Hi, I am perusing a bizarre old book, "First Step - How to play the Tenor banjo" by Lew Stern, all the way from the 1920s, and I say it's bizarre because it contains some oddities. One is this. While introducing a new song "John Brown's Body", it shows the tabs for new chords, including the A7, but then in the score it shows a chord which I think is also a A7 but with a slightly different fingering, and, I tried it, it sounds a bit different. What is the panel's opinion?
Screenshot and pdf attached.
Same chord, but different fingering. Which is easier to play in that measure? The chord in the upper diagram looks like a real finger bender. The chord in the lower diagram may be easier to reach while playing the melody.
I often use different inversions of chords depending on which one is easier to reach in context. Even though I don't play the tenor banjo regularly, the principle is the same for the tenor as it is for the five-string. Use the inversion that will make your playing smoother.
I came across this same pattern (as G7) in Roy Smeck's arr. of When You Wish Upon a Star last week. If you give up the root you can bar the 4th fret too. I also like 1020 for an easy A7 but I bet Mr. Stern wants us to practice the hard form.
Yes are both A7 chords, another very easy way to play that chord (only two fingers) is to play C sharp on the first fret on the C string, and the E on the second fret of the D string while G and A string are played open…
7677 also
Also 4650.
I find that to be a very useful inversion and use it often. It’s good when you want a chromatically moving line on the A string. You’ve got a convenient half-tone step (on the high string) between the tonic D and the dominant A7. I have smallish hands and don’t have a problem with it. Of course if you avoid open strings, it becomes a generic tool.
I admit I don’t often use it lower on the fretboard than a Bb7. I could, though.
They're both useful fingerings of A7, as are all mentioned by the posters above. You may have seen the one down in the score with the E note fretted on the first string seventh fret (4657) but in this form, 4650, it's useful when you need an A (root) on the first string, as in a chord melody. The knuckle buster in the diagram above (4254) has the advantage of having all four chord tones in it while 4657 has no root. 4254 is however a stretcher that I can't grab quickly in the lower frets (like third string second fret). I say learn them all; you never know when you may need one.
Let's look at why this "oddity" is an A7 chord.
A7 is made up of the notes A C# E G. That's the so-called "root position" of the chord, with the chord's letter name note being lowest and the others in alphabetical order skipping notes. The resulting order of the notes in terms of degree relative to the root is: 1-3-5-7. ("flat 7" in this case) Alphabetical order, every other note, is the basic way to arrange the notes in a chord to try to determine what it is.
Now look at the chord diagram in question. The mini staff next to it tells you the notes in ascending order this shape are E A G C#. The notes on the fretboard tell you that, too. Same notes as root position A7, just rearranged. So it's the same chord.
The A7 in the diagram is called a "second inversion." Instead of the lowest note being the root or tonic note (name note), the lowest note is the fifth: E. If the third (C#) had been the lowest note, this would have been a "first inversion" A7.
"Inversion" simply means restacking of the notes in a chord. Changing the order of the same notes does not change the name of the chord.
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