What a strange planet you must inhabit, if you never use a capo.
I read all of the entries in this thread, except the mafia ones.
I found them difficult to believe, but I believed them.
Maybe I'm from some other planet, where guitarists and banjo players and
mandolin players ALL use capos, and play happily together with no problems
and we make excellent music. A capo is just a tool for a musician. It makes your
job easier, so you can concentrate on your performance. It's no big deal if you
use one or if you don't. It's a style thing. To me, it's a weird mentality that would
call a capo a "cheater..." like maybe they think a stomp tuner is a cheater too.
And maybe it is, the tuner allows those of us who don't have perfect pitch to be
musicians.
Anyway, I use capos all the time. I like what they do.
I also play in alternate tunings such as DADF#AD or DADF#CD
where I don't need a capo.
I also play bass with other players who use capos, with no problems.
I don't need a capo for my bass, just tell me what key we're in, or if you
don't I'll figure it out. My mind sees chord shapes and counts frets and
then I know.
So... because I haven't seen anybody mention this yet, and only a few of my colleagues
on this forum seem to use capos, I'll boast a bit about my use of PARTIAL CAPOS so I can
play alternate styles without re-tuning the whole guitar.
Dig this:
View attachment 35322
*laughs... How d'ya like them apples? I'm playing in the key of Bb using the
G pattern. I've got a full capo on the first fret to raise the pitch one half step, and
I'm using a partial capo on the third fret to change the tuning to an open Bb chord,
and then I'm picking higher up the neck using the G pattern... C and D, Em and Am are
all their normal shapes, just raised a step and a half and with some modal notes
thrown in.
Got that? One of the reason for me to do this is my music partner David's preference to play
down-tuned a whole step. So his guitar is a full step low. When he plays in the C pattern, he's
in Bb, and I can play using different chord shapes and a different tonality but still in the same
key. It makes a very interesting guitar duet.
Here's a closer look at the partial capo. Here I have it on the second fret, so I'm playing in
the key of A using the G pattern. You can see that the capo presses down three strings.
In this case giving me an open A chord: EAEAC#E
View attachment 35324
One of the other cool things I do with the partial capo is to flip it over and press down the A,D, and G
strings on the second fret. Then I can play in the key of E using the D pattern, and I get a great low E
note without any problems. Using combination of full and partial capos, a player can create a lot
of exotic sounding music, without re-tuning his guitar all the time. You have to correct the tuning
after you put the capos on of course, and after you take them off... Capos are like that.
But it's only tweaking the tuning, not cranking the strings around and freaking the guitar out
while you're onstage. I find these things quite useful.
ty guitar stand with