This One Exercise Will Fix ALL Your Chord Switching Troubles!

Lap Slap! (…what?)

The goal is to learn how to switch chords accurately and this exercise will ensure you are able to do that. It’s something I developed for myself when I was first learning guitar.

I realized that when I was switching from G to D I was really only getting better at switching from G to D. I wasn’t getting better at the D chord in general, which means if I was going from C to D, for example, I would have to practice that all over again.

I just wanted a way that would allow me to be able to make the D chord no matter what and thus, this exercise was born. I call it the “lap slap” (it’s not the most creative name but it definitely describes the exercise well).

It’s just two steps:

• you make the chord shape
• you slap your lap

…and then you repeat those over and over again!

Every time you make the chord shape, you’re making it from scratch. Slapping your lap “resets” your hand, forcing you to figure out how to put the right finger in the right place – building muscle memory fast. And you do that again and again and again – eventually you’ll be able to make the chord shape right away.

I hope you enjoy this lesson, and if you have any questions that you’d like to be answered in an upcoming lesson, let me know!

-James