The School of Feedback Guitar Blog

One thing that I learned all about in jazz and classical guitar was the concept of guide fingering. I could describe what the concept of guide fingering is, but I'm lazy, and it seems that www.learnclassicalguitar.com beat me to the punch anyways. Thanks, Google: You're the greatest! Eloquently stated:

Using guide fingers on guitar means that you use a finger (any appropriate finger) to move from one note to another as smoothly as possible. As the word "guide" suggests, your finger stays in contact with the string or strings when moving from point "a" to point "b".

In this post, I'll describe a way to play Radiohead's "Fake Plastic Trees" and use the song as an introduction to guide fingering. In addition, we're going to play this song without barre chords, and still have a grand ole time. What I will not be covering in this post are the strumming or the many guitar details Thom Yorke threw into this song. To be perfectly clear, I will be discussing how to use guide fingering to make chord transitions easier.

The Verse

The verse of "Fake Plastic Trees" is a little busy as far as the chords go. Chord transitions, as the quote above suggested, are easier when one finger stays the same. In this case, your guide finger is going to be the first, or index, finger on your left hand. One word of advice: Refuse your first finger the freedom to move to a different string throughout this entire tutorial. Start by placing your first (index) finger on the second fret of the "G" string, like in the photo below:

The first chord played in the song is an A chord. The picture below shows how I primarily play one. I have my reasons as to why I chose this fingering. I will say that your first finger is still exactly where you had it before, like in the picture above. All I did was add the second (middle) finger to the second fret of the "D" string, and the third (ring) finger to the "B" string also on the second fret:

Next comes a really interesting chord that doesn't require much movement. The less movement, the better. Laziness is more fun anyways. Thoughtful laziness is enlightenment, possibly, or maybe not. Anyway, all you do is move your second (middle) finger up two strings closer to the ceiling. This is a really cool cross between a D and an A chord, with extended harmonies added if you are a dork about music theory. If you're not, let's just say this is the "Cool-Sounding" chord:

At this point, your guide finger starts to play a major role. Absolutely refuse your first finger the temptation to move to another string. This is really important.

1. Lift your second and third fingers up off the guitar.
2. Slide your first finger to the first fret of the same string it's already on, but refuse it to lift up off the guitar.
3. Place your second finger on the second fret of the string second closest to the ceiling (A string).
4. Place your third finger on the second fret of the string third closest to the ceiling (D string).

Voilà: E Major.

Getting from an E Major to a D Major is also a snap if you once again refuse your first finger of any temptation to leave the guitar.

1. Lift up your second and third fingers.
2. Slide your first finger to the second fret of the same string it has been on, and do not allow it to leave the guitar.
3. Place your second finger on the string closest to the floor on the second fret.
4. Place your third finger on the string that is second closest to the floor on the third fret.

Holy crap: You're playing a D Major.

Then, once again, do not allow your first finger to move even a little bit.

1. Lift up your second finger off of the guitar, and really high into the air. Think of someone you don't like. Flip them off. Good. They deserved it, I agree.
2. Your third finger now becomes a guide finger, just like your first. Slide to the second fret.
3. Place your second finger on the second fret of the "D" string.

Drum-roll please: A Major.

The Chorus

The Chorus of "Fake Plastic Trees" is tough to play if you are intimidated by barre chords. Many times, but not all, the switch is between a B minor barre chord of some sort (Thom Yorke basically plays this barre chord with some variation, to the best of my knowledge), and an A Major. To make this easier and more approachable for the folks who want to play this song but don't want to go the barre chord route, why don't we make a nice work-around? A nice little hack? Whoever gave the impression that hacks are bad doesn't appreciate how hard it can sometimes be to play guitar.

To get to our work-around, once again refuse your first finger to move, and follow these steps:

1. Move your second finger one string closer to the ceiling, same fret (A string).
2. Place your fourth (pinky) finger on the third fret of the string second closest to the floor (B string).

What you get are these notes, starting from the ceiling to the floor: E (unless you can mute it), B, D, A, D, E. This is a B-Minor-ish chord which I jokingly call "The Wildebeest. The following is the rare and exotic wildebeest, in a stunning pose, captured on photograph for the first time ever:

Then once again, do not allow your first finger to move, and getting to an A chord is easy:

1. Move your second finger one string closer to the floor (to the D string).
2. Place your third finger on the second fret of the string second closest to the floor (B string).

Whoa, an A major yet again:

Perhaps there are some folks out there who would argue that it's stupid to use the fourth (pinky) finger on the wildebeest chord. The beautiful thing about guitar is that two people can have their own distict approaches and yet sound the same. No one solution fits all tempers. If you believe it'd be easier to just use your third finger, then by all means use your third finger and just slide it. Whatever gets the job done.

In Conclusion

Look back at what you just did. You played a lot of chords without your first finger ever leaving the string it originally was on. By using guide fingers, it's easy to change through chords. Imagine what other songs you are playing where you must jump around quite a bit, just to get chords to work. Are there any fingers that could stay the same? Are there any guide fingers that you could potentially rely on? Chances are there will be, if you look hard enough.

Please refer to this tab for an updated chord/lyric sheet.