Who uses capoes?

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Permalink Reply by Roland Vinyard on May 27, 2011 at 8:07pm

I think what Daryl is saying is,  "First learn to play without a capo, then use it or not as you see fit".

Personally, I think a over-reliance on capos has kept many players from advancing as much as they could. An argument could be made the other way, too. If you have X hours available to learn to play (and we all have limited time), is it better to learn your licks fairly well in many keys or learn them extremely well, but only in, say, G, relying on the capo to allow you to play in other keys?

And, yes, they can play an important part in an advanced player's repertoire. But not everyone's of course.

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Permalink Reply by Andrew Jackson on May 30, 2011 at 8:39am

One of the great benefits of using a capo, particularly high up the neck and especially if you use stiffer 'medium' gauge strings as I do, is that it effectively lowers the action and makes chord shapes easier to play - even if you play some barre chords away from the capo.

 

This has several advantages. It helps avoid strain injury if you play a lot on an acoustic; on an electric with super light gauge strings it doesn't matter. It also makes it a little easier for those of us who don't pick up the guitar and play as often as we should, helping to avoid overly sore finger tips.

 

The other thing is that a capo effectively shortens the scale length of the guitar in a way that a barred index finger cannot, and so changes the overall timbre of the guitar in a pleasing way, even helping to mimic other instruments such as a mandolin, if that's what you want.

My favourite capo positions are at the second, third, and fifth frets, all giving a pleasingly different sound to the instrument. When playing with a second guitarist, we usually go out of our way to 'separate' our sounds by using capos at differing positions or often one guitarist uses no capo at all - and usually changing capo positions and chord shapes with each song. It's a very effective technique and gives a more varied sound throughout a set for the audience to appreciate.

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Permalink Reply by Beth Hamon on May 30, 2011 at 8:48am

The capo is simply another useful tool for a singer-songwriter.

Many songbooks now publish two sets of chords so that guitar accompanists can play songs in either the original key or in a key more suitable for the singer.

Since I am self-taught I don't really know where I fit in to discussions of "beginner" or "intermediate" or whatever; I figure playing guitar works best when I maintain a sort of "beginner's mind" about it. Meanwhile, the capo allows me to facilitate song sessions and to get more people singing, so I use it happily and often.

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Permalink Reply by Darren Fay on May 31, 2011 at 10:23am

 It's " OK" to use a capo, which is a very useful tool. I have seen many good guitarists use one.  Don't let it stop you from learning and using bar chords and different neck positions though.     I normally use most of the neck when I play, but will use one depending on the song. But when I acompany someone, I sometimes like to use the capo at different fret positions to add a different sound to the song. As an example, if the song is in G, one person plays the standard chords, and I capo at the 5th fret and play like the key is in D   This adds an almost "mandolin like" sound to the song.  Hope this helps.

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Permalink Reply by Dave Vohar on May 31, 2011 at 1:02pm

I use a capo a lot. Especially when listening to a song and wanting to play along with it.

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Permalink Reply by PICKIT FENCE MUSIC on July 18, 2011 at 2:06pm

I use a capo all the time, but I have to say it is something my father (a sessions player during the 50's and 60's) frowns upon. He calls it cheating and used to give me a hard time whenever I used one growing up. So now I still have this uneasy feeling, deep inside whenever I use a capo...ugh!

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Permalink Reply by FloridaGull on July 19, 2011 at 12:47pm

James Taylor also uses a capo.  A wealthy "cheater" indeed!  Live and let live!  And play!

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Permalink Reply by Jud Hair on July 19, 2011 at 1:25pm

Better question in my mind would be who doesn't use the capo ... I thought pretty much everybody did from time to time.

 

For instance, can anyone here play "Here Comes the Sun" at the 7th fret without one?  Dang that cheatin' George Harrison! 

 

Actually, I don't play barre chords at all, prefering to cover the e string with my thumb.   And I'm too old to start learning differently.

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