Easy Chord Changing Exercises
Guitar chord change backing tracks for beginners

Playing guitar chords isn't easy at first, but I hope these chord changing exercises will help the muscle memory set in.

The exercises below exclusively use those basic major and minor open position chords, and it's important to master changing between these basic chords before you move on to more challenging chord forms (e.g. barre chords).

So, download the backing tracks for each exercise (right click, "save as"), whack them on your mp3 player if needed and try to keep time with the chord changes. There are examples to help you. Start slow just on your own (preferably with the aid of a metronome) and take your time gradually getting up to speed.

Enjoy!

Simple chord changing exercises with 3 chords

You don't have to focus too much on complicated strumming patterns at this stage (that's for another lesson!), just downstrum the chord once through each change, just like in the examples.

Exercise 1 - Example - Download Backing Track

Sequence: Am - G - D

A minor	G major
D major

Exercise 2 - Example - Download Backing Track

Sequence: Em - C - A

E minor	C major
A major

4 chord changes

Exercise 3 - Example - Download Backing Track

Sequence: A - D - G - E

A major	D major
G major	E major

Exercise 4 - Example - Download Backing Track

Sequence: C - Am - Dm - G

C major	A minor
D minor	G major

5 and 6 chord changes

Here's where things get a bit trickier. The chord changes are faster and more frequent in these exercises. Remember, start slow with a metronome and build up your chord change speed gradually. No rush!

Exercise 5 - Example - Download Backing Track

Sequence: E - C - G - D - A

E major	C major
G major	D major
A major

Exercise 6 - Example - Download Backing Track

Sequence: Am - D - Am - C - G - E

A minor	D major
A minor	C major
G major	E major

If you want to spice things up a bit, try turning those basic major/minor chord forms above into 7th and add/sus chords to see what you can come up with. These are all covered in the open chords series here.

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Easy Chord Changing Exercises Guitar chord change backing tracks for beginners

Simple chord changing exercises with 3 chords

4 chord changes

5 and 6 chord changes

Easy Chord Changing Exercises
Guitar chord change backing tracks for beginners