How to Change Simple Chords For Adult Beginners

Note: Below is the transcript for the video titled, "How To Change Simple Chords For Adult Beginners"

Hey, aspiring guitar player. In this video, I'm going to talk to you about how to change simple chords for adult beginners. Why? Because traditional chord shapes are hard on adult beginner hands.

And we're going to look at four simple shapes that you can start using today. They're easy to change, easy to play, and they get you into playing songs almost instantly. And why you should consider using a capo. To have access to more songs, right?

And if you watch to the end, I'm going to share a free gift with you.

So let's get into it.

Understanding Hand Movements for Guitar

Our hands are designed to hold, grip, and pull things. That's what we've been using them for decades. And when it comes to learning guitar, you've got to bend them into crazy little shapes that, you know, your hands are not used to.

So traditional chord shapes require you to have a lot of finger dexterity and a lot of finger gymnastics to perform them.

So we're going to cover that with four easy-change shapes that you can use today and start playing songs, if not almost instantly. I'd say today. And we're going to look at why you should consider using a capo. Again, so you can play more songs. That's it in a nutshell.

And I'm going to share with you a few examples of what you can do with these easy-change shapes and get you into playing songs.

Challenges of Traditional Chords

Traditional chords, they're tough.

There's a lot of finger gymnastics going on to change from one chord to the other. The C and the F chords are very tricky. And they can stop you from playing songs for months.

When I first started teaching, I taught traditional open chords to students. Even after a few months, they were still not playing a song. So we want to bypass all that by using easy-change chord shapes that are very user-friendly for adult hands.

Because as we get older, the hands get a little bit slower, and they just need time to warm up and get ready for all these bigger chord shapes. Now, these easy change shapes that I'm going to show you, hey, they sound great and get you into playing songs right away.

The Simplicity of Easy-Change Chord Shapes

Now, I know a lot of traditional teachers out there don't like what I say about this. And if you go and look at any Marty Schwarz video, and, as great as Marty is, he'll get you doing open chords straight away.

Even though it's an easy beginner guitar song to get you going. The problem is, that most adult beginners struggle for months to get these changes working, so they sound good. This circumvents that and gets you into playing songs straight away.

Alright, so Here's Our G Shape:

An easy chord shape to change for adults

The C Chord:

Simple chord changes to play easy guitar songs for adults

All you got to do is keep fingers three and four on the top 2 strings. They’re not going to move, alright? And you've just got to drop your second finger down one string towards the floor on the fifth string. At the third fret, and strum down. And you got a C shape.

So that's our first two shapes.

Our Third Shape, We'll Look at an E minor Shape:

Yur first finger this time is on the second fret of the fifth string. And you're just going to strum through all six strings for the E minor chord.

Our D Shape:

Play great acoustic guitar songs with these easy chord changes

Remember fingers three and four don’t move. They’re staying planted. And your first finger is moving from the E minor shape at the fifth string, down to the third string of the second fret. And you're going to strum four-strings like a traditional D chord, okay?

So we got D chord, E minor. We're going back in reverse here. C and then the G. Okay?

Four simple chord changes to play campfire guitar songs for beginners

Playing Songs with Easy-Change Shapes

The good thing about these four chord shapes is we can play them in many orders and get many different types of songs.

Let's use Pearl Jam's "Last Kiss," for example, alright?

All we're going to do is G, E minor, C, D. And it's basically one measure per chord, at a time. So four beats before we change chords.

Now all I'm going to get you to do is, I'm not going to get you to do a strum pattern just yet, I'm going to get you used to playing the progression first.

Alright, so with one strum on beat one, we're going to go, 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4.

Repeat it. 1 2 3 4. 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4.

And, we can find a lot of songs in the key G or E minor and that's a lot of fun. However, a lot of songs, a lot of your favourite songs, aren't in those two keys.

So if we were to... Even you we learned those chord shapes in open position, the traditional open position shapes. When it comes to a new key, like as songs are written in, we're going to have to learn new shapes.

However, with these four simple shapes, if we want to play a song like "Stand By Me," and it's in the key of A, we just place a capo on fret 2 and use our G-shape.

"When the night, has come," E minor shape. "And the land is dark," and the C goes up to the D before back to the G.

Right, so you've got "Stand By Me" right there. We're in the key of A, so we don't have to learn a whole bunch of new chord shapes.

Mastering Strumming with Easy-Change Shapes

The reason I show beginners these shapes, to get going, is because you can concentrate on the strumming hand. So for a song like, "Wagon Wheel," after I get people working through the chord progression on single strum on beat one, once we get that, we can start adding a bit more colour to the strumming hand. So we can strum and count every beat.

1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4.

And from there, what we do is add the strum pattern. Down Down Down-up Down-up.

Alright, let's say we want to learn a song like Tom Petty's "Learning to Fly." Okay, great, great song.

Unfortunately, it's got an F and a C chord in it.

Which sounds great, but for adult beginner hands, not so friendly.

Because they're, they're the hardest shapes that we can do, right? They take a lot of work to get. So we pull out our trusty capo, put it up on fret five.

This time we play the C-shape first. Then move to the G. To the E minor shape. To the D shape.

Now you'll add a simple: down-up, down-up, down-up, down-up pattern all the way through. And you’ll see that one finger is changing in the chords. And we've got this strumming pattern going.

Now you will not be able to do that with open chords, to make it sound so clean and, um, fluid, okay?

The Benefits of Using Simple Chord Shapes

Now guitar teachers hate me for this. But it's not about me. Or it shouldn't be about them. It should be about, hey, let's get people playing songs from day one, as quickly as possible, as easily as possible. And these four chord shapes help you do just that.

Alright, you could play a song like, Coldplay's "Yellow." G, D, C. With a down-down, down-down, down-down, down-down strum pattern.

You get the idea? I'm just giving you examples here.

What if it was song you want to play like "Small Town" by John Cougar Mellencamp?

It's a big song, it's in the key of B. It's really tough to play for a beginner. But with your capo on fret 4 and a strum pattern like: down down down-up, down-up played with the easy-change G, D, and C shapes, you’ve got it.

And we can keep moving this up or down the fretboard wherever we like with a capo and the same four chords.

And it doesn't matter. You can play those four chord shapes in any order and get your strumming hand working so you can play songs. And here's the real beauty of it...

Unless you've been born into a family of professional musicians, and you've grown up with music all your life. With people around you playing, all the time.

Unless that's your life, most of the people that you're going to be playing songs to, don’t really know anything about the guitar. They're probably not even musicians.

They love music, but don't know much about an instrument. All they want to hear is something that sounds familiar to them.

Okay? So you're just going to use those shapes and the capo up and down the fretboard and get going playing songs.

Alright, have fun with it.

FREE Gift

Okay, hopefully, you've got a lot of value out of this video and you can see how these simple shapes are easy to change, and you can get going and playing songs. And if you'd like to know what songs to play, I do have a free gift for you.

Okay, and it's my "Ultimate Four Chord Songbook". It's really not a songbook. It's a video course.

You'll learn one song a month, and I break down all the songs into tiny bite-sized pieces. We're using these easy change shapes that we've talked about and working on the strumming patterns.

And, yes, you will need a capo for some of the songs. But over the period of 10 months, you're going to learn 10 new songs, and it's just paced at... paced at a pace that is right for you. Whether that makes sense or not, I don't know.

It's very simple to use. You get a one-page chord chart with it.

Nice and easy to follow, and it is free.

Simple four chord changes songbook for adult beginners

All you need to do is just follow this link to the Four Chord Songbook, and just pop your name and email there, and you can get instant access to it. It comes in a video format, so I need to get it to you. Have fun with it.

Alright strummer, I'll talk to you again soon on the next one.

About the author:

Allen Hopgood is a certified and innovative guitar teacher. He's dedicated to teaching guitar in a way that's different from how he learned, focusing on methods that get his students playing quickly, having fun, and actually playing music. He teaches in the Gold Coast area of Queensland, Australia.

Back to Free Beginner Guitar Lessons

Meet The Founder

Allen Hopood's personal background and musical journey - Gold Coast School of Guitar

Allen Hopgood, the heartbeat behind Gold Coast School of Guitar, brings a wealth of experience as a guitarist and educator.

With 32 years in the industry, Allen has honed the art of nurturing musical talent in adults of all ages.

His passion for music and unwavering dedication to his students form the very core of Gold Coast School of Guitar's Strum Squad ethos.

Ready to Dive In? Test-Drive a Small Group Guitar Lesson for Free!

Start your musical journey with confidence. You're invited to test-drive a complimentary 2-hour session. This is your chance to experience the dynamic group setting, meet our experienced instructor, and get a taste of the fun and supportive atmosphere that defines our classes.

To schedule your free session, simply click the big, orange button below.

No commitment required – just bring your curiosity, your guitar and a willingness to strum!

Join Gold Coast School of Guitar, where it's all about playing songs for fun. Let's play music together!