Anyone who has played in a band for any length of time has surely been subject to the “Freebird” howls and howls that usually begin to lash out at the stage around the third or fourth set.

Having been the recipient of such rants for more years than I can count, it’s been interesting to see the reaction of numerous band members when the post-midnight chants start pouring in for what is arguably the most requested song on modern history.

On more than one occasion I have hidden behind the PA booths, looking for the nearest exit, while someone from the band gets on the microphone and announces “I have your bird for free!”. This, of course, accompanied by a universally recognized gesture.

The title of this article, of course, has nothing to do with giving your A chords that kind of finger, although we will discuss giving your open chords a kind of “one finger salute”.

Guitar lessons and conventional teaching methods tend to do what many educational programs in almost any discipline of study do: make things difficult. The way beginning guitar students are taught to play an A major chord in open position is a perfect example of this.

When I first picked up the guitar, over thirty years ago, I still remember Alfred’s 1 guitar book which I used to figure out where to put my fingers awkwardly. Very early in the process I had to learn to play the A major chord. In the book there was a chord diagram indicating that the A chord in open position should be played by placing:

2nd finger on the 2nd fret of the 4th string.

3rd finger on the 2nd fret of the 3rd string.

And the…

4th finger on the 2nd fret of the 2nd string.

Over the years, I have seen other lesson programs instruct students to use other fingering combinations for the A chord. Some say fingers 1, 2, and 3 are used in succession. I’ve even seen some suggest using a 2 – 1 – 3 fingering combination (which I find extremely awkward).

The one thing I’ve rarely seen is a guitar instruction program that shows students how to play the A chord the easy way.

In our guitar course we talk a lot about visualization and chord “shapes”. If you take a moment to visualize the shape of an A major chord in the open position, you’ll see that the chord shape is simply a straight line across the second fret of strings 2, 3, and 4.

As a firm believer in finding the quickest, easiest, and simplest way to play things on the guitar, it has never made sense to me to have to move three fingers in various combinations to play this chord, when one finger does the work. trick!

An open A major chord can be played, with very little effort, by using the first finger to “bar” the second fret of the second, third, and fourth strings. The hardest part of playing the chord this way is positioning your fingers correctly so that the 5th string (A) and 1st string (E) are not inadvertently muted.

This is accomplished by playing the notes with the flat part of the finger, from the tip to about the first joint, then bending the leading finger joint at such an angle that the first string (E) can be clearly held.

Also, there’s no reason to limit yourself to playing the open A chord with just your index finger. Many times you will want to use the second finger or even the third finger to play the chord.

In fact, if you’re playing an “A” barre chord, you’re already using your third finger to play the “A” shape, just at a higher fret position. So why not use the one finger method to play the A chord in open position?

There are times when the one finger A chord technique is used, where different fingers can be used to play the chord in the same chord progression.

For example, when playing the common E – A – D – A chord progression, you can go from the E chord to the A chord by touching the A with your second finger. Then when you transition from the D chord back to the A chord, you could use your index finger.

In this way, your hand naturally falls into place throughout each chord change, making transitions much smoother and more effortless.

There are some times when using the three finger method to play the A chord makes more sense than the one finger method. For example, when you are playing a walk from A to A7 and you need the extra fingers to do the walk formations.

But other than those moments, there is absolutely no reason to work harder than necessary when playing the A chord.

So next time you pick up your guitar, try giving your A chord “the finger”, regardless of what the books tell you. You’ll find that once you get used to playing them this way, it’s hard to imagine going back to the clunky old three-finger method!