Can I play a C chord this way?

Edit:
Oh, hah, I missunderstood what you were talking about. You should do it however you're most comfortable with, and actually as you work on the other chords you might be able to go back and find that you can now make the stretch.

Hi Amber. Welcome to Guitar Noise!

I think one of the fun things about guitar is playing around with different fingerings. Sometimes I will play a chord fingered one way in a different chord progression I may finger it a different way to ease the transition from one chord to another.

If it works out for you to finger it that way, go for it.

Jeff

Yes, it's acceptable.

What matters is the notes you fret; if you get the right ones fretted, the chord will sound right.

I've never come across anyone using 1-3-4 fingering for a C, but I have seen (and used myself!) 1-2-4 fingering... if the chord changes to C6 - that leaves your ring finger free to nail the A note.

The key things to consider in choosing a fingering are:

1. Do you play all the notes cleanly?
2. Can you get into the fingering easily?
3. Can you get out of it easily, to change to the other common chords (for C, those would be G7, F, Am, Em, etc.)

If you meet those requirements, suit yourself. I finger open A five or six different ways, depending on the music.

Amber. welcome to the forum. Im not sure what you mean by fourth finger. are you meaning the pinkie?
if so that is not all that bad. alot of country western players form the C that way. the ring finger then goes to the sixth string on the 3rd fret. that way you can get the alternating bass going by picking the 5 and 6 string to the beat.
keeping that smae hand position you can from the F chord. index on first string; the other fingers jump follow so the ring finger ends up of the 5 string.
Neil Yound forms his chords like this...sometimes...not always, b=ecause you sometimes want a free finger, like the ring figer to play notes wihin the chord while playing the chord.

alot of country western players form the C that way. the ring finger then goes to the sixth string on the 3rd fret.
That's not quite Amber's fingering, Dogbite. Amber is already using the ring finger to fret string 4 fret2. It's unusual - but it works.
Amber - as everyone said it's fine - but don't give up on the more conventional fingering, or the one mentioned by Dogbite. They have advantages over your fingering.
The conventional fingering (1 2 & 3 fingers) leaves your fourth finger free to quickly change to C7, C add9 or C major with a high G on top. I can't see any advantages in your fingering, except for the obvious one, which is that it's the only one you can play... for now.

alot of country western players form the C that way. the ring finger then goes to the sixth string on the 3rd fret.
That's not quite Amber's fingering, Dogbite. Amber is already using the ring finger to fret string 4 fret2. It's unusual - but it works.
Amber - as everyone said it's fine - but don't give up on the more conventional fingering, or the one mentioned by Dogbite. They have advantages over your fingering.
The conventional fingering (1 2 & 3 fingers) leaves your fourth finger free to quickly change to C7, C add9 or C major with a high G on top. I can't see any advantages in your fingering, except for the obvious one, which is that it's the only one you can play... for now.

just a little off. thanks tho.

Hey all: Thank you for all the information and encouragement. So glad to have found this place! And Dogbite, it is the pinkie that I was referring to. I have only been playing a few months and to finally get the C to sound so good (to me anyway) was fun and I was hoping that no one would say not to do that!

Amber

Amber, I can tell you I had the same problem! However, the songs I learned in the beginning (Nowhere Man, Eleanor Rigby, etc) where played with the CAPO on either the second or third fret. Usually, when I went to play other songs, I would just keep the CAPO on. This may not be the best practice, but I can tell you, now, when I take the CAPO off, I can finger the chords just fine!

The only problem to me is, when I play without the CAPO, it's much a deeper, .... (richer?) better sound.

I'll be glad to hear other opinions because I oftened wondered if I was doing the correct thing by keeping the CAPO on.

Bob Jessie

You can also play a simpe C chord by fretting only the B string at the first fret and playing only G, B and High E strings.