Top 5 Tips to Avoid Chord Overwhelm …
Chords, chords, chords, chords, chords! The wide world of musical chords can be an overwhelming place. The way people generally learn chords, and how to use them, is often haphazard because the subject is just so vast. Here are my top five tips for diving right in and avoiding being overwhelmed by your study of chords. Let’s get going!

Tip #1 Don’t Assume You Have to Understand Chords Before You Can Use Them or that You Need a Lot of Chords to Make Music … You don’t have to understand how to build a car to enjoy driving, and you don’t have to understand what C7sus4add9 means to be able to enjoy playing it. It’s been famously said that all you need to make music is “three chords and the truth.” There are millions of songs that fit that description out there and I’ve personally collected a large number of folk, camp, Christmas and children’s tunes for my students that can be played with just two chords each.

Tip #2 Just Because a Chord has a Long, Complicated-Looking Name Does NOT Mean it is Hard to Play … On the ukulele, the Fadd9 chord only requires one finger to play, whereas a standard F chord requires two. The C, C7 and Cmaj7 chords each require just one finger to fret. Another one-finger chord with an intimidating name is Gm7b5 which I’ve often used to teach beginners to play Amazing Grace on their very first day. Don’t let the ‘taxonomic nomenclature’ of chords intimidate you. Dive in.

Tip #3 Be Reassured by Your Limits (You Only Have So Many Fingers) … On fretted instruments, you’re generally going to be using just 4-fingers to fret with, while your other hand’s fingers are busy plucking or strumming the strings. While keyboard players can use all ten fingers to play a chord, usually the right hand shoulders the bulk of the chord work, while the left plays supporting bass lines. Knowing your body and your instrument’s limits can actually be reassuring. On a ukulele, mandolin, tenor guitar, etc., you’re never going to be playing more than 4-notes at a time and that number only goes up to 6-notes on a guitar.

Tip #4 Focus on the Songs You Want to Learn … Surely there are songs out there that you love and adore. Make a short list of some songs that you’re really excited about, choose one of these and use the love you have for that song to motivate you to learn the chords you need to sing and play it. If your music doesn’t include chord diagrams, the internet has many sites where you can look up chords. I’ll post some links in the description. One of the best ways to build up your chord vocabulary is one song at a time.

Tip #5 Be Patient with Difficult Chords and Practice Them in Pairs … I’ve observed that the tendency of most players when tackling a new chord is to give it a minute or two and then immediately try to stick it into the context of a song they are trying to learn. This is stressful and unproductive. Isolate that new chord and make sure you can finger it correctly. Once you feel comfortable with the fingering, identify the chord that comes before it in the song and then put those two chords together in a loop, practicing the transition over and over until it becomes smooth … so automatic that you no longer have to think about it. Next, loop the new chord with the chord that comes after it in the song in the same way. By practicing chords in pairs like this, you’re hard-wiring the transitions into your motor memory so you won’t have to worry about it when it comes up in the song. If you give this enough time (while you’re listening to your favorite podcast, or watching your favorite show), you’ll find your transition is much smoother when you put the chord back into the context of the song. Trust me on this one; you’ll be surprised at how effective practicing chords in pairs can be.
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Don’t forget to comment if you have tips for others that have helped you with chords … you never know who might be helped by hearing about your experience.

Part 2 of this video series on chords will dive into demystifying how chords are built and how to explore the sea of chords without drowning.

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