Is it OK to play the D Chord this way ?

greatone88 · Mar 8, 2016

My fingers are a little to big to play the D chord with my 123 fingers. Is there anything wrong with playing the D chord with the 234 fingers ? I would think that if you can do this, it would prepare you for the E chord.

Thanks,
Jim

mikelz777 · Mar 8, 2016

Play it however it works for you. I play it with a 213 fingering.

wildfire070 · Mar 8, 2016

No issues. I change my fingerings depending on what chord comes next in order to make transitioning easier

Recstar24 · Mar 8, 2016

234 fingering for D seems perfectly healthy to me.

PereBourik · Mar 8, 2016

Whatever makes the music come out.

ksiegel · Mar 8, 2016

I've just gotten into the habit of playing with one finger across the three strings (0222), or the Bb shape at the fifth fret. (5567)

The point is, whatever works for you is the right way to do it.

greatone88 said:
My fingers are a little to big to play the D chord with my 123 fingers. Is there anything wrong with playing the D chord with the 234 fingers ? I would think that if you can do this, it would prepare you for the E chord.

Thanks,
Jim

-Kurt

pointpergame · Mar 8, 2016

Well. In the mandolin world, true progress seems to start when the pinky kicks in. I've decided to force it into action whenever it's convenient. It opens up a few more avenues and the fluency can't hurt anything.

Mivo · Mar 8, 2016

If you haven't watched it yet, Petey's video on the D chord is excellent:

zztush · Mar 8, 2016

greatone88 said:
My fingers are a little to big to play the D chord with my 123 fingers. Is there anything wrong with playing the D chord with the 234 fingers ? I would think that if you can do this, it would prepare you for the E chord.

If you would like to prepare E chord with your big fingers, there is an alternate.

Set your strap over your right shoulder like Freddie King. This style let your ukulele face to right side and make your finger flat to the flet board. We can see Freddie's flat fingers on this photo. We can take short barre easily with this style.

View attachment 89050
Use your 223 fingers for D. You need to try best direction of the fret board in order to take good position for short barre of D.
After you've got used to D with this finger position, you can try 2231 fingers for E.

I call this D and E finger style freDdiE.

Rllink · Mar 8, 2016

greatone88 said:
My fingers are a little to big to play the D chord with my 123 fingers. Is there anything wrong with playing the D chord with the 234 fingers ? I would think that if you can do this, it would prepare you for the E chord.

Thanks,
Jim

No, you can be arrested for playing it that way. Just kidding, that is how I play it, and for the same reason that you stated. And you are also right, it lends itself well to sliding up to the E.

mm stan · Mar 8, 2016

Id just barr the top 3 strings. .

Inksplosive AL · Mar 8, 2016

Ive seen others bar the top three strings and play like this. I find this easier if I add the 5th fret on the A string to it this way. Otherwise my D chords are usually done with my pointer and index on my soprano.

jollyboy · Mar 8, 2016

I bar the 3rd and 4th string with my middle finger and fret the 2nd string with my ring finger.

Recstar24 · Mar 8, 2016

pointpergame said:
Well. In the mandolin world, true progress seems to start when the pinky kicks in. I've decided to force it into action whenever it's convenient. It opens up a few more avenues and the fluency can't hurt anything.

Great point! I think that if you want to progress to tougher chords, chord melody playing, and more advanced fingerpicking, that pinky has to be strengthened. Start using it now on very simply chords like C to start the training!

I do like the 234 D fingering as it is a little easier to squeeze in there and gets that pinky utilized!

RichM · Mar 8, 2016

Once I started playing D as 2225, I never played it any other way.

greatone88 · Mar 8, 2016

Thanks everyone for all the replies!!! Sounds like there are many ways that you can do each chord. I will stick with the 234 so that I am used to using all my fingers while playing

Maiden Uke · Mar 8, 2016

jollyboy said:
I bar the 3rd and 4th string with my middle finger and fret the 2nd string with my ring finger.

+1 on this way of doing it; helpful when you move on to the E and Eb chords because your index finger is free to fret the 1st string for those chords.

rappsy · Mar 8, 2016

I actually bar the second fret and pinky the 5th fret on the A. 2225. I like the way this D sounds better as well.

Inksplosive AL · Mar 8, 2016

Yeah 5th fret I'm not normally alive at 8 am lol.

Halfling · Mar 9, 2016

Alternatively a D at 7655 also does for E at 9877 for those who don't like 1402 ....and ever upwards. Or back down for C ,B and of course Bb.

Is it OK to play the D Chord this way ?

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