Why do they teach you to play the G chord this way?

[u38cg]

Originally Posted by JonPR

Yeah I dunno how his guitar teacher him get away with that thumb over. And that right hand looks odd.

And have you seen him flatpicking from the elbow? Sheesh. Clueless.

[Percy]

Originally Posted by cheekygeek

Raw newbie question here. I'm just on my first three chords and No. 3 is G. A (blues/worship playing) coworker told me that I should finger it differently than the books tell you.

Instead of this:


He said he had to relearn it like this:


He says that it has advantages for leaving your index finger free for other stuff and also for transitioning to other chords. Being a newbie, I'm curious what the assembled here think of that. If it has advantages, why do they teach it the other way in the beginner books, etc.?

I guess I'd even open up the discussion more with a follow-up question:
Are there other chords that you would recommend learning in a way differently than how the books tell you to do it?

Thanks in advance for sharing your opinions with this raw newbie.

learn chords every and any way you can ...good luck to you

[XYRN]

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

All depends on the situation.
I'm of the school of thought that's there's not really a "correct" fingering, just a "correct fingering for any given situation." Sometimes that's the "easiest" fingering, sometimes not.

This is exactly right!

Regarding the 1st position A chord (x02220) there are at least 3 different ways to place your fingers, more if you include a barre version. Depending on which chords preceed or follow the A, or any other chord, has a lot to do with which fingering you choose. It's all about maximizing fluidity and efficiency of movement.

Another common one is the D chord (xx0232) which is commonly stopped (fingered) like this:


But sometimes, especially if going from the D, to an A, then to a Bminor it makes much more sense to barre the top 3 strings (GBE) with the index finger at the 2nd fret, then use the middle finger to fret the B string at the 3rd fret.
To go to A you then lift the index, slide the middle down B string to the 2nd fret and place the ring finger on D string 2nd fret and pinky on G string 2nd fret.
Why?
So that to easily go to the barred B minor you lift all but the middle finger, slide the middle from 2nd to 3rd on the B string, barre everything at the 2nd fret with the index finger, and the ring goes to 4th fret D string and pinky to 4th fret G.
(Arpeggiated, this is the opening to one version of Canon in D)

For other songs, it may (will) be completely different).