Been off guitar, and now back on. So I’m a bit rusty.
I’ve adopted the Justin suggested Finger 1 on the “G” string.
My playing level is solid beginner.
My present challenge is (playing Grateful Dead “Ripple”) getting the A chord after the C not to buzz:
Finger 2 ends up closer to fret 2 than to fret 1.
I hadn’t noticed that, when I play the C chord, I use finger 1 already on the G string to leverage fingers 2&3 forward onto fret 2. That is, I’m not doing an “air placement” of my fingers and putting all three down at once: Finger 1, anchor on string, then place Fingers 2& 3
1) My present solution is to just press really hard on that G string
(making it a wee bit sharp–but I don’t hear that)
normally I try not squeeze sap out of the fret board, so this I
find challenging to apply to but one finger…
2) I’ve also played around with the A bar chord fingering.
Sometimes I mute the high E string, sometimes the A string.
Probably if I practiced the heck out of it, I’d eliminate those tendencies.
This does seem like a handy trick to have in my repertoire though.
3) and also trying the standard fingering.
I suppose this is also good as it teaching my brain that there’s more than one way to finger an A.
Just do whatever works for you, g’ah! (thanks Napoleon)
or This method works better for me
or Have you tried this approach it’s better as your progress?
fwiw,
‘Most’ of the time I play A as the barre your showing.
Generally the high E string is muted. I find it works well for me, plus it’s a moment away from a A6 chord, which is top 4 strings fretted @ 2nd fret.
This also works well when ya start going up the fret board playing barre A’s. I go back and forth when going up the fret board between using 3rd or 4th finger for the barre. Depends on where I’m going with the next chord as to whether I use 3rd or 4th. Or if I’m wanting to do something extra with the 3rd or 4th finger.
There are times I want that high E string to ring out. Myself, I don’t do the normal 3 finger A as well as the barre. So my answer has been to use 2 fingers (usually 3rd and 4th finger) to play the A chord. Maybe I got fat fingers, but I don’t think so. I can cover them three strings with 2 fingers and that leaves the high E to ring clean.
Food for thought is about all my comment is worth… I’ve never seen anyone else say they do this, nor any info on this way to play A that uses this idea. It’s just something I discovered that works for me. Maybe it’d work for you?
If changing your technique does not help, it may be a problem with your guitar. Probably because the nut slots are not deep enough.
I had a lot of trouble using Justin’s recommended figuring at first. Same as you – buzzing G string. So did my girlfriend. So have a few other people here in the community.
In my case, the solution was the free set up that was included in the price of my new guitar. In my girlfriend’s case, it was a paid set up… Which didn’t solve the problem, but also replacing the strings with silk and steel finally did the trick.
Thanks for the input. My more experienced friend says the same as you about using the barre, down to playing it with a muted high E. I’ve found that flopping my wrist around to get the side of my finger on the fretboard is for the 1finger 3string barres is, at present, kinda slow, and then I have to undo it to play the next chord.
But Ahhhh, the two fingered A barre chord is easy, as finger 2 is already on the D string, and finger 3 is but one fret up.
Yes I am. The problem I’m experiencing is that when I leave my middle finger on fret 2, I cannot get finger one close to fret 2 too. That’s what I thought was the obvious way, but then when I listened to a recording, I heard the buzz.
I think it’s something about the proportion of my fingers/ability to rotate joints to get all three fingers close together on both X & Y axes.
Interesting. I had the action lowered, and I could finally strum a Barre F chord.
It’s even easier on my old guitar which has lower action, but I still cannot get finger 1 close to fret two.
The two finger barre A chord is flowing nicely for me.
