Capo

[Guest Left Arm Tan]

i don't understand the theory behind the capo. it was explained to me once a while back, but i've forgotten. how does a capo change the key you're in? any help would be appreciated.

[Atticus]

i don't understand the theory behind the capo. it was explained to me once a while back, but i've forgotten. how does a capo change the key you're in? any help would be appreciated.

 

the capo shortens the length of the strings, therefore if you strum an E chord without the capo on, then strum the same chord (with each note moved up a fret) with the capo depressed on the 1st fret, you're now strumming an F chord.

[dannygutters]

Or you could think of it as moving the head of the fretboard, then you only have to learn your hot licks in a key such as G then when john hartford walks in and wants to play cripple creek in Bb you can just capo up Three frets and play your hot licks with G shapes while sounding B flat. G + 3 semitones = b flat.

[Guest Left Arm Tan]

Or you could think of it as moving the head of the fretboard, then you only have to learn your hot licks in a key such as G then when john hartford walks in and wants to play cripple creek in Bb you can just capo up Three frets and play your hot licks with G shapes while sounding B flat. G + 3 semitones = b flat.

 

yeah, that may as well be in japanese

[MrRain422]

Okay, when you play the sixth string open, its an E, right? So you throw a capo on the first fret, and now when you play that string open, its an F, because even though you aren't holding the string down, the capo is holding it down at the first fret.. And now if you play, say, a C chord shape with that capo on, since all of the notes are now a half step up, you're effectively playing a C# chord.

[Guest Left Arm Tan]

Okay, when you play the sixth string open, its an E, right? So you throw a capo on the first fret, and now when you play that string open, its an F, because even though you aren't holding the string down, the capo is holding it down at the first fret.. And now if you play, say, a C chord shape with that capo on, since all of the notes are now a half step up, you're effectively playing a C# chord.

 

okay, that makes sense to me. thanks. i knew it made the E a F, but didn't understand how it effected the chord shapes.

[froggie]

it also helps with some of the bastard barre chords

[yankee]

okay, that makes sense to me. thanks. i knew it made the E a F, but didn't understand how it effected the chord shapes.

 

ah that's the beauty. relative to the capo, the chord shape stays the same. it just moves the whole thing up a half step for each fret you move up the capo.

 

so on capo 1, D shape = D#

capo 2, D shape = E

capo 3, D shape = F

 

and so on.

 

but I've had a long day and I'm sleepy so I could be talking back-ass-ward.

 

anyway, I play mostly piano, so when someone hands me a sheet written out for guitar with capo, i have to think it through backward in order to play it on keys. nice little brain exercise when you're trying to keep up with guitars in a jam session.

[gravygeese9]

Play a Barre Chord, now just imagine the capo as your index finger, it takes the roll of moving the head of the fretboard (the place where the strings go over and begin the first fret) to change the pitch, as someone said.

[DueReflection]

even though i'm a bassist, i've gone capo crazy on the acoustic (Norwegian Wood, standard E tuning, capo 2nd fret; Here Comes The Sun, 7th fret).