Most people have trouble changing chords smoothly at first. One way to overcome this is to practice the changes with your eyes closed and visualize each new shape in your mind before you change to it. This helps to make sure you really know the shapes from memory and gets you into the habit of thinking ahead as you play. Try this technique with the following example, which contains the three minor chords Am, Dm and Em, as well as C and G.
The next example uses the three minor chords shown at the start of this lesson. Practice playing the accompaniment with the suggested rhythm pattern. Above bar 16 of this example, the instruction D.C al Fine is written. This means you play again from the beginning until you reach the word Fine (bar 8). You will also find a new note in bars 5 and 15 of this song – an A note on a ledger line above the staff. This note can be found on the 5th fret of the 1st string and is played with the fourth finger (little finger) of the left hand.