Alternative fingering for D chord?

Hey all,

I'm new to guitar having started about 8 weeks ago. Recently I subscribed to GuitarTricks and things are progressing well, with one irritating exception: the D chord.

I have been practising every day using the normal fingering finger 1 on string 3, 2 on string 1, and 3 on string 2. This is far more comfortable for me and I manage to keep string 1 down correctly 100 % of the time. While with the traditional way of playing it, my number 2 finger can't seem to bend enough at the first joint and I have to push it over to press down with the top of my nail as you can see in the picture

https://imgur.com/a/lwTcJV2

My alternative finger arrangement works perfectly for me, as shown in the link here

https://imgur.com/a/uwvL8s8

But is this alternative method going to be a problem with some chord progressions in the future? So far I have found it easy to change to D from Em, E, Am, to G and back.

What do you think? Should I persevere with the traditional finger arrangement? Can I do my own thing, or is there a way of managing my fingers better so that I can play it the traditional way?

At first look I don't think you should have any problems with your alternate fingering. However, to improve your technique with the original fingering (photo 1) I would suggest rotating your wrist back. It seems to be too far forward forcing you bend your finger weirdly on the high E. Bringing it back a bit means you'll also be bending your first finger more at the first joint because it also looks uncomfortable.

ETA: I was looking at photo 1 again and I think if you take your thumb off the top of the neck and place it more on the back your finger position might improve.

Originally Posted by: davem_or

At first look I don't think you should have any problems with your alternate fingering. However, to improve your technique with the original fingering (photo 1) I would suggest rotating your wrist back. It seems to be too far forward forcing you bend your finger weirdly on the high E. Bringing it back a bit means you'll also be bending your first finger more at the first joint because it also looks uncomfortable.

ETA: I was looking at photo 1 again and I think if you take your thumb off the top of the neck and place it more on the back your finger position might improve.

I tried both your suggestions. They do improve the comfort level a bit, but the issue seems to me to be the lack of adequate 'flesh' on the tips of my second finger. So, when I rotate my wrist back a little ( or placing thumb further down the back of the neck) means that my fingers are more on their tips, which is probably what we want, but it reduces my particular finger-tip to fretboard surface area so much that I have very little to press down with especially the #2 finger.

So many beginners complain about having fingers that are too big and I complain that my fingers are not fleshy enough

I turned out that simply adjusting my wrist a little and my thumb position is, as suggested, is beginning to resolve the issue. A few weeks of daily practice will fix it for sure.

Thanks for your suggestions, Dave.