I just started playing and I can't fit 3 fingers in the 2nd fret to play an A chord.How do you fit all three on the fret?

Also,I find it hard to play ANY chords without dulling adjacent strings.

Everyone says practice..practice..practice,but how can I practice chords when I can,t play one?

well man,
practice practice practice is pretty much right; however, You might wanna check the way youre holding the neck of the guitar, you need to have the joint of your thumb on the middle of the neck so you can curve your finger around the front of it to properly press the strings down. It really takes time, find a friend that plays guitar and ask him/her how to get your hands around it right, it's easier to be shown then told. You have to learn to reach and train your fingers to stay up over the other strings and still press down on others. A good chord to practice that with is a G. As for an A, it's hard for a person with big fingers, instead of using your ring, middle, and index fingers all in a row, try putting your middle finger on the D string, then your index finger on the A string, and your ring finger on the B string. That is the actual proper way to do it, but a lot of people put their middle finger on the A string and their ring on the B, and the index on the D. I hope you understand what I'm sayin. You really have to squeeze them in. The most important part is to make sure you're curving your fingers around rather than letting htem lay flat. HAving them lay flat will make open string go dead and reallly ruins a song. I know you've heard it before, but make sure you practice a lot, also try putting your fingers on one at a time and not all at once, then pick your strings one at a time rather then strumming, this will help you make sure you're doing it right. I hope I've helped you in some way shape or form, so if you have any more problems post another message or e-mail me and I'll try to better explain it. Good luck and keep playing.

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later,
Luke

There's alot of ways to use your finger's ,for the,first position of the A Chord at the second fret.
I use the the second finger on the D String,third finger,
on the G string,Pinky on the B string for making up the,
A chord plus the open A string.
I find this better for my style of playing plus it,
works better for some students when first starting out.
Try practicing A to E A to E ect.

Mark
P:S Melbay is not alwasy right!

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yours truly Mark Toman

hmmm... again my guitar playing is odd.
I dont know if i'm the only one, but i use the middle finger to hold down the D and G string, and use the ring finger (the one between the middle and pinky) to hold down the B string. The leaves the pinky free to do hammer-ons on the 2nd and 3rd fret on the high E string. This is what i'm most comfortable with. If i'm playing very fast, i can get away with just using my index just by putting it flat, which is really cool, as that means you can do pull off with your now free middle/ ring finger and your pinky...
I'm pretty sure this is wrong, so dont try this first, but if the others dont work try it.
(you can prbably tell i learnt chords from tab... i did have anyone or a book to show me at the time, so my friend just sent me some chord tab...)

Personally, I use my 2nd, ring and pinkie, although occasionally I'll just use my ring finger and barre the chord.
The best advice I can give you is to take things slow. At first it is a pretty perculiar shape to get your head and, more importantly, your finger around, but practise helps develop muscle memory. Eventually you'll not even notice you're doing it! (Then, if you've not already, comes the barre chords - oh what a joy they were!!!)
Educatedfilm - your playing's not that odd - and it's definately not wrong. It's actually probably a better method of barring the chord because, as you say, it leaves your pinkie free...hmmmm...guess what I'm going to see if's comfortable!!!
Good luck, hope that was some help, have fun!

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Don't worry too much about me, ignore me long enough and I'll go away.

I was shown the index finger barre method for the A chord by a friend a while back. I find that it's very effective if you're playing fast, or if you want to do some hammer-ons - you can now reach easily to the fifth fret on the B or high E strings. Just as long as you make sure to mute the high E-string if you're doing a simple barre and you want an A-major chord.

As for the original question, I'd say that everyone is right when they say the three things to keep in mind are practice, practice and practice. One month from now, you'll look back and you won't remember ever having been stuck on playing an A chord, but only as long as you keep practicing, even if some strings are muted and it sounds a little off. (Just like barre chords).

Sometimes, when I hit a rut in my playing, and can't seem to master a particular technique, I like to remind myself that even the best players, Jimi, Gilmour, Slash, Vai, Van Halen, whoever - at one time, they couldn't play guitar either.

Hope that helps.

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... and that's all I have to say about that.

ALL generalizations are WRONG

[/sarcasm]

WOW! I use to think i was a freak, playing the way i do!
I'm self taught, and seem to play quite differently to me freinds, which isn't really to good for confidence, but I'm alot happier now i know there are other poeple, and that the whole thing is just preference...
The other method i use which i forgot to mention is index (a and g) and ring (b), but i dont use this often and only for a few songs... but the barring method i find best when playing fast...