Capo MountingĪre you going to have your capo permanently mounted to your guitar, or will you need to switch things up quickly? Some capos will need two hands to take them off, whereas others will simply require you to change position with just one. The majority of capos will describe what instrument they are primarily intended for, so be mindful of that when making your choice. An electric guitar will tend to have a radiused fretboard, whereas a classical acoustic will be completely flat. Your capo will need a similar radius or you run the risk of improperly clamped strings. Some guitars have a radiused fretboards, which means there is a slight curve across the fretboard. A capo that’s designed for a 6 string guitar may not have the same effect on a 12 string due to the increased pressure required so here’s a few things to bear in mind when purchasing a capo. There are various types of capo available and most of them will work on a variety of instruments, there are however certain aspects of capo design you need to bear in mind. Both the same chords, but different voicing on each guitar will lend a much fuller and more interesting sound! Selecting a Guitar Capo Guitarist two places a capo on the fourth fret, and can play the same progression using the C F G7 chord shapes. Taking a I IV V chord progression in the key of E as an example, guitarist one will play E A B7. Another excellent way to use the capo is during recording, where rather than having two guitars play the same position, you can use a capo to change the voicing of the chords.įor example, imagine you have two guitarists who are playing chords on your recording, but it all sounds a bit dull.
If you know a song in standard tuning you can quickly and easily change the key of it by simply applying the capo, using it as your new nut, and playing the same chord shapes you already know. The primary reason to use a capo is to play easily in different keys. Arguably the next great development in capo design came with the Kyser quick Change Capo, which solved the majority of problems with quickly adding and removing the capo thanks to its spring-loaded, trigger style design that’s still popular to this day. Jim Dunlop brought out a lever action capo in the 60s, following it up with the now classic Dunlop Pickers Pal Capo which managed to utilise pressure points to ensure an even clamp across the fretboard. As the guitar moved into the twentieth century various capo designs started to become available as the instrument grew in popularity. The first capo was patented by James Ashborn in the year 1850, and although there had been capo designs prior to that, Ashborn’s design stuck due to its lever and cam to tighten and apply pressure, holding it securely on the guitar neck. A capo will also slightly alter the timbre of the string as it essentially shortens the scale length of the instrument. That said any fretted notes are the same, so playing the seventh fret of the E string will still be a B note for any position at or below the seventh fret. The capo changes the pitch of the open strings in the chord shape, essentially having the same effect as retuning all of your strings up.
It lets you play songs in different keys whilst still using your knowledge of open chord shapes, and opens up some interesting tonal varieties when using ringing open strings. The capo is typically fastened across all the strings of a guitar, ukulele, or very rarely, a bass guitar.
The name capo derives from the Italian word capodastro which translates as the ‘head of fretboard’. When utilised in the correct manner, this bit of kit can really open up new sonic worlds for your guitar sound, completely changing tired old chord progressions and making barre chords and more complex shapes a lot easier to play. A Capo is a relatively inexpensive yet endlessly versatile tool that can massively enhance your creativity with your instrument.
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