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Old 09-19-2017, 12:18 PM
PeteCady PeteCady is offline
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Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Pittsford, VT - Rt 7 just N of Rutland
Posts: 257
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I used the "basic" G chord (3 fingers) for several decades, then switched to what I first heard referred to as the "Tony Rice G," with ring finger fretting the B up to D, quite a while back.

Once you get used to the latter form as the default, it has several advantages, at least for a somewhat lazy player who does mostly rhythm for country or folk vocals or old timey or New England fiddle music:

If you need the simpler G chord form for some reason, just lift your ring finger off the B string.

If you hit a time when you need to go from G major to G minor in a hurry, you can "fake it" by lifting the middle finger just a little, to damp the A string. Then you have all Gs or Ds - a "drone G" (what rock people call a "power chord"), which will serve in place of either the minor or major chord.

If you want one or two beats of G7, as a transition to C, you can pick up the finger from the B string and move it over to the D, thus getting the F to form the G7 chord in the bass.

If you need a quick C chord for a beat or two, just move the first and middle fingers down one, i. e. the first now on the D string, second fret (E), and the middle now on the A string, third fret (C). Now you have a C9 chord IF you play all six strings. But you can lift the ring finger to damp the D, or just not strum all the way across.
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