Sideways Fingering

Yes, you could play it by barring the string with one finger. If you pluck each string individually with alternate picking, you'll get more of a staccato effect. If you want more of a legato effect, just strum the string slower than you would to strum a chord -- i.e. slowly enough to let the notes sound individually but not so slowly that they sound like three notes picked individually. A bit of a rake across the strings in other words.

OK, thanks. Just to be clearer, the piece of tab that I posted is part of a melody, so I'm going after separate notes, not a chord.

I think barring in this case would produce unwanted ringing of the adjacent strings. I'm looking for a more defined melody (if that makes any sense).

But if you barre, you may get a more legato sound than by moving the same finger to each string. (If that's what you're asking). By the way, playing the notes of a chord individually is called an arpeggio (or arpeggiating the chord, i.e. playing the chord as though you were playing a harp).

Conventional wisdom says to either barre the third fret with your index finger; or use the 4th finger on the 2nd string, 3rd on the 3rd string and 2nd on the 4th string as though you were playing an A-shape chord.

The most important question is - what comes before it and what comes after it? OK, that's two questions, but you know what I mean. That will determine what is the best fingering.

Best,

A :-)

using the same finger to finger successive notes on different strings can be a very hard thing to do well.

It's probably easier to either barre it, or to use three seperate fingers. However, what is "correct" is, as was noted above, highly dependent on other factors that we don't know about -- what's before and after, what's the tempo, what's the style, etc.

Just a thought... Are you playing those notes with a pick or fingers? If playing with fingers then using 'rest stroke' (in which the finger, after striking the string comes to rest on the adjacent string) will ensure the notes don't produce unwanted ringing.

If using a pick, then forget I spoke :)

I wish I could post the piece. That would require a flat-bed scanner which I don't have.

Anyway, thanks for all the replies. I think the error of my ways was thinking too much in terms of scales where one finger is assigned to each fret (give-or-take). I will try applying the A-chord form to the passage and see how that goes. Since I use individual fingers instead of a barre for that form, that should give me the control I'm looking for WRT dampening. BTW, I am using a pick, so a right hand dampening strategy won't work.

Thanks again for the replies. That helps.

A melody is a succession of notes, therefore it is as important not to overlap the notes as it is not to leave gaps between them. Since you are using a pick, the most logical choice would be to use individual fingers (such as the A chord fingering you mentioned), releasing each finger at the arrival of the next note. An alternative fingering would be to use 1, 2, 1, essentially walking the left hand fingers across the strings.

GT

A melody is a succession of notes, therefore it is as important not to overlap the notes as it is not to leave gaps between them.

GT

Well said. That's exactly what I was trying to accomplish, notes that begin as the others end (no left-over ringing and no choppyness) but lacked the knowledge as to the proper technique. Thanks.