TOPIC: Notes and Chords together

Does anyone else have a problem learning to play the chords as well as the notes, together, so that it sounds more like a complete tune, rather than just the lead, or just the chords? Any suggestions on how to approach practicing both together?

I actually find it easier to play the lead if my fingers are "fixed" on the chord. I don't seem to get as lost. I did find that learning it this way from the beginning is a lot easier. I don't learn the lead first and then add it to the chords. When I'm learning a new song I start with the chord formation and add the lead...

I try to learn the chords first too, but it never seems to help me learning the leads. This is one of my major problems when playing and I hope to find the solution soon!

It's pretty hard for me to put them both together. I was working a little bit on that tonight. Your timing has to be almost perfect for it to sound like a real song. Mine is not.
Keep working on it!

If i'm studying a TAB with just the melody line, i'll just fill in the empty time slot in the measure with the strum of the chord for that measure. For instance, if a piece is in 4/4 time, a beat in the measure may be occupied by a note in the melody. (a note from the lead part), and there isn't anything happening in the rest of the measure. Fill in the empty beats (time slot) with appropriate strums of the chord the piece requires. It helps to have a met when practicing this. I set mine for a slow 1/4 note tempo, (for me a 1/4 note tempo is easier, each note gets 1 beat, for the strum pattern) maybe around 50 or so BPM, in the proper time signature of the tune, most of ours are 4/4. The tune might be melody/strum/, strum/strum/melody, melody/strum/melody, etc, and play it with the click of the met, slowly speeding up as you learn the tune, until you play at the correct speed for the tune. Slow and accurate is always better than fast and sloppy!