The Guitar Capo- the acoustic guitar player’s best friend

I heard that the old timers used to call capos “cheaters”, because they enable you to play keys with difficult chords using the simpler chord figuration. Well, I beg to differ. I am a fan of the capo, and I’m not alone– great singer / songwriters and acoustic guitar players like Paul Simon and James Taylor used it a lot.

There are several open chords that sounds great on an acoustic guitar, they ring better and easier to fret than bared chords. They also enables you to play folk-y nuances and bass shifting better than other less comfortable figurations. This open chords are usually C, G, D, A, E, Em, Am, Dm with their 6,7,9 variations. But what happens if the key of the song is different?

That’s where the capo steps in and help get those great open chords using other keys. If you are a singer you must realize that every song you play has a right key for your personal singing pitch. It’s amazing what even a minimal half step up or down can do to your singing.

When I work on a song, original or a cover the first thing I do is check the best key for me. If it doesn’t let me use enough open chords like the ones mentioned above I will use the Capo to play the same key but with different chord position. For example if the key of the song is Bb, I will be putting a capo on the third fret and play like it was the key of G (Simon & Garfunkel’s Homeward bound and Miss Robinson are good examples for that), or put it on the first fret and play it if it was the key of A, what ever works.

Another great usage of a capo is when playing along with another guitarist. This allows each one to play different chord positions in the same key and by that creating a more balanced and rich sound texture. For example have one of the player without a Capo playing the Key of A while having the other play with a capo on the second fret and play it if it was the key of G.

Another great example for that is Paul Simon and George Harrison’s TV performance from the 1976 when they played George’s song, Here comes the Sun. George played his Martin using a Capo on the 5th fret. The key is G so George plays the D chord with the nuances that create the high notes of the melody. Paul on the other hand plays his Guild without a Capo using the song key of G and takes care of the bass notes.

Listen to it! It’s a great arrangement.

In this case the capo (originally used on the Beatles recordings at the sixth fret) was used to create that special feel for the melody which is very hard to get otherwise.
So capo can also help and create rather than just help with the key. One of my favorite settings for a capo (can be done either with a special capo but also works great with all regular capos that are closed from one side only) is placing it upside down on the second fret so it blocks all the five first string but leaving the bass string open. It is like a drop D tuning but with a step up and has the advantage of not having to touch the tuners and also playing the open G chord (which is now actually A) with its bass note. (On regular drop D you can’t do that).

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One Response to “The Guitar Capo- the acoustic guitar player’s best friend”

1. steveH says:

   January 5, 2011 at 2:50 pm

   Yeah, I used to be the type that viewed Capos as cheating. I don’t use them often, but I sure do have an appreciation for them now!