Guitar: Jump between Em-D and Am-G: An Open Learning Guide

Up to now, larger chord leaps have been avoided. There is always a risk that you will use up valuable time sorting your fingers.

The change between G and Am, as well as the change between Em and D should no longer cause any major problems, but it is a good idea to practise the slightly larger leaps in isolation before the first use. Songs that frequently feature slightly wider fingering changes can help with this.

There will always be chord progressions that you should practise in isolation before using them for the first time, until you can play them fluently.

If you only practice individual chords, you quickly run the risk of always using the same method to build a chord, even though a different sequence would be more appropriate for a different chord progression.

Chords are not the most important thing you should learn, but the change from one chord to the next.

If you realize that this fingering changes are similar to the fingering change from A to D with which we started the course, then you've already gained a lot. Everything just happens a few strings higher.

For all 6 chords from the campfire diploma, there are practically only two positions for the ring and middle fingers.

The ring and middle fingers form a unit. We will rediscover this finger position for three more chords from the folk diploma, only the pitch varies.

After this lesson, the change between A major and G major should no longer cause any problems.

In the following songs, you may often notice the chord progression G D Em C. This is an I V VI IV chord progression. Chord degrees are usually represented in Roman numerals (1-5-6-4). In bands, the chord progression is sometimes called out as "a 15-64 in G", which also means nothing other than "a 1-5-6-4 chord progression in the key of G major".

Source and licence

Text adapted from Guitar/Jump between Em-D and Am-G by Wikibooks contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0. Paragraphs have been selected and abridged, and formatting adjusted. This adapted text is shared under the same licence. Contributor history.