord transitions

[Knocks]

I am having trouble timing the Am to F transition, and was wondering if perhaps my fingering is incorrect. I use ring-middle-index for Am, which I always thought was correct, but it requires repositioning all 3 fingers to incorporate the pinkie when I play the F chord. Is that what's messing up my timing? Perhaps I should use pinkie-ring-middle to play the Am so that the F would be simply adding an index for the barre? Or should I just continue to practice the original fingering? Thanks guys!

[A String]

Practice the original fingering.

 

Chord changes are the first real hurdle, a guitar player needs to over come. It's all about "muscle memory". Practice it a lot.

 

Try strumming, all down strokes, four strums on the Am, then four strums on the F. Make the timing between the chord strums and the chord changes, the same length and try to play it as slow as you need to, in order to do it with out mistakes.

 

It's an amazing journey you are embarking on. Stick with it, stop by here for any advice you may need and welcome to the forum!

[Dr. Ellwood]

Yep, Craig is right. Yes it gets a little tight within that particular chord change but you should stay with the traditional fingering of the two chords, there will be times down the line when you will be using that combination as part of a more complex set of runs and alternative fingering could cause problems..just keep working on it and it will get there soon..good luck and keep sheddin' that wood!!

[Knocks]

Thanks for keeping me on track, guys!

[Fumblyfingers]

I would recommend doing both as would I recommend learning to play the F by wrapping the thumb. I think that at the end of the day, however you can arrive at a clean performance is good. You will find that sometimes you will just be cramping up, perhaps due tp any number of reasons. Lack of practice, too much practice, nerves, tiredness etc etc. So having different ways to grab chords to change the hand position is beneficial.

 

Just my 2 pennies.

 

But yeah, you have to know the standard fingerings well in the first place.

[Knocks]

While we're on the subject of basics, I have two other questions. First, my thumb sticks out almost perpendicularly to the neck when I'm playing open chords. Old instruction books say the thumb should be placed behind the neck, but I see many popular musicians play with their thumb sticking out every possible way. How critical is this?

 

Second, if you're a righty, should you place the guitar on your left or right lap? Again, I've heard conflicting advice.

[Griffinator]

I straddle my left leg. Makes for less fatigue on my strum hand, and since that's closer to the position the guitar is in when I stand, it makes the most sense from a habitual playing position standpoint.

[Big Red 67]

You can move from the Amin to the Fmaj and not play the F notes on the top and bottom strings too. The thing is that you will want to be able to "do it all". You can play the A at the fifth fret then the F at the 8th fret too. It will always depend on the what is best for the song you are playing.

 

And if I haven't said it,... Welcome to the forum!

[fantasticsound]

You really should learn to make the shift, but I'd get used to playing Am with your middle-ring-pinky fingers as well. It allows you to hold a major chord (a la open E) or minor chord (a la open Am) and move your index finger to play a variety of bass notes. This is useful to walk down or up through several bass notes with the same triad or as a way to alter a chord shape into a completely different chord with a very different flavor than either the simple major or minor voicings.

[Fumblyfingers]

I am going to suggest learning these shapes if you have not done so already.

 

 

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d42/Gypsyfingers/Picture16.png

 

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d42/Gypsyfingers/Picture17.png

 

Obviously the fingering at the 5th fret is a barre with the first finger. The Am is an open Em shape slid up to the 5th fret and the F chord is just a C shape slid up to the 5th fret. I don't know your level so forgive me if I am showing you stuff you know already.

[Fumblyfingers]

While we're on the subject of basics, I have two other questions. First, my thumb sticks out almost perpendicularly to the neck when I'm playing open chords. Old instruction books say the thumb should be placed behind the neck, but I see many popular musicians play with their thumb sticking out every possible way. How critical is this?

 

Second, if you're a righty, should you place the guitar on your left or right lap? Again, I've heard conflicting advice.

 

Personal pref on the lap position. I use both. With an Ovation neither will work LOL.

 

Thumb-wise.....it is considered correct technique to have the thumb behind the neck slightly off center....but IMO once again whatever gets the job done in a given situation. As you progress as a player you will find your own style and prefs and it is easy to change. You won't get locked in. What you want to watch for is being ungainly and awkward and you want to achieve economy in movement. Sometimes you can pivot on the thumb and that can help in situations, but there is just some stuff in rock that IMO you gotta wrap the thumb.

 

If you have the guitar slung low you are going to run into issues here and will probably have to wrap the thumb around the neck.

 

For me, most of the time I am behind the neck.

 

Perhaps start with that if you need a starting point. When I am playing open voicings my thumb definitely hangs over and if I play Stevie style blues leads my thumb is wrapped. Jazz and more intense fast lead work my thumb is behind. Am I contradicting myself?

 

Just learn all ways you can and let it sort itself out as you go.