Using a Guitar Capo

Have you ever had this experience of playing the guitar in a standard tuning and experiencing difficulty in the vocals because the song is either too high or too low? What about having to perform in a gig with songs that are in many weird keys with only one guitar? Well, read on more in this guitar article to find out how a simple capo can make your life simpler.

Basic Guitar Capo Knowledge

Guitar Article: Using a Guitar Capo

A guitar capo is very useful tool for playing the rhythm guitar. It is a neat little guitar tool that can be used to change between different musical keys effortlessly. By fastening itself onto different positions on the guitar neck, the capo enables the guitarist to create a “movable nut” similar to that of a full barre at the desired fret.

The basic theory behind using a capo is that the key of the song can be moved chromatically up and down the guitar neck. For example, when the capo is placed on the 1st fret, all your open guitar chords become one semi tone higher. In other words, playing an open C chord with the capo placed on the first fret changes the chord by a semitone higher(C#/Db chord).

Let me give you another example to illustrate this. If we put the capo at the 5th fret, the key of any open chord shape played is now shifted 5 semitones higher. A C major open chord played is now transposed to F major chord.

In a nutshell, the advantages of using a capo are:

Easy transposing of songs to desired keys.
Changing the timbre of how the chords can sound. (Playing a normal F major barre chord sounds different from a F major played using the capo as mentioned in the example above). You should experiment around with the capo and hear the sounds for yourself.

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Tips to using the guitar capo

With that being said, here are some pointers to take note while using capos.

You should place the capo behind the desired fret and NOT or the fret itself.
Take note that the capo is not fastened too loose or this will lead to buzzing sounds or even rattling strings.
The capo should NOT be over tightened. Over tightening the capo will cause over tension in the guitar strings resulting in out of tuned guitars.

Recommendation

Check out GuitarCenter.com for a wide range of guitar capos. I would personally recommend the Kyser Quick Change Capo because of its simple operating mechanism and rugged life span.

That’s all for this lesson on using a guitar capo. See you around at GuitarPlayerWorld.com.