Advice requested about fingers position

[Woody Ukepicker]

I have an issue for getting a 3 notes chord
2 F#
4 C#
4 F#
x

I cannot manage to get a clean sound. I tried 2 fingers positions.
With 3 fingers IAM, there is not enough space for AM fingers as a consequence A touches the first E string that becomes stuffed.




Pushing D and A with only one finger is not satisfactory as the finger is not wide enough to push properly D and A strings together.




Based on the pictures above is there something I have to improve in my hand-fingers position?

[M19]

Figure 1 is how I play that on my Eastman. My ring finger is right on top of the fret and the middle squeezed as tight to the ring finger as possible. Easy to miss if you are playing fast. I've never mastered the two-string barre with a bent finger.

[NDO]

Both ways work okay on my Eastman depending on what else is in the phrase. My fingers can both fit in there, but it’s often easier to cover with a single finger. Sometimes the outside strings of the pairs will mute a bit but the inside ones ring fine. I find it covers a little more cleanly if I angle my fingers a little more in line with the fretboard (less perpendicular).
Am I reading your post backwards? I would have referred to your photo as x-4-4-2 rather than 2-4-4-x.

[Woody Ukepicker]

@M19 I'll try to squeeze ring and middle finger more
@NDO I'll try to angle the fingers a little bit more

Thanks to you both for these interesting paths to investigate
I'll report how it works for me.

[CarlM]

Sometimes it helps to orient your fingers more in line with the neck and to use the pads of the fingers more than the tips. It is a matter of degree ,not all one or the other. You might wish to experiment with the angle of the neck. Sometimes raising the headstock a hair or swinging it out away from your body can help. Your headstock position seems possibly a bit low. Everyone is a little different in this. Body shape affects this a lot.

You seem to be keeping your fingerboard pretty well in a vertical plane which is good. Sometimes people, especially beginners, have a problem because they rotate the fingerboard back so they can look and see where their fingers are placed. That creates a lot of problems for left and right hand both.

[Woody Ukepicker]

Thanks CarlM for this suggestion. Will try it.

[Tim C.]

Hello, Tim Connell here chiming in - this is a difficult voicing for mandolin. But cool - it's the equivalent of a "power chord" on the guitar - just one and five, no three.

When I use this voicing, to make it work I must place my pinky and ring finger on the double fret (in your case here, the D and A strings) and then my second finger on the high note.

It is a great voicing for C major on the GDA strings - that way the open E sounds the 3rd of C major chord.

I am a professional music educator, and I've created a full method for studying music on the mandolin - I am always here to help students if you ever have a question.