Capo Placement
- What's a capo do for you? Does it matter where I place it? I will answer these questions as I take you through a blues progression in F#. Much of this lesson pertains to acoustics more than electrics, but many principles can be equally applied to both. -
View the CAPO CHART
What's a capo intended to do? Let's assume your guitar is in standard tuning (EADGBe). Play an 'Amaj' chord in the open position; see how it rings out? Take a listen...
FIGURE 1 LISTEN TO IT
A
A5
e||--0----------------|
|-------------------||
B||--2----------------|
|-------------------||
G||--2----------------|
|-------------------||
D||--2----------------|
|--7----------------||
A||--0----------------|
|--7----------------||
E||-------------------|
|--5----------------||
There may be times, however, that you'll need to play it as a bar chord, or as an 'A5' chord. You can hear the difference especially if you play it on your guitar. Guitars get their distinctive sound from strings that are left ringing even after the chord is played. Let's play a couple of chord transitions as an example...
FIGURE 2 LISTEN TO IT
C
G
C
e||--0----------------|--3----------------|--0----------------|
B||--1----------------|--0----------------|--1----------------|
G||--0----------------|--0----------------|--0----------------|
D||--2----------------|--0----------------|--2----------------|
A||--3----------------|--2----------------|--3----------------|
E||-------------------|--3----------------|-------------------|
C5
G5
C5
--------------------|-------------------|--------------------||
--------------------|-------------------|--------------------||
--------------------|-------------------|--------------------||
--10----------------|--5----------------|--10----------------||
--10----------------|--5----------------|--10----------------||
--8-----------------|--3----------------|--8-----------------||
Play the first three measures. Did you hear the ringing of the notes even while moving your hand to the next chord? Now try the last three measures. The notes stopped when you went to the next chord.
If you were going to play a song in the key of 'Gmaj', you could play rhythm using a capo, getting the maximum ringing out possible. That's reason # 1.
Think back to the 'Amaj' chord. Now, go up a 1/2 step. Are you stumped? A 1/2 step would be a 'Bbmaj'. Check this out: 'E' to 'F' is a 1/2 step. 'E' to 'F#' is a full step.
FIGURE 3 LISTEN TO IT
E
F F# G Ab
A Bb B C
C# D Eb E
E||--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|----------|------||
B||--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|----------|------||
G||--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|----------|------||
D||--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|----------|------||
A||--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|----------|------||
E||--0--1--|--2--3--|--4--5--|--6--7--|--8--9--|--10--11--|--12--||
A capo allows you to play in another key without re-tuning your
guitar. "I can do that anyway", you say. Of course you
can, but we're still dealing with the ringing out issue. Place the capo in
the first fret, and you've raised your 'OPEN POSITION' up 1/2 step to an 'Fmaj'.
Every time you move the capo up a fret, you raise the 'OPEN POSITION' up 1/2
step, or up a chord.
FIGURE 4 LISTEN TO IT
e||--------------------|------------------|------------------||
B||--------------------|------------------|------------------||
G||--------------------|------0--1------1-|-----------1------||
D||--------------------|------2--2------2-|-----------2------||
A||-----2--2-3--3-4--4-|------2--2------2-|--------2--2------||
E||--------------------|--0---0--0------0-|--3--4-----0------||
That sounds almost like country, doesn't it? Well, if you move it up1.5 steps (or 3 semitones), and change measure 2 to a country lick, viola! And you said you'd never play country.
FIGURE 5 LISTEN TO IT
e||--------------------|-------3--3------3--3-|----------3-------|
B||--------------------|-------3--3------3--3-|----------3-------|
G||--------------------|----------------------|----------0-------|
D||-----0--0-1--1-2--2-|----------------------|-------0--0-------|
A||--------------------|-----2---------2------|--1--2------------|
E||--------------------|--3---------3---------|----------3-------|
Well, that'll wrap it up for another week. I hope it's been helpful to see a few intro and outro licks. If you have any that you'd like to share, send them to me. Send this lesson to friend.