Capos

Tom Karol · #1 06-29-2010, 11:59 AM

Ha! Just kidding! I just wanted an excuse to log my 400th post!

Actually, I do use a capo occasionally on my acoustic. It's a Shubb.

Fidelcaster · #2 06-29-2010, 06:03 PM

Beware of the jazz police!

YouTube - Martin Taylor - Down At Cocomo's

mr. beaumont · #3 06-29-2010, 07:17 PM

I'll answer like you posted legitimately anyway...

I'd rather just transpose a piece if I desired open strings...I have no desire to take away playing real estate.

billkath · #4 06-29-2010, 08:08 PM

Some songs just don't sound good in other shapes. "Here Comes the Sun", for instance. Or "You've got a friend" .

sdr · #5 06-29-2010, 08:37 PM

I finally bought a capo specifically to play "Here Comes the Sun". Also "Trasher" by Neil Young. I can't sing, but I like to pretend I can.

msr13 · #6 06-29-2010, 10:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tom Karol

Ha! Just kidding! I just wanted an excuse to log my 400th post!

Actually, I do use a capo occasionally on my acoustic. It's a Shubb.

Congrats on 400.

In theory, I like capos with my acoustics, but they always seem to render my tone thinner. Perhaps I don't use them correctly. But, in practice, I just don't like them.

Tom Karol · #7 06-30-2010, 08:57 AM

But seriously folks ...
There's nothing wrong with using a capo when appropriate.
Try this:
Play, "Here Comes the Sun," in open position D for a non-musician listener. They will, of course, immediately recognize it. "That's 'Here Comes the Sun'."
Then play it the same way but with a capo on the 7th fret (so it's in A). The response will then be, "That's 'Here Comes the Sun'!"
Then have someone else play it at the same time in open position G but with a capo on the 2nd fret - it sounds like one guitar that's as big as a house!

brad4d8 · #8 06-30-2010, 10:46 AM

I play about once a month with a group of folkies, many of whom are very accomplished guitarists. I'm amazed at how few of them can transpose something as simple as a tune in G to A without resorting to a capo. Personally, I prefer using a number system, like the Nashville system, to chord names in situations like that, but even there many (most?) have no idea of even basic I-IV-V progressions although they play them all the time.
I do regularly bring a capo to these gatherings, but usually only use it once in a while on a 12 string where some of the bar chords are a little more work than on a six. I'm not sure what kind, I have two or three that happened to be in cases when I bought eBay guitars, one might be a Paige, the others may be Kysers.
Brad

derek · #9 06-30-2010, 10:59 AM

While I do prefer the challenge of finding voicings that work without the capo, there are tunes that really require it, if you want to nail the sound. In addition to the listed tunes, you can add Fleetwood Mac's Landslide.

Tom Karol · #10 06-30-2010, 11:13 AM

I can play 'Here Comes the Sun' in A (its original key) without a capo - open position, 2nd position, 7th position, 9th position ... whatever. But it won't sound the same as putting a capo on the 7th fret and playing it using open-position D chord forms.

I like the Nashville 'Number' system too, because that's the way I actually think about (hear) harmonic progressions when I'm playing.

mr. beaumont · #11 06-30-2010, 11:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by derek

While I do prefer the challenge of finding voicings that work without the capo, there are tunes that really require it, if you want to nail the sound. In addition to the listed tunes, you can add Fleetwood Mac's Landslide.

oh, i definitely agree--i was talking in a jazz context, in which playing it just like the original is neither necessary nor desired.