Bocephus Jones II said:
OK...since there are so many experienced guitar players here I have another question...I've only been playing for a few days now, but changing between chords quickly is proving to be a real bear. Are there certain exercises I should be doing to speed this process along?
This is just my experience of it (and it's filtered through 22 years of memory) so make of it what you will.
I found that a combination of running through all the chords I was supposed to know a few times and playing songs was the most effective.
It's good to go through the chords (and strum a couple times) two or three times each practice. I had my list printed out (well, drawn out) of all the major open chords A-G (there may have been some 7ths, etc. in there too), and I'd go through it in order, then I'd go through it backward, then maybe do it a third time trying to mix it up. The idea was to make sure I was learning to transition from any chord to any other. It didn't take very long each time (as the list got longer, I got faster, so it evened out), and I concentrated on making the shape right and getting the chords to ring nicely.
After I'd done that, I had a couple of songs a friend had taught me that used a few basic chords, and I tried to play each of those a few times.
The whole thing usually ate up 45 minutes or so, and then I'd stop. I might pick up the guitar at other times and try the songs again, but I tried to keep structured practice limited so that I was fresh and concentrated straight through.
I did this pretty much daily. It helped that I was in college, of course, where an hour a day was pretty easy to come by.
Once you have your basic chords, learning new songs can really accelerate your development. Eventually you'll get to a point where learning new chords is pretty easy too.
The point of all this is that what's required for effective practice is to have a plan, one that includes both drill and music, and do it frequently.
