Have you ever tried to play a new guitar chord but your fingers just wouldn’t cooperate?

No matter what you do, you just can’t seem to get your fingers to learn that new chord.

In most cases, the reason you are having problems is due to how you have been learning the guitar chord.

Let me ask you a question:

“If your brain doesn’t know where your fingers are supposed to go for a chord fingering, can you expect them to magically land on the correct strings and frets every time?”

The very first thing you must do to learn a new chord is make sure your brain knows where your fingers are supposed to land on the fretboard.

So what is the best way to learn a new chord? There actually are several powerful ways to learn new guitar chords.  Here we will look at one.  So grab a pen or pencil and let’s get started…

5 Steps to Creating and Mastering Chord Diagrams

Step 1.

Grab the sheet music or chord book that contains the chord you want to learn. Now take out a sheet of paper and draw a blank neck diagram. For most chords all you’ll need to do is draw 6 vertical lines and 6 horizontal lines.

Step 2

Look at the original chord diagram and draw the applicable fingers on the appropriate strings. Make sure you include open strings; muted/omitted notes and fret numbers if necessary. Next write down the chord symbol (E7, D minor, etc.).

Step 3

Repeat this process. Redraw the chord as many times as needed to memorize what the chord looks like on paper.

Step 4

Think about any chords you already know that have similar fingerings or shapes. If you already know a chord that uses an identical or similar fingering, you have made the chord much easier to learn. Memorization will be easier when you link the new chord to something you already know.

Step 5

Once you feel confident that you know what the chord looks like on paper, test yourself. Close the book or magazine that has the original chord diagram and from memory, draw the chord 10 times.

Your goal is to be able to draw the chord from memory correctly 10 times in a row. If you make a mistake on your 9th chord diagram, you need to start the process over again. Once can do this it means that you know the notes in the chord and know where your fingers need to go. The result: you will learn to play the chord faster. Now all that’s left is to actually practice the chord on to the guitar.

Try this process with the next chords you want to learn and I’m sure you’ll agree that the extra few minutes you invest in drawing chords before you play them, will save you from hours of frustration.

For more great ways to  learn the guitar chords you need to know check out –>  Guitar Chords – Guitar Essentials: Chord Master Expanded Edition