In a David Hodge column he talks about moving the capo and playing on a different fret...............
"But just to make it seem like a bit of work, I still have to go through the sheet music and transpose the changes. "
Like on "Hotel California" there are a lot of chords. Does any one know
a link for getting some software that will transpose the chords for you.
If you understand what a capo does and what transposing means, I would probably just take the time to do it myself. It's a useful skill to have, and before long you'll be able to do it on the fly (as you read the music).
I'm not aware of any software that can do this for you, but once you start, you'll realize that it comes pretty quickly. Faster than punching in a bunch of chords into a program anyways.
Do something you love and you'll never work a day in your life...
Check out David's The Underappreciated Art of Using a Capo. It'll answer your questions. It also contains a table you'll find useful.
Well we all shine on--like the moon and the stars and the sun.
-- John Lennon
Here is my capo explanation (And someone step in if I'm incorrect or unclear):
The capo acts like the nut on your guitar or like your first finger in a barre chord - the nut is opposite the bridge and is where the strings pass through from the headstock.
If you play an open E chord - you get an E chord. Now let's say you put a capo on the first fret (not directly on the fret but behind it like you would do a barre chord or fret notes at the first fret); you've effectively moved the nut up one fret. Playing an E chord now will give the sound of an F chord (one fret = half step; E moves up to F). An open A chord would sound as A# with a capo at the first fret (again the A moves up one half step to A#).
Each fret is a half step. Put the capo on the 3rd fret and you've moved "the nut" up 3 half steps (or one and a half steps). An E chord sounds like a G chord (3 half steps up: E-F-F#-G). An A chord sounds like a C Chord (A-A#-B-C).
The capo allows you to use easily fingered open chord shapes to produce sounds in other keys.
Read up on some of the articles here on GN and on David's Beginner Song lessons for more info on capo use. It's not too hard to figure out how to transpose chords with a capo. There is probably a chart on here somewhere showing the transposition of chords using a capo at different fret positions.
I hope this helped :D
"The details of my life are quite inconsequential." - Dr. Evil
That's absolutely right, but you might also use different voicings. So if you played an open D with a capo on the first fret you'd get an Eb. If you played an open G with the capo on the third fret, you'd have a Bb. Capos can be a lot of fun and are a handy part of the tool kit.
Oh, and Wootof, welcome to the musical madhouse!
Well we all shine on--like the moon and the stars and the sun.
-- John Lennon
Good point Musenfreund. I didn't mean to imply that a capo is only used to make songs easier to play.
Aside from capo use: here is a transposing tool:
"The details of my life are quite inconsequential." - Dr. Evil
Very good Info that makes Capo use alot easier to understand.
:D
thanks laoch.
that link is what i was looking for.
i think a lot of people must reply to posts without reading the post.
Just trying to be helpful. And I think that everyone who responded did indeed read your post.
But if you understand how to use the capo and transpose the chords, you'll be able to do so while playing with a band and not have to use a software program. You may not always have a computer at hand. It's really not very hard to do. Folks were just trying to give you enough information that you could learn to do that.
Well we all shine on--like the moon and the stars and the sun.
-- John Lennon
i appreciate the help. was just saying that about not reading the post because i mentioned david hodge & his capo lesson & even had a quote from that lesson & people were telling me to check out david's capo lesson .
Sorry, that was me. When you wrote you'd read about moving the capo in a lesson by David, I didn't realize that you meant the capo lesson. It could have been a song lesson where the song's played with a capo -- such as the lesson on "Nowhere Man" or "Julia". I did think the table in his lesson would help you though. I apologize if the information was redundant.
Well we all shine on--like the moon and the stars and the sun.
-- John Lennon
yes i like that chart. blew it up big on the copier & hung it in our little "studio".
quick question, do you ever move the capo & still play the same chords that you are used to playing on a particular song or will the chords always be different?
Yes. That's the reason the capo is such a great tool for changing keys. You play the same chord shapes, but by moving the capo (in effect moving the nut, as Laoch points out), you change the register or the key. You don't have to do anything different that way -- same chord shapes but a different chord sounds.
I hope that made sense (and that I understood the question correctly).
Well we all shine on--like the moon and the stars and the sun.
-- John Lennon
I'm still not completly understanding what use the capo has?
Why would one want to play sometihng in a different key? to match someones voice? (i mean aside from if one happens to be playing with a pianist)
I'm still not completly understanding what use the capo has?
Why would one want to play sometihng in a different key? to match someones voice? (i mean aside from if one happens to be playing with a pianist)
Playing to match someone's voice is only the first reason and there are all sorts of them. If a song is in a key that you have trouble with the chords or simply want to avoid a lot of barre chords, then it's not a bad idea to use a capo and transpose the chords. Can you imagine a beginner playing blues in Ab? Sure it's only Ab, Db and Eb7, but wouldn't they have a much easier time of it be either placing the capo on the first fret and playing in G (G, C and D7) or even putting it on the fourth fret and playing in E (E, A and B7).
Two other reasons that haven't been mentioned here (but are mentioned in the article) are:
1) Taking intentional advantage of the guitar's natural tuning. Song lessons on this site, especially ones like Scarborough Fair, Losing My Religion and Fields of Gold point this out. The capo allows you to create a great sound without having to go through impossible finger acrobatics.
2) Variety, especially when playing in a group. One of the things we did at the Toronto seminar back at the end of May was to play Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison. Now there were eight of us, so you can imagine how easily one might get tired of hearing eight guitarists all playing the same thing. Since the chords are G, C, D and Em, and since just about everyone there was a beginner to early intermediate, we divided up the song like this:
Group 1 - played song with original chords (G, C, D, Em)
Group 2 - played song in D with capo on fifth fret (D, G, A, Bm)
Group 3 - played song in C with capo on seventh fret (C, F, G, Am)
Group 4 - the two most advanced players were given either the bass part or the lead part
This made it a lot more fun for everyone and also a lot more fun to listen to.
Hope this helps.
Peace
