Capos

[Danny W.]

So many guys without capos! How do you restring your bigsby without one?

That's exactly the reason I have one in my guitar toolbox, but since getting a power winder I found I don't need it any more. I don't even need it for playing Honky Tonk, because my modeler has a virtual capo feature that works perfectly for that.

Danny W.

[Litterick]

Yeah I remember Graham Kerr used to say "pasta" in the funniest way, like we're going "past-a" something.

New Zealand pronunciation.

[docsteve]

George Harrison says "caypo":

According to the dictionaries I checked, the proper name is capo tasto, and the words are pronounced as rhyming, the a being short as in father or cart.

Father and cart don't really have a short a sound but it's certainly closer to Italian than the British a sound in "capo".

[Dave70]

I have a couple, used 'em mostly for teaching a song that features a capoed guitar. On the gig I use one occasionally to change up the keys for spanish/latin flavored stuff that use open chords.

[feet]

tel:1049649[/URL]"]1049649[/URL]]That's exactly the reason I have one in my guitar toolbox, but since getting a power winder I found I don't need it any more. I don't even need it for playing Honky Tonk, because my modeler has a virtual capo feature that works perfectly for that.

Danny W.

that was mainly a poke at all the bigsby aficionados here, but tell me more about this power winder business.

I once considered a detuning pedal but I figure my tunings and voicings would be a huge nightmare to track digitally. How well does yours work?

And for those wondering, I capo because:
- i keep my open chord and string relationships
- I don't have to learn how to transpose or play the guitar properly
- a new position is a new headspace that produces new discoveries (ditto the new limitations)
- capoing up high opens up the low end for the bass, baritone, guitar, piano, etc
- I tune down anyway, so it's nice to instantly be in standard or higher to play along with others or recordings

And so on.

And I think I finally say cay-po, just to be understood, though cah-po is closer to my romance language upbringing. Had a buddy who always said clap-o and it bugged me.

[Danny W.]

that was mainly a poke at all the bigsby aficionados here, but tell me more about this power winder business.

I once considered a detuning pedal but I figure my tunings and voicings would be a huge nightmare to track digitally. How well does yours work?

Mine is an older winder made by Ernie Ball that I paid about $10 for with a coupon and sale price. The current version is called a "Power Peg."
Some people use an adapter in a standard drill. I have one of those too, but my big drill is too heavy and my smaller ones don't run at a good speed or have enough torque. The EB is light, runs at a good speed, has appropriate torque and works for years on a set of batteries. I bend the string at the ball end, put that on the Bigsby with a wedge of foam to hold it, thread the other end into the tuner, keep tension on the string with one hand and wield the winder with the other. It's easier to do than to describe.

The "virtual capo" in my Fractal Audio Axe-Fx III works well enough that I can play Honky Tonk in E transposed to F. I don't really do much with the all the other pitch shift options available on the III, except for adding an octave up to fake Wes or Roger McGuinn. I know people do lots of custom tunings on it.

Danny W.

[pauln]

I have never used a capo, but my experience is that when someone has a capo on their guitar you must not believe anything they say concerning tuning, chord names, note names, or keys of tunes.

[cosmic gumbo]

OK, I don't often use a capo - and certainly not for Jazz. But I still like to have one in each instrument case just in case. I like Shubb capos for guitar, but on 4-string instruments (tenor ukes and plectrum banjo), I prefer the lower profile of the D'Addario NS Pro. In both instances, they have a screw-type tension adjuster for fine-tuning the pressure; I don't like spring-loaded ones. And no, I don't have a capo for my bass, though in college there was a guy who used to use one on a stand-up bass!

D'Addario Planet Waves NS Pro is the best capo I've ever owned in 45 years. Even some Shubb owners I know converted after trying out my Steinberger.

[zdub]

Wow, those Thalia capos are gorgeous but are at least $75. And I imagine some folks who can spend so much on a capo will also be buying a number of them to match the looks of different guitars!

[TedBPhx]

Thalia for a Taylor 814

[zdub]

Thalia for a Taylor 814

If you rely at all on the top fret markets that could get quite confusing unless placed directly on 3,5, etc.

[TedBPhx]

Capos confuse the hell out of me if I try to think about what I’m actually playing anyway.

[rob taft]

I own Schubb capos and use them on both my acoustic and flamenco guitars. I'm currently working on the Jonathan Kreisberg's arrangement of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah. Capo on the 5th fret.

[SamBooka]

Liked the shubb more than the kyser. Have loved it almost 25 years. But got an ns capo and much better than the shubb.

[Jabberwocky]

What about those market value damaging capo bite marks on the neck of your guitar or the equally damaging capo dents on the top?

That is why I never capo...

[ruger9]

Wow, those Thalia capos are gorgeous but are at least $75. And I imagine some folks who can spend so much on a capo will also be buying a number of them to match the looks of different guitars!

Guilty as charged. But I DID wait for sales... I think I got all mine during a clearance event, like 50% of regular price? Don't remember for sure.

It wasn't so much to match the LOOK of the guitars (altho I DID do that), it was to have a capo RADIUS that matched the radius of it's assigned guitar. The Thalias come with several different radius inserts, but when I reach for a capo I don't want to be fiddling with that, so each Thalia is designated to a certain guitar, and it's radius matches the guitars.