a chord

I kinda take the easy way and barre it with my middle finger, but I notice I have to get quicker to be able get to the next chord. Sometimes you can subtitute A7 for A, or just keep practicing the standard way

crash,

I had trouble with it when I first started and I avoided it and used my index finger to barre and didn't play the high e.

It wasn't until I was playing for a year or so before I really started practicing it using three fingers.

Anyway it doesn't give me a problem anymore so the only advice I can give you is to practice it slowly for a few minutes everyday and you'll get it.

Try this, from David Hodge articel on cords. https://www.guitarnoise.com/article.php?id=78
Personally, I find this very uncomfortable. By some happy accident, I learned the A chord after the E chord. At the time, I was trying like crazy to make as few changes with my fingers on the fretboard as possible and I managed to come up with this:
STRING: 1st (high E) 2nd (B) 3rd (G) 4th (D) 5th (A) 6th (low E)
FINGER: open ring index middle open open

I don't fret the A chord in a standard way myself.
My fingertips are a bit wide and I found that I can play an A chord cleanly with 2 fingers instead of three. I can still spread these 2 fingers apart slightly and get a clean A7.
I know my technic is wrong but it works for me.

I either use the standard way or David's way, depending on where I am going next. Just chill out and practice the chord 10 minutes each day and you'll be ok in a week.

I first learned by barreing with the index finger, which I think was a great exercise to barre chords in general...then i realized that there was certain advantages to learning how to finger it using the index, middle and ring finger...depends on the chord you're coming off of...keep at it, you'll get it...frustration is often the name of the game.

I'm having a problem with this too. It seems my fingers are too big to fit on the fret, but too small to barre the strings.

Crash - this works, try it and see!

Put your guitar down for a minute. Look at your fretting hand, so that you are looking right at the tips of your fingers. OK?

Push your fourth finger (ring) and middle finger together tightly. Now wedge your index finger in the space between them from underneath. See how you now have a triangle of fingertips? Try and get them tightly wedged together.

Keeping that shape, place it on the frets to form an A chord. Push the tips of the fourth and middle as close as you can to the fret wire, and feel like the index finger is forcing the fingers into a tight triangle.

This should work - the other advantage of this fingering is by lifting middle / fourth, you get the sus chords easily

I rarely use anything else these days as i can hit this 100% of the time.

Good luck

Matt

Out of consideration to us European members of the board, please do not use a (A minor) if you mean A (A major).

In the same way, do not use II (2nd chord major) if you mean ii (2nd chord minor) or GM7 (G major 7th) if you mean Gm7 (Gminor 7th).

In music, like in Unix, case matters.

For my own education here, which I can tell I am really lacking.

A is A major, a is A minor? Would not A minor be written as Am? or is that just here in the states? Also would not a Major G seventh be written G7 or do I need to write G(M/m)7. I am just learning music and the notation after many years of ingornance
Thanks!

A is A major, a is A minor?

In most of Europe, yes.
Would not A minor be written as Am? or is that just here in the states?

Am is A minor everywhere, but in most European countries it is more common to write a.
Also would not a Major G seventh be written G7

No, G7 is a G dominant 7th (major) everywhere (G-B-D-F).

In Europe, you can write GM7 or Gmaj7, they are the same (G-B-D-F#)

G(M/m)7 is meaningless and not used anywhere.

I guess that's why us Island Nation Brits never feel part of a wider Europe :wink: ......as far as we are concerned, A minor is Am.

I guess you can't please all the people all the time...!!!

The barring way isn't a bad way of playing the A. good luck playing "In My life" by the beatles if you don't barre it. Learn both ways.

The system used in the US originated in the UK, but it is (used to be) more or less exclusive to the Anglo-Saxon world.

With the advent of the internet, the British/American conventions have become more or less ubiquitous and are taking hold even in Germany, France and Italy, just like the English language itself.