Quick guitar poll: How do you play an open G chord?

Cafe Society
1

For some reason I always play it 320033.

2

Something else… I mute the fifth string with the finger that frets the sixth. I fret the second string about half the time, so it ends up being either 3x0033 or 3x0003.

3

Ah, yes. Forgot about that. But I usually thumb the low G when I do that.

4

3x0033 - I don’t really care for the third in the bass. I’ll sometimes play it 3x0003 and noddle around with 6ths, 9ths (and 4ths, etc…) on the open strings.

5

I never really thought about it. I know I play it both ways (or sometimes use a barr chord) so I picked up the guitar and just started playing around with it for a bit. I was surprised at how much more often I play it 320033 than I do 320003. I thought it would be somewhere close to 50/50 but it turned out to be closer to 95/5.

6

3x0003, using my ring finger & pinky.

7

I do both, depending on the song.

8

I PLAY A LOT OF BLUEGRASS

so I like the 320033 sound. It removes the 3rd from the top register, and gives a more open sound. Playing folk music or pop, I use the 320003 sound more often.

But, having said all of this, there is no right way. Alternate back and forth.

For what it’s worth, when I’m playing in my duo with just 2 guitars, I will capo and voice the guitars differently. For example, if we’re playing in the key of A, have one guitar play in open A, and the other in G capo up 2 frets.
David

9

Same here.

10

I have never heard of the 320033 fingering.

But then again, I’m not much of a guitar player.

11

I think it’s also important to state that the 320003 works best with the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th fingers so that you can fret the C note on the B string with your index finger.

12

I voted something else…
No real preference betwen 320003, 320033, 3x0003, 3x0033. Even 3200xx or 022 or something stripped down like that.

It just depends on what other chords I am playing in song - for ease of finger movement between chords and for balance/contrast of sounds. Also, some fingerings let you add/change notes with the other fingers in more interesting ways.

It also depends on the sound of the guitar/amp/effects.

13

I voted 320003.

I play it both ways, though.

14

320003 using the pinky like 11811 said.

15

Moving thread from IMHO to Cafe Society.

16

I prefer the sound of the 320033 voicing.

17

I play one of three ways depending on the song and the transitions or sound that I need:

320004
210003
210034

18

For standard stuff I usually use 320033.

Slee

19

Never tried 320033 before but I like it.

Anybody know the name of this chord?

X32033

20

Yep - for cowboy chords (i.e., standard open chords at the bottom of the fretboard) I use each of these as needed.

When I am “doing stuff” it’s another story:

  • for some Who-type stuff, I will bar the top 2 strings E & B at the 3rd fret with my ring finger, play the next two strings and mute the lower strings - Pete is going for a big jangly sound and letting Entwhistle and Moon hold down the bottom end (and with enough gain you get a full chord anyway)

  • with a ton of blues stuff, I just play the low G (e string 3rd fret) as a pull off or hammer on. I know most of the other posters do this too, but it is worth mentioning…

  • sometimes I will use my index and middle on the A and E strings (2nd and 3rd fret) and ignore the upper strings if I am doing some sort of bass walk type of riff…