Comments on: Guitar Capos & Transposing http://www.myrareguitars.com/guitar-capos-transposing Mon, 21 May 2012 14:25:47 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: J.J. Vicars http://www.myrareguitars.com/guitar-capos-transposing#comment-1716 J.J. Vicars Thu, 14 Oct 2010 05:03:09 +0000 http://www.myrareguitars.com/?p=345#comment-1716 Capos are cool for the different chord inversions you can get. Play an open D chord with fingers and capo 2 frets up and that E chord sounds pretty interesting. But barre chords should be avoided like the plague. Jazz players don't use them and yes they do pay close attention to timbre. That's where chord voicings come in. The repeated notes in barre chords sound muddy and when played with a band there's too many frequencies canceling each other out which leads to volume wars. Instead of that F barre grab the F, A and C on the D, G and B strings. Then either grab the bass note with your thumb or the F on the high E string. Leaving space is integral to music. With no more than 4 notes in a chord using a capo opens up lots of possibilites, espcially with two guitars, one with capo and one without. Capos are cool for the different chord inversions you can get. Play an open D chord with fingers and capo 2 frets up and that E chord sounds pretty interesting. But barre chords should be avoided like the plague. Jazz players don’t use them and yes they do pay close attention to timbre. That’s where chord voicings come in. The repeated notes in barre chords sound muddy and when played with a band there’s too many frequencies canceling each other out which leads to volume wars. Instead of that F barre grab the F, A and C on the D, G and B strings. Then either grab the bass note with your thumb or the F on the high E string. Leaving space is integral to music.

With no more than 4 notes in a chord using a capo opens up lots of possibilites, espcially with two guitars, one with capo and one without.

]]> By: Gordon Kaswell http://www.myrareguitars.com/guitar-capos-transposing#comment-1670 Gordon Kaswell Wed, 13 Oct 2010 03:33:54 +0000 http://www.myrareguitars.com/?p=345#comment-1670 I tell my students that capos are the ONLY way to get certain combinations of open and closed strings in specific keys. The example I use is George Harrison's "Here Comes the Sun." Harrison capoed on the 7th fret, and played in D, yielding an actual key of A. You can play the song without a capo in A, but it absolutely won't have that lovely, chimey, mandolin-like tone, and the chord voicings will, of course, be totally different. Jazz guitarists seem to be the most jaundiced in their view of capos. But jazz players keep the action of their ELECTRIC guitars extremely low, so that they can barre all day. They tend to be technically very accomplished players, but (if I may be so bold) a lot of them are clueless about timbre. That rounded Gibson hollow-body tone is nice, but jeez Louise there are so many more options. (End of rant!) Ironically, I tell my students to stay away from the Dunlop capos, precisely because they tend to pull the strings out of alignment. There's a variety of clamp-style capos that seem to work well. The Shubbs sound good and perform well, but the little set screw on the back requires a lot of adjustment: too loose and the strings buzz; too tight and you could damage the guitar neck. I use the old style rubber-band capo--heavy-duty, double band variety (theoretically for 12-string acoustics, but I use it on my 6-string flat top). If the strings are pulled out of alignment, I just lift the capo off of them and gently set it back down. A good, low-tech solution. The capos cost me $5 each, and last about 5 years. Not a bad deal, at all! I tell my students that capos are the ONLY way to get certain combinations of open and closed strings in specific keys. The example I use is George Harrison’s “Here Comes the Sun.” Harrison capoed on the 7th fret, and played in D, yielding an actual key of A. You can play the song without a capo in A, but it absolutely won’t have that lovely, chimey, mandolin-like tone, and the chord voicings will, of course, be totally different.

Jazz guitarists seem to be the most jaundiced in their view of capos. But jazz players keep the action of their ELECTRIC guitars extremely low, so that they can barre all day. They tend to be technically very accomplished players, but (if I may be so bold) a lot of them are clueless about timbre. That rounded Gibson hollow-body tone is nice, but jeez Louise there are so many more options. (End of rant!)

Ironically, I tell my students to stay away from the Dunlop capos, precisely because they tend to pull the strings out of alignment. There’s a variety of clamp-style capos that seem to work well. The Shubbs sound good and perform well, but the little set screw on the back requires a lot of adjustment: too loose and the strings buzz; too tight and you could damage the guitar neck. I use the old style rubber-band capo–heavy-duty, double band variety (theoretically for 12-string acoustics, but I use it on my 6-string flat top). If the strings are pulled out of alignment, I just lift the capo off of them and gently set it back down. A good, low-tech solution. The capos cost me $5 each, and last about 5 years. Not a bad deal, at all!

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