Chord Fingerings

[Musker]

Say you have an A chord.

I'd play it using my second, third, and fourth fingers on the obvious strings (This is how one of my guitar books teaches the A chord).

But another one teaches it by using your first, second, and third fingers.


Are there certain situations where you should use one fingering and not the other? Or is a certain fingering best all the time?


I have found this with the G chord as well. On the first string, some books/people say to use your third finger, whilst others say to use your fourth.


At the moment I'm using the fingerings that I was taught first, as they are obviously easier for me to change into as I have had practice, but what fingers should I be using?


Cheers

[crackers]

Hey Musker,

For the A chord it's better if you use fingers 2,3 & 4. this frees up your first finger for playing addition notes or making a barre, like when you need a B chord. There's one additional way to do it - use your first finger and barre all three strings, this takes practice as you need to lift the bottom part of your finger off enough to clear the high E string. The benefit of this fingering is that it makes it easier to move from an A to an A6 (D,G,B,E strings barred at 2nd fret) or A7 (add the G on the first string 3rd fret)


A, A6 & A7
E:- 0 - 2 - 3 - -
B:- 2 - 2 - 2 - -
G:- 2 - 2 - 2 - -
D:- 2 - 2 - 2 - -
A:- - - - - - - -
E:- - - - - - - -
(The numbers are fret #'s not fingers!)


With the G chord, you want to be able to make it both ways. You can either play a std open G as 320003 or 320033. In the second case, obviously you need to use fingers 2134. In the first case, however, the preceeding/following chord may be a barre chord (like F major) or something more common like a C major or G7. You'll find it much smoother to make the changes if your first finger is free.

So to make a long story short, practice and learn both ways. You'll be better for it in the long run.

[robbieb]

If you wanna play Tears In Heaven by Eric Clapton, you'll want to play an A with your 1st, 2nd, and 3rd fingers. Like Crackers says, learn both ways. Sometimes it will be easier to move into or out of the chord if you play it one of those ways.

[mickp]

I would say learn as many different fingerings as there are available for any chord you learn. You will use different fingerings depending on the situation...
But, remember the number one rule of guitar playing is that there are no rules, only different ideas that other people use...
Well, that's what I think anyways

[Biff]

...right on mickp...

[robbieb]

Yeah, I was playing guitar in front of my friend who does music at the con and I played this chord and she, being all expert muso and sh*t, said that a chord I was playing wasn't a real chord. I told her it was, and she said that it wasn't, and I told her to piss off

[mickp]

Like when my sister wrote a song on the Piano...and her teachers comment about it was..."When you learn how to compose properly you will find out out that you're not supposed to have those sort of chords in the bass line" What a heap of crap...it sounds good, therefore it's right

[robbieb]

That kind of crap will keep creativity and inventiveness out of music. If there is more than one way to skin a cat, then there are hundreds of ways to play music.

[Biff]

...right on...

[buck]

Ken, the Sun's getting to you.....to many words in your posts!!

Re fingering;....I play the A with the first finger, rarely with the three fingers.....leaves the rest free to play sus4 chords etc... but for ages I use to use three fingers......E is another chord.......you can use the

022100

231 fingering or

342 fingering....depending if your playing barre chords or open.

you'll get it

[Biff]

...right on buckmysterrr...

[Souwalker]

crackers said:

Hey Musker,


With the G chord, you want to be able to make it both ways. You can either play a std open G as 320003 or 320033. In the second case, obviously you need to use fingers 2134.

Isn't the 320033 a G/D chord?


Pat

[mickp]

Still makes G though doesn't it??
Just a different voicing...

[robbieb]

That is a G still

I prefer it, it sounds fuller

[petox]

...i just thought the 320033 was the correct way to play G and 320003 was just a simplified version or something