Another important exercise is not only for your fingers but to start your ears also to get acquainted well with the similarities and differences of the chord tones when strummed. More often learners never get to notice how chords were chosen or preferred to be used in a song. Beginner guitarist or even an average player sometimes dont have the habit of getting the feel of the chords in a song. Here in this exercise not only we are going to practice our finger strecthing technique but also learn how to acquire the ability to feel the differences of the chord sequence patterns.These chord patterns can be used in the same part and melody of the song yet emphasizing a different angle of emotions and mood of the song. Its recommended to do this exercise always so that you will develop the chord tone observing habit and this will help you to develop your song accompanying skills in the future.
First, about stretching, beginners often find it hard to shift their fingers correctly from G major chord position going to C major chord. Here is the whole sequence of chord exercise that we are going to learn today shown below.
G-C-D-C-/G-Am-Bm-Am-/G-C-D-C-/G
In this exercise, you can first familiarize your fingers with just G and C alone repeatedly if you find yourself still slow. After constant practicing you can add a chord to the sequence one by one until you completed the whole pack of chord sequence shown here. Its recommended to do it with just a single downward strum of the thumb for every chord for speedier learning pace. Notice that on the second pack of chords, G-Am-Bm-Am, your fingers are being trained to acquire a faster grasp of the Bm (B minor) chord as this speed is necessary also for a versatile hand movement adjustability.You must be doing this whole pattern repeatedly as one type of finger exercise.
Second, about your tone hearing exercise, your ear will be introduced to hearing and identifying tone similarities and differences in the chords. You will gradually learn to filter sounds that makes the chord a minor or a major one. The ability to analyze tone and feel of it comes gradually through constant everyday practice.
