One very common way of transitioning from one chord to another on the guitar is by means a “walk down”.
A walk down involves starting on the first chord, then playing a transitional chord, and then arriving at the destination chord.
You have probably heard walk downs many times, possibly without even realizing it. But becoming aware of them, and learning how to perform some of the more common ones is essential to enhancing your guitar playing skills.
A simple walk down is typically comprised of a three chord movement (original to transitional to destination), but others can be played as four or more chord movements.
In a three chord movement, the transitional chord is one that is often just a one note variation on the original chord. For example, the bass note of the original chord may “walk down” a half or whole step in the transition.
In another variation, a note higher in the chord formation may walk down while the bass note remains the same.
This is what we will cover today using the “D” chord. In this walk down we will do a walk down starting on D (major), and arriving on D7 at the end.
The transitional chord in this example will be a Dmaj7.
Here is the TAB for the walk down:
E——2—–2—–2—–
B——3—–2—–1—–
G——2—–2—–2—–
D——0—–0—–0—–
A————————–
E————————–
Notice that only one note changes throughout the walk down, the notes on the 2nd string. Just looking at that string you will see that in the first chord (D major), it starts on the 3rd fret, then in the transitional chord (D maj7), it moves to the 2nd fret, then on the destination chord (D7), it winds up on the 1st fret.
The trickiest part about this walk down is that the fingering will change completely for each of the three chords.
In the first, you will use a standard D chord formation – open 4th string, 1st finger on the 2nd fret of the 3rd string, 3rd finger on the 3rd fret of the 2nd string, and 2nd finger on the 2nd fret of the 1st string.
Then in the transitional chord – continue to play the open 4th string, then just barre the 1st, 2nd and 3rd strings with the 1st finger.
Finally on the D7 – Play the open 4th string again, place the 2nd finger on the 2nd fret of the 3rd string, the 1st finger on the 1st fret of the 2nd string, and the 3rd finger on the 2nd fret of the 1st string.
Overall, this is a fairly simple, and common walk down. Practice it slowly to begin with until you are comfortable with the changes. Once you have it down, be sure to incorporate into your playing whenever you can.
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