How to change chords faster: anchor fingers, guide fingers, timing

Slow chord changes are almost never a speed problem. They are a distance problem: every finger lifts high, wanders, and lands on its own schedule, and the strumming hand waits. The fix is to find, for each change, the fingers that do not need to move at all, the ones that can slide instead of jump, and the moment in the bar when the move should start. This page walks through that method on the changes you play most, each one checked string by string, then gives you a practice routine that turns it into a habit.

Four ways to make a change shorter

Every quick change uses one or more of these. Look for them before you practice a change, not after.

• The anchor finger. A finger that stays on the same string and the same fret, because that note is in both chords. It never leaves the neck, and it holds the hand in place while the others move. Players also call it a pivot finger.
• The guide finger. A finger that stays on the same string but changes fret. It slides along the string, keeping light contact, instead of lifting off and searching for its spot.
• The shape that moves as a block. Some chords are the same grip on different strings. The fingers keep their relation to each other and the whole hand shifts by one string.
• The bass finger first. Your strum starts on the lowest string of the chord, so that is the finger that must arrive first. Land it, start strumming, and the higher fingers have a fraction of a beat more to settle. On C, that means third finger, then second, then first.

Anchor fingers: the notes that stay

Codes read from the low E string to the high E. In each diagram, the second line under the code gives the finger on each string: 1 is the index, 4 the little finger.

C to Am: two fingers stay

The easiest change on the guitar. In C (x32010) the second finger sits on the D string at fret 2 and the first finger on the B string at fret 1. A minor (x02210) has the same two notes, E and C, in the same two places. Leave them down and move only the third finger, from the A string at fret 3 to the G string at fret 2.

G to D and back: the third finger stays

Play G as 320033: second finger on the low E at fret 3, first finger on the A string at fret 2, third finger on the B string at fret 3, fourth finger on the high E at fret 3. D (xx0232) also has its third finger on the B string at fret 3: that note is D, and it belongs to both chords. Keep it pressed, and the change is two fingers instead of four.

G to Cadd9: two fingers stay, two step over

From the same G, go to Cadd9 (x32033). The third and fourth fingers do not move at all. The second finger steps from the low E to the A string, the first finger from the A string to the D string, both at the same frets. Four fingers change chords, and only two of them travel, each by a single string.

Em to C, and Em to G

Finger E minor (022000) with the first finger on the A string and the second finger on the D string, both at fret 2. Going to C, the second finger stays: C has the same E on the D string at fret 2. The first finger drops to the B string at fret 1, and the third finger arrives on the A string at fret 3. Going to G played 320003 with the second, first and third fingers, it is the first finger that stays, on the B at the second fret of the A string.

C to F: the first finger stays and flattens

The small F (xx3211) keeps C on the B string at fret 1. Leave the first finger there and roll it flat so it also covers the high E. The third finger moves from the A string to the D string, the second finger from the D string to the G string: the same frets, one string over.

Shapes that move as a block, and guide fingers

Am to E: the same grip, one string lower

Look at A minor (x02210) and E (022100) side by side. Second finger at fret 2, third finger at fret 2 next to it, first finger at fret 1 one string higher: it is the same hand, moved one string toward the bass. Do not take the fingers apart. Keep their shape, lift them just off the strings, and set the whole grip down one string over.

G to C: the block move in the other direction

Play G as 320003 with the third finger on the low E, the second on the A string and the fourth on the high E. Going to C, the third and second fingers move together, one string toward the treble: third finger to the A string at fret 3, second finger to the D string at fret 2. The first finger adds the B string at fret 1. Many players find this G fingering awkward for a week and then never go back.

D to A7: the guide finger

In D (xx0232) the third finger is on the B string at fret 3. In A7 (x02020) the same string is pressed at fret 2. Do not lift that finger: release the pressure, slide it back one fret along the string, and press again. The second finger goes to the D string at fret 2. Coming back from A7 to D, the third finger slides up the same way and acts as a rail for the rest of the hand.

Minor to minor seventh: one finger comes off

Some changes are a single finger. Lift the third finger from Am (x02210) and the open G string gives you Am7 (x02010). Lift the third finger from Dm (xx0231) and lay the first finger across the top two strings at fret 1 for Dm7 (xx0211). Lift the fourth finger from the Bm barre (x24432) and the barre itself sounds the A of Bm7 (x24232). These are the best first exercises in clean changes, because the hand barely moves and you can hear every string.

When to move: the change starts before the bar ends

Most stalls come from waiting. If the fretting hand leaves only after the last strum of a chord, the new chord cannot be there on the next beat, and the rhythm stops while it lands.

• Leave on the last half beat. On the final up-strum of the bar, the fretting hand is already traveling. Strum the open strings at that moment: it is a sound every strummer uses, and nobody hears it as a mistake.
• Land on beat one. The new chord has to be there for the first downstroke of the bar, even if only the bass finger is down. The rest of the fingers settle during the first beat.
• Keep the strumming hand moving. The strumming arm is the clock. If it stops to wait for the fretting hand, the change will always sound late, however fast your fingers get.

A fifteen-minute routine

Take one change at a time, not a whole song. Two chords, worked this way, improve in days.

1. Silent placement, two minutes. No strumming. Move from one chord to the other and back, watching the anchor finger stay down and the others travel the short way. Land the bass finger first.
2. One-minute count. Change back and forth for one minute and count the clean landings. Write the number down. It is the most honest measure of progress you have, and it goes up quickly.
3. On the click, five minutes. Set the online metronome to 60 or 70 BPM. Two bars per chord, then one bar, then two beats.
4. Raise the tempo, five minutes. Add 5 BPM only when every change rings cleanly on the first strum. If one does not, go back 5 BPM.
5. In a progression, two minutes. Put the change inside four chords, for instance G, D, Em, C, so the hand learns it in context.

The changes you meet first, and what to look for

When a change still sounds wrong

If a change asks for a barre you do not have yet, a capo can move the song to shapes you already know: how to transpose a song with a capo explains how to choose the fret. And if a diagram on this page is hard to read, start with how to read chord diagrams. Every chord on the site is listed on the guitar chords page.