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Hi

I need some help on how to switch chords going from G to D as illustrated in my stolen video of "The Weary Kind" by Ryan Bingham.

No, this song is not in TARGET but the question I will eventually ask probably comes up in hundreds of songs. I know Neil has addressed it in some songs, but his lesson does not cover my question. More on that later.

I am going to post a short snippet of the video on U-tube, but first the basics.

We have two measures of the following: D, A, Bm,G,D,A; then one measure of D, one of G and back to D to begin the song. The picking pattern is BDEBDE throughout the whole intro.



Finally, here is the question. When Ryan goes from G to D, he manages to pick all six notes in G before switching to D. (You can see this very plainly at the end of the video.) For the life of me I cannot do this. I always either leave out the last note or hit it on an open E string. He seems to be doing neither, yet his hand does not seem to be moving all that fast!

I know Neil has spoken of moving one finger at a time and playing the last note open. I can't figure out how to move one finger going from G to D and if you play an open E, it sounds foul.

That's my December question. Any and all help is always appreciated.

TwoCatSam

Sam- this is a really common problem and you've hit on most of the obvious solutions. It's common when strumming to hit an open strum just as you begin your chord transition. But that doesn't work as well when finger picking. As you pointed, out some of the notes you hit in a strum aren't part of the next chord and it will sound terrible.

Neil will tell you to fret the notes of the next chord in the order you need them. For me, that is easier said than done. I still try to hit the entire chord in time with the melodie. That's okay when they are common or easy chords but not for difficult chord shapes. If you miss the timing you get dead notes and buzzing.

One idea to consider is have you tried playing a 4-fingered, full G chord? If you do, that will put your ring finger on the D note on the second string, third fret so you will have an anchor point to easily move to the D chord. Since D is part of a G chord you won't have problems with hitting bad notes and the transition between chords couldn't be easier.

I'm always looking for opportunities to NOT move my fingers between chords and to find an anchor note, in this case a root of the next chord, to make transitions as easy as possible. I'm sure you will get many other good ideas too!

Good luck!

Bear gives some good advice here. I could not view the video, cause it said it was "private".

MJ

Well, I'll go make it public.

Thanks

Guys.......

I understand what you're saying. I suppose it just needs more work on my part.

Now I'm not even sure I'm playing the notes right.

One day I hear something; the next day I hear something different.

That last sentence was not political!

:cheer:

Sam

I think a leading finger or a open note will do it from chord to chord,,oh and placing in order you need them,,it brought me somewere..and a lot of patiens..lol

Sam

I think this is all getting a little over complicated. I'm pretty sure that RB does lift off the D chord on his way to the G and most likely hits the open E - you're just not listening for it. Then, when you play it, you are listening for it and expecting it to sound bad - so it does, to your ear. If you watch the clip - or the rest of the video on YT - you can clearly see that he lifts off each chord before the end of the bar and hammers on the new chord at the start of the new bar. I've played this song for a while and I know that lifting off the chord has never seemed to cause too much of a problem. I'd say, go on playing it as you normally play it - get the chords down at the start of each bar and don't worry too much about lifting off for the final note or two of the previous bar.

Stuart


edit - sorry. should have said "G chord on his way to the D"

OK, these last two posts are going to take a couple of days for me to digest.

Basically, I'm still on Bear's four-fingered G chord. Never heard of it.

Tomorrow it's rain and I can't rake those "Autumn Leaves".

I really appreciate the time you guys devote to helping me.

TCS