I picked up "Mel Bay's Guitar Chords" book the other day and find it really helpful as it not only shows which fingers go where for which chords but it also shows a closeup photo of a hand actually playing each chord.

About 20 minutes ago I started humming the Eagle's "Take it Easy" and got curious as to which chords start out the song, so I googled it.

The first chord is a G major, so I looked up a G in the book, and put my fingers into place. The first thing I noticed is wow I know I've played this chord before but I don't remember it being so painful. I then noticed that pretty much everywhere it shows how to play a G chord it's done in an easier way than my book shows.

Here's how the book has a G chord: Middle finger on the second fret of the fifth string, ring finger on the third fret of the sixth string, pinky on the third fret of the first string. The index finger is curled back away from the neck.

Here's how everywhere else I see it is: Index finger on the second fret of the fifth string, middle finger on the third fret of the sixth string, ring finger on the third fret of the first string.

Christopher Schlegel uses his pinky on the first string in his G Major tutorial but otherwise finger placement is the same as the second method.

So then I wondered, ok, what's the best way to do this. The second and more common way is a lot easier, but is there a benefit to playing it the "harder" way? I figured I would check to see how the Eagles did it, and sure enough in this video he's doing it the "harder way".

I don't mind it being harder if that's the best way to do it, I'll just practice more, but is there a reason why it might be better in the long run to learn it that way or is it just personal preference? What method should I be practicing to get the most out of it?