do you play major barre chords on the 5th string with four fingers, or two?

whenever i've read about major barre chords on the 5th string, it always says to play them with four fingers, but i find myself just using my pointer on the 5th string and my ring finger to fret 4,3, and 2. sometimes i'll mess up and mute the 1st string. it's not that i have fat fingers, they're actually really skinny, but it seems easier to play them this way.

was just practicing barre chords and thought i'd ask :D

One finger to a string, please.
Unless you're an anomoly like Hendrix.

2

People use 4? wtf. I haven't met anybody who ever does that. I have it down so the High E still rings through to the barre, its much easier. I even have relatively small hands and I use two.

I am confused by this thread. What the fuck is it asking?

1 finger per string, and or fingers sequentially for scales.

I think 4 is the "proper" way, but I usually use 2. Sometimes I use the free pinky to do hammer-ons or pull-offs while I'm playing a chord, so it has it's benefits. There is an exception though... when I want to play the open high e string with those chords I'll use 4 fingers, so I guess I play it both ways, depending on the song.

I haven't done either way correctly when im practicing, so if I am plaing with people Ill just skip the lower fifth and use my index ring and pink to get the root octave high 3rd and high 5th

i position my fingers in the shape of a hexagon, placed firmly on the 8th fret of the middle four strings, then apply adequate pressure between my thumb and middle finger and the guitar spontaneously bursts into fucking flames

try it

I use my thumb as much as possible.

ehh, why would you ever use 4? you should just bar the 4 3 2 with a finger, this lets your other fingers be free to add ornamentation/melodies/whatnot

i position my fingers in the shape of a hexagon, placed firmly on the 8th fret of the middle four strings, then apply adequate pressure between my thumb and middle finger and the guitar spontaneously bursts into fucking flames

try it

:lol:

Major chords off the 'A' string are always with 2 fingers for me.

It allows the pinky finger to search around and improvise a bit.

*edit* uhg, just noticed LW said basically the same thing :)

I vary my technique for 2nd position barres depending on the situation. Mostly 2 fingers. Sometimes I'll fret it as a sus2, using 3 fingers (index, ring and pinky), but mostly just barre with index and barre the middle 3 with the ring. Sometimes the 1st string will ring, but not usually - my fingeys don't bend back'ards :)

glad to hear i didn't learn it the 'wrong' way