I wonder if that’s where I – once again, as a dabbler guitarist – picked it up. Most of the early bands I played with (on keyboards) were blues-based, so I must’ve picked it up from watching the guitar players. I think I’ve only seen them use one or two-finger A chords (the two-finger version I’m talking about has the index over D and G strings while the middle finger frets the B string. Makes it cleaner and less likely to unintentionally mute the high E string with the one-finger version. Come to think of it, the only time I might play the three-finger version of that chord is when I’m doing something that goes around A and Asus2 (002200) a lot.
Interesting. I just found out there’s two different ways people finger the 3-finger A chord. Look at this video. This guy goes ring-middle-index from low-to-high. For me, the exact opposite fingering (index on the lowest fretted string of the chord, ringer on the highest) is the most natural.
Which is the more usual method?
Yeah, that’s how I learned it, too. It can be quick, and does provide a happy transition to form 2 (I think) bar chords but it’s less exact and it’s easy to contact other strings and muddy the chord.
That’s how I usually play a G, though I often play the “true” G5 3X0033 with 2-3-4 fingering because I find I get a smoother transition to most other chords if I have my index finger free.
I taught myself guitar using the tab symbols in songbooks. I never learned anyone else’s idea of fingering. For the A chord, it was always intuitive for me to use three fingers on the second frets of D, G, and B strings. I’m surprised to hear there’s any other way to do it. To me, a single finger bar across the second frets would produce an A6 chord. Otherwise, you lose out on the E string. The only way I’d use a single finger bar there would be if I wanted to play A6.
Way many years ago I learned the G with the 234 fingering. My roommate, who was a musician did it that way and I learned it from him. He liked that fingering because it allowed him to go to a chord like a G7 more quickly. He also did a four fingered C and F, whereas most musicians use three. My present music teacher plays a four finger G, which I like, so I’m retraining my muscle memory.
As for the OP, I learned the A with three fingers and still play it that way. Old habits die hard.
I taught myself by reading Guitar [for the practicing musician] magazine! Sometimes Guitar World, but I didn’t think it was as good.
Anyways, if you’re limber enough, you can get your index finger to bend far enough to clear the high E string.
You don’t bar clear across. You bar it as you would for the “A shape” bar chord. With practice you can cleanly fret those three string and leave the E string ringing, just as you can for a bar chord. If you’re having difficulty, it sometimes helps fretting the A your index finger on a bit of an angle, giving you a little more space so you don’t accidentally mute the high E.
You can also play an A major chord at the second fret (x02220) with your index on the D and G strings and your middle finger on the B string. It makes it a little easier to clear the open high-E string.
About the G-major variations, as others have said, the best fingering will depend on where you’re coming from, what you want to do with the G and where you’re going after that. In general, you should learn to finger any “three-finger” chord in several different ways. For example, it wouldn’t normally make sense to play your standard C major with your second, third and fourth fingers in first-fret position, but it frees your index to barre the chord further up the fretboard. Same with the G and D chords, although a lot of players are aware of the concept only as it applies to the E chord. If you put some time into playing single-note lines without your index, it’ll strengthen your hand. I learned that after getting a nasty cut on the tip of my index and spending a few weeks fretting with the other fingers.
Actually, I just found there’s a third method. So, from low-to-high, I guess we have these three ways of fingering a three-finger A chord (“1” being index, “2” being middle, “3” being ring):
1-2-3
3-2-1
2-1-3
jerez - Yeah, that’s the “two-finger” A chord I mentioned above. That gives you a nice clean high E every time if you’re having difficulty keeping it clean with one finger.
Whoops, didn’t see that, pulykamell.
puly - as you said earlier, if you need to move to Asus2 or other picky stuff where you need to get at individual strings, then finger-per-string approaches work better. I use all of those variants - and also two-finger ones where I jam a couple of fingers in the general vicinity and hope everything gets fretted 
- based on the demands of the song…
Eh, put it through enough overdrive and nobody’ll notice. Plus, that’s where the soul is, right? 
This thread has been kind of interesting to me, as, while I knew the one-, two-, and three- finger versions of the A chord, I didn’t realize the three different fingerings of the three-finger version. So that makes, what, six different ways to finger 002220? (fingering with index finger, fingering with middle finger, the two-finger approach, and the three different 3-fingered fingerings.) I wonder if any other chord has as much variation in how it’s fingered. Did I use “finger” enough?
Heh . . . I think that’s where I first “learned” that version of the G chord as well. It’s become my default, both because of the ease of switching to a C9 with minimal hand/finger movement, as well as because if the guitar isn’t perfectly in tune you don’t notice it as much without the 3rd of the chord in the upper register.
Another fun G shape that I use a lot (again, these are all song/context specific) is 3x0003, with your pointer on low G (muting the A string along the way), and your pinky on the high G. You can use your other two fingers to easily turn this into a C chord (3x2013). Great for hammer-ons and pull-offs between the two chords. Learned this one working on Paul Simon tunes, IIRC.
[quote=“Eonwe, post:34, topic:682398”]
Heh . . . I think that’s where I first “learned” that version of the G chord as well. It’s become my default, both because of the ease of switching to a C9 with minimal hand/finger movement, as well as because if the guitar isn’t perfectly in tune you don’t notice it as much without the 3rd of the chord in the upper register.
[quote]
I think that’s where I first learned it, too. I had a girlfriend in college who did singer-songwriter type stuff, and one of the covers she played was “Closer to Fine,” which had that version of the G to the Cadd9 (nitpick: it’s not a C9; it’s either Cadd9 or Cadd2. C9 implies the seventh). Also, the Smashing Pumpkins used the four-fretted G with the Cadd9 a bit, too (I particularly remember the chorus of “Tonight, Tonight,” as well as the main progression for “Disarm.” That whole Em7, Cadd9, and four-fretted G fits nicely under the fingers.)
You sure you don’t mean “2-3-4” for that second one?
I don’t believe I could contort my fingers in such a way that my index finger was on the B string and my ring finger on the D.
I try to maintain a certain conversation of motion depending on the tune. I try to play lots of different forms of a chord (I once heard Bob Weir claim he knew fifty ways to play an A maj).
I recently picked up the tune “Fire and Rain.” I believe James Taylor plays the A maj (he’s got a capo on the 3rd fret, so it’s actually a C maj) 3-2-1, so his index finger is playing the B string where he’s adding the riffs.
I couldn’t play it that way myself, but it works for him. He also plays a G maj7 (actually a Bflat with the capo) with his 3rd finger on the low E 2nd finger on the A (which I just mute) pinky on the B string and index finger on the high E.
Not a form of that chord that I ever learned but, again it works for him and puts his index finger on the string where he’s hammering on the next note.
Nope, I mean 3-2-1. It’s even in the video I posted. I know, weird, isn’t it?
This is what I’ve always done when I want the high E open. I have fat fingers and using two fingers was a lot easier for me than using three.
Self-taught originally, with a formal teacher later on…
A: I always do A with 3 fingers, but vary which fingers depending on what the preceding or succeeding chord shape is. If there’s a D, I usually play A with Index/Middle/Ring. If no D, I usually play with Middle/Ring/Pinky. Sometimes I’ll barre with one finger if I’m sliding down from a B, but that’s rare.
G: I usually do 3-finger, but also do G5 frequently (nice subtle accent in a lot of strummy songs like Pink Floyd)
"The four-finger G (320033) — which I’ve most often seen called a G5 — works better for a lot of rock, and especially power pop. If you want the third in the lower register, you can do this, or you can mute the A string if you want a true G5. "