One-minute chord changes: make 60 seconds an honest baseline.

Choose what the minute is testing

Pick two chords whose individual shapes you can play clearly. Decide whether you are rehearsing unhurried clean landings or keeping a specific click pattern. For a first paced baseline, try 60 BPM with one change every four clicks. If that feels rushed, use a lower tempo. Prepare the starting chord before pressing Start.

Choose 60 seconds in the Duration field. The click is only a pacing guide: Chordstep does not recognize chords, hear buzzing or count transitions. You supply the clean-change total after the minute ends. Keep the page visible; switching tabs or locking the screen stops the round early.

Use the same counting rule every time

1. Do not count the opening strum of the chord you were already holding.
2. Move to the other chord and strum its intended strings. If the shape and sound are clean, count one change.
3. Return to the first chord. A clean arrival adds one more: there and back is two, not one.
4. Skip an attempt if it has a wrong shape, buzzing or an accidental muted string. An intentionally unplayed string in the diagram is not a mistake.
5. When the timer ends, stop counting. Enter the total you actually counted and save it; zero is a valid honest result.

You can count quietly in your head. If counting distracts you from listening, first practice the movement without recording a score. Do not invent a total from the number of metronome clicks: an attempted change and a clean change are not the same thing.

A repeatable three-round session

• Preparation: spend one minute checking the notes in both shapes, without a score.
• Round 1: practice for 60 seconds at your chosen BPM and clicks-per-change pattern. Save the number of clean transitions.
• Rest: take 30 seconds and choose one concrete adjustment, such as giving an open string more clearance.
• Round 2: repeat the same settings and counting standard. Record the result, then rest another 30 seconds.
• Round 3: repeat once more if your hands feel comfortable. Finish by noticing which direction or finger still needs slow work.

This is a practice suggestion, not a promise of a particular improvement. Stop sooner if your hand is tired or uncomfortable. A partial round can still be saved as practice; it simply is not compared with full minutes.

Compare like with like

Chordstep groups only completed rounds with the same unordered chord pair, BPM and duration. C ⇄ G and G ⇄ C share a group. A different tempo or a 30-second round is a different comparison, not a new personal best for your 60-second baseline. The history keeps partial attempts visible but excludes them from these progress figures.

Some conditions are yours to keep consistent: the chord fingering, starting shape, whether the sound is on, and how many clicks you leave between changes. The tool does not store all of those choices. If yesterday used four clicks per change and today used two, the counts answer different questions even when the BPM matches.

For example, a completed minute with 12 clean changes followed by a matching minute with 14 displays a latest-versus-previous change of +2. That is a change in your self-reported count, not an automatically measured increase in musical accuracy. The app does not turn a short sprint into an estimated one-minute score.

Do not let the target create noisy playing

There is no universal pass mark in this tool, and you do not need to reach 60 changes before playing music. A high total achieved by clipping notes, gripping harder or ignoring a muted string does not show that the transition will work in a song.

When a pair begins to feel comfortable, try the same change inside a simple strumming pattern at a manageable tempo. Keeping the rhythm and hearing clear notes is a different skill from moving your fingers as fast as possible. Return to a slower, score-free check whenever the quality slips.