I like Tom Bliss' method of chosing a shape and sliding up! I go to the regular Archie Edwards Blues jam in the DC area, and being a beginner, only know first position chords. Most players go all over the neck and do chords I don't recognize.

Unless somebody announces the key, or there's another beginner opposide me, also playing in first position, I can't figure out the key, most times. Even though I have a small, nylon string guitar,I don't want to experiment too much, for fear of disrupting the sound.

But songs can last 15 - 20 minutes, so I think if I do his shape-and-slide method, I could find the key pretty quickly.

--Linda