How to Change Chords on the Guitar - Getting the Best Fret Hand Position

Learning how to change chords on the guitar can be difficult for the new or intermediate guitarist. Not only do you need to have a good grasp of where your fret hand fingers need to go in order to change chords on the guitar, but many guitarists struggle with finding the best way to get their hands to move quickly from chord to chord.

Learning to smoothly and quickly transition the fret hand fingers from one chord to the next is key to developing a great sound on the guitar with no delays or pauses between chords when you change from chord to chord.

The key to changing chords starts in the setup and placement of your fret hand on the guitar neck. The correct setup of your fret hand will enable you to:

1. Allow your fret hand fingers to move quickly and easily with minimal effort

2. Create the proper angle between the fret hand fingers and the fretboard that will get the notes in the chord sounding clearly.

Let’s take a look how to get the best fret hand setup to learn how to change chords on the guitar. It’s easy once you know what to do.

The Fret Hand Wrist Position

The best way to get the feel of how you want to set up your fret hand starts by getting the feel of what you don’t want. Hold your fret hand arm up and bend your wrist back like this:

With your wrist bent back, now try to wiggle your fingers. Notice how difficult it is to move your fingers freely? It’s not easy at all. The fingers have no freedom of movement.

Now straighten your fret hand wrist out, like this:

Now try to wiggle your fret hand fingers. Much easier—notice the freedom of movement in your fingers.

So, what does all this have to do with helping us learn how to change chords on the guitar? A lot—let’s look at how both of these positions affect the movement of the fret hand on the guitar.

Let’s go back the “back bent wrist” picture. Many guitar players allow their fret hand wrist to get into this position when they place the fret hand on the guitar neck. This is how it looks:

This position creates two major problems for the guitar player. First, the back-bent wrist makes it difficult to move the fret hand fingers—it’s no easier to move them on the guitar neck than it was to move them when we held our wrist up in the air. The feeling in similar to trying to run with your shoelaces tied together—there is no freedom of movement at all.

The second problem lies with the angle of approach that the fret hand fingers must take as they approach the fretboard. The fingers approach the fretboard more from the side when what we really want is for them to approach the fretboard at a more perpendicular angle. As you learn how to change chords on the guitar, creating freedom of movement in the fingers and getting the best approach angle to the fretboard for the fingers is the key to success.

Now let’s look at a better way to position our fret hand wrist—a position that will allow the fingers to move and get set up at a better angle.

It starts with the fret hand wrist being fairly close to straight. It can even bend forward a little—just not backward.

When we place the fret hand on the guitar neck using a better wrist angle, it looks like this:

Now we are set up to move the fingers with ease and a feeling of freedom and the tips of the fingers approach the fretboard at a more direct angle where they are less likely to accidentally touch against adjacent strings and cause them not to sound. As you learn how to change chords on the guitar, creating a good position with the left hand wrist will greatly increase your chance of success and get rid of the frustration of not being able to move your fingers freely.

So, in order to learn how to change chords on the guitar the best way, remember to set your fret hand wrist up either straight or with a slight forward bend. Never allow your wrist to bend backwards and you will be on your way to smooth feeling and great sounding chord changes on the guitar.

Learn to play now with guitar lessons for beginners online