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Hello, Justin here.

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Welcome now to your first "1 Minute Changes".

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Now, this is a little exercise I developed a long time ago

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when I was teaching in a primary school[br]and I couldn't get the kids to practice guitar.

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So I made up a little exercise that was kind of a competition

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to see who could make the most chord changes[br]in one minute

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and what was really weird was[br]that they all practiced loads, really enjoyed it

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and got really good at doing their chord changes.

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So, I kinda took the idea and applied it[br]to some older people and found

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that it worked for them as well and then most...nearly....

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...or in fact all of my beginner students[br]over the last few years have used this technique

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to get their chord changes faster[br]because it's kinda the hardest thing.

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If you thought maybe, you know, [br]having a slight pain in your fingers playing these chords

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was a little bit of a hard uphill battle, [br]now the changing between the chords,

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is really gonna cause you a bit of problems[br]because that's actually the...

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...probably the hardest step when you first start[br]playing the guitar

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is getting those chord changes.[br]It's not that hard, it just takes practice.

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So you gotta stick with it.

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Now, what I'm gonna show you is a really,[br]really kinda tried and tested method

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for getting your chord changes faster.

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So, what we're gonna do is, [br]we're gonna pick a pair of chords.

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We might do first, say, D and A.

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First, as a first one.[br]It doesn't really matter which ones you choose

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but let's say D and A chord.

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And we're gonna try and make[br]as many changes between D and A

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as we can in one minute.

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So you need some sort of timer device, right?

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I use the little countdown timer on my iPhone[br]but you could use things like egg timer

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or anything else that's got a countdown timer.

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I'm sure there are countdown liners...[br]countdown liners ...countdown TIMERS online

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if you have a look around, [br]if you did a google search I'm sure you'd find one.

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So, maybe using something like that

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and the idea would literally be [br]that you have a look at your clock or your watch

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and you go: "Right here, OK, it's starting...now!

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(plays) 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12..."

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...and you just keep going for a whole minute, [br]trying to make as many possible changes as you can

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in that time.

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And when you have arrived at the end of that minute[br]and you know how many you've done,

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in your practice schedule, you write the number of changes[br]that you made in the little box.

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And this is really good now for your motivation

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because you get to watch yourself improve.

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Every time you're practicing you got a target

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'cause you know: "Last time I practiced,[br]well, I got like seven changes in a minute.

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OK, I'm definitely gonna beat that this time.[br]Alright, let's go for eight!"

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You know, it's a really good idea [br]to write it down in your practice schedule

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and then compete with yourself. [br]And a lot of it's kinda mental.

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You gotta be pushing yourself, [br]really trying to make it faster, trying everytime.

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Have the mindset that you're going really,[br]really as quick as possible.

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Now, you can't make the chords kinda rubbish, right?

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If the fingers are on the wrong strings, [br]you know, then it's kinda not right

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- or the wrong frets - but if the chord's not perfect, that's OK

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'cause this exercise is about trying to get your fingers[br]to move quickly.

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That's the point of it.

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So, if it's like it's not quite perfect, that's OK.

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You can still count it.

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Now, counting it: how to count it.

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There's been quite a lot of debate about this.

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I actually intended when I wrote this exercise[br]in the first time I taught it online

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that one cycle would be counted as one.

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So if you went D to A and then back to D, that would be one.

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And everytime you got back to D you'd count.

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So you go: (plays) 1,2,3,4,etc.

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Now, a lot of people kind of misconstrued that little bit[br]and they thought it was:

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(plays) 1,2,3,4,5,6...

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Now, to tell the truth, it doesn't really matter[br]which one you choose to use.

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If you wanna do one whole cycle as counting one[br]or if you wanna do...you know,

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count it each time you change chords at all then that's OK. [br]It's up to you.

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As long as you keep using the same system it's fine.

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Now, even though I originally said[br]one complete cycle is one, I think, probably

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it's a bit easier just everytime you change chords[br]to make your count.

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So you're going: (plays) 1,2,3,4,5,6...

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So that's probably not a bad way to do it.

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I reckon that might be slightly better[br]but it doesn't really matter.

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Now , what's your target?

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Well, when you first start trying to do[br]these 1 Minute Changes, you'll probably find

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that you get between six and eight or nine,[br]that'd be pretty damn good actually,

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eight or nine would be the high end[br]of how many changes people get

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in their first 1 Minute Changes.

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So, have a little go at picking[br]each one of the combinations now,

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so it'll be D and A, D and E and A and E

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and take each one for one minute, see how many[br]you can get, write it in you practice routine.

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The target is 30 complete changes[br]or if you're counting everytime you change chords

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you're aiming for 60 which is one chord change a second.

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Now when you get to that sort of speed[br]you should be able to play your songs

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fairly comfortably. So, that's the reason for that.

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It's really speed, speed. Trying to get those fingers[br]moving faster, that's the whole picture, dudes,

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and so lots and lots of work on this[br]and it will lead to good things. I promise you.

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So, get into that. Practice hard[br]and I'll see you for another lesson very soon.

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There's one more thing I wanna tell you about

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which is how to join me[br]when we've gotta play something together

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and I'll do that usually by counting in.

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So normally I'll just count you a "3,4" and then[br]we would start together on count 1.

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That's the normal way of doing things.

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Sometimes count a whole bar,[br]like "1,2,3,4" and then we start.

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I think that's a little bit long-winded,[br]especially in this sort of situation.

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So, often I'll just count like - I'll go: "3,4" (plays) [br]and then we'd start playing at the same time.

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So, just watch out for that "3,4" count-along.

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OK, let's check out what's in your practice routine.