closely related guitar chords - the twins

The method Guitar in a Nutshell uses to teach beginner guitar chords is to tie them all together in the most logical fashion possible. By connecting the shapes in this way it makes the process of learning chord shapes significantly faster and easier to do. Students are quickly able to progress past merely trying to recall the shapes of chords and into really practicing them in preparation for songs. Frequently we find other guitar methods refusing to move with the times and still teaching beginner guitar chords in an old fashioned and antiquated way. This approach will actually make guitar seem harder to play than it should be!

The reason we choose to put the chords of A minor and E together is because Guitar in a Nutshell see’s them as twins. They are the same shape just on different strings and so by learning one shape you are at the same time also learning the other by default. This is a simple example of how a more modern approach to learning guitar can cut your learning time by more than half when compared to other less evolved ways of teaching. We also use this as a useful chord changing exercise where it’s important to keep your fingers grouped together in a unified way as opposed to setting each finger individually down.

When you’re able to place all fingers simultaneously down into a chord shape your progressions will sound far smoother and more refined. What happens with most beginners on guitar is they try to place their fingers one by one into a chord shape which will not result in the smoothest sound. By breaking these tendencies early we avoid them becoming established as permanent playing habits where they’ll be far harder to correct.

It’s also important to pay attention to amount of pressure you apply to your guitar chords. If you press down too hard for example you’ll actually pull the strings and consequently the entire chord out of tune. If you don’t apply enough pressure the result will be an incomplete sounding chord where some of the notes are muted. The balance we search for is to press down only as hard as is necessary to sound the chord, no more and no less. With practically all aspects of guitar playing you want to exert as little effort as possible, this will help you to stay relaxed and reduce the amount of mistakes you make.

With correct practice you’ll find that all your open chords become automatic and your fingers will find them without you having to expend any thought energy into it. This is called ‘finger memory’ and any time you see a great guitar player playing effortlessly or even pianist for that matter it’s always because they have developed great finger memory.