BC-153 • Air Changes

[justinguitar]

Lesson Link: http://www.justinguitar.com/en/BC-153-AirChanges.php

Questions...

[LoadingLevelOne]

Haha, I was averaging 80+ on the 1-minute changes when doing a finger at a time.
Then I incorporated air-changes into it and now I'm down to 20 changes per minute.

I'm sure its all worth it in the end though, so I'm gonna stick with it and keep practicing 

[mattinoz]

I found that with some chords, (like D, E & G for example), I was already kind of doing air changes without knowing it, so the change over has been fairly easy.
Yet for others, like the C chord for example, I really found it hard to adjust the way I was putting down the chord ie: 1st finger, 2nd finger, 3rd finger.
What I've started doing, & it really seems to be helping my progress, is to put the chord down in the reverse order (eg: 3rd finger, 2nd finger, 1st finger).
Anybody else tried this?
I guess somewhere between doing it the 1, 2, 3 way & the 3, 2, 1 way is putting all the fingers down at once.  
Anyway, seems to be working for me so far. 

Cheers,

Matt
 
 

[anthonyr]

wow- just when I think I'm getting the hang of this whole "Guitar Thing", you go ahead and throw in another monkey wrench!!! Uggggghhhh!!!

[licksnkicks]

Trying to do this "air change" exercise.  Now because my fingers don't quite move independently of one another I find that some of my fingers can get there on the chord quickly but there seems to be one slow finger in the bunch especially when changing from g to c.  Is it just a matter of time for the fingers to act independently?  Is there any other exercise that I can do to enhance the experience.

Licksnkicks

[PJMCM]

Is it just a matter of time for the fingers to act independently? 

Yep!

Is there any other exercise that I can do to enhance the experience.

Skip forward a bit and also incorporate Forcing the Changes. Should help a bit.

Peter

[licksnkicks]

Thanks PJMCM I don't want to wait but I guess I will have to!

I am doing forcing the changes and been with all the chord progressions that I do as well as the songs. 

Lnk

[PJMCM]

Lnk
If you're doing all the right things, then it will come in time. And don't forget, you can really practise Air Changes anywhere, anytime - even when you don't have your guitar. Some people even practise air changes at work etc - moving their fingers into chord shapes whilst sitting at the desk, on the bus! Looks weird to non-guitarists I guess, but it works.

The only other thing you need really is some of this!   

Peter

[licksnkicks]

Your right Peter you can practice this anywhere.  Who cares if they think I'm weird.  I'm past the point of caring what people think of me anyhow!

Thanks though for the suggestions!

Lnk

[licksnkicks]

Getting terribly frustrated with these air changes.  I'm into now for 2 1/2 weeks approx and still can't get my ruddy fingers to act the way I want them to.  How long does this process take.  I practice everyday with diligence but am banging my head against the wall.  What to do?  What to do?

Lnk

[swame_sp]

Hello Everybody,

I jumped to this lesson after learning the G & C chord as my chord changes are not faster. 
How do I learn create the shape in the air? My third finger could not get itself in place without the help of other two fingers on the board? How to rectify this?

BTW, Hey "Lnk", how is your progress going on? What did you do for getting the changes better?

[DangerDanjo]

Hello,
Do the air changes apply to all chord changes or do I still leave my anchor finger on the string when switching between say D and E?
Thanks.

[Steve St.Laurent]

I'm finding that my fingers are getting closer and closer to being put all down at once just through the normal course of doing the 1 minute changes.  Some of my 1 minute changes are at 120+ changes per minute.  Should I go ahead and work on air changes specifically or just continue the way I'm going and see if I naturally get to them by getting faster with the 1 minute changes?

[licksnkicks]

I think that you could experiment.  Do your way of getting your fingers in the proper positions and if it's not quite up to snuff than continue with the air changes.

Personally I'm still working on my air changes but the more songs I play and the more practice I put into them they are becoming almost natural.  Sometimes with some fast power chord changes I will sit for perhaps an 1/2 hour or so and just practice changing between power chords(with a metronome) whatever strings they happen to be on.  It's just like anything else though, with practice comes success!  I love those a ha moments.  Now a days they seem to be a little more prevalent!

Lnk

[rxSi]

I was having trouble letting my fingers move independently without an anchor finger on the guitar neck, like some of the people above. I could not create a chord figure, especially hard ones like the G, with my hand loose in the air. What really helped for me was the following method, which I call the air no change .

- Grab the chord old school, like u are used too.
- Then lift up the hand from the neck, holding this figure - holding your fingers in the same position. (this also can be tricky at first)
- Then try to put down your fingers again, still holding this figure and thus creating the same chord again, but now while putting down all the fingers at the same time.

When you do this numerous times, your mind is getting used to holding your hand this way and you will slowly be able to do an air change. For me, doing this exercise with a few hard chords, like G and C, also helped for the other easier chords, like Am, Em and so.

Let me now how this worked out for you!