Capo Use

[brianf]

I really been getting into Open G tuning. Working on some Stones stuff etc.

I need some advise on capo use. I'm using a Shubb 7 1/4 radius capo on my 52 RI. (for the Keith look)

I'm not sure about how tight I should use it. If it's too loose whenever I bend an open string it slides over, too tight and I may marr the neck?

I understand that the capo should be within an 1/8 inch or so of the fret. If it is too tight it is also hard to retune.

Any advise is welcome. Thanks

brianf

[Bob Onit]

A capo will treat the fret above it as the nut.
This will wear the fret out in a hurry.

[brianf]

Originally posted by Bob Onit
A capo will treat the fret above it as the nut.
This will wear the fret out in a hurry.

Does the placement of a capo play any role in how fast a fret will wear? My guess would be if it moved away from the fret it may wear out sooner.

brianf

[Bob Onit]

Originally posted by brianf
Does the placement of a capo play any role in how fast a fret will wear? My guess would be if it moved away from the fret it may wear out sooner.

brianf

I would think that the farther away, the more the strings would move side to side. So I say yup

[walshb]

Originally posted by Bob Onit
A capo will treat the fret above it as the nut.
This will wear the fret out in a hurry.

Hmmmmm, another reason I can give now, when people ask why I refuse to use a capo. Thanks!

[Sven]

I never liked capos, because when one guy wants to play a song with a capo, no one can follow along by watching his hands.

[Dwell]

You could always listen. <g>

[pbradt]

Originally posted by Sven
I never liked capos, because when one guy wants to play a song with a capo, no one can follow along by watching his hands.

I think if anyone needs to watch a guitar player's hands to know where the song is going, they haven't learned the music well enough.

I use capos reglarly. If it's good enough the the cats in Nashville, it's good enough for me.

[Cogs]

I'll watch another player's hands often when I'm playing. That's no indication of talent. In fact, it's a good idea, especially if you play on the fly a lot; one goes high, the other goes low. One plays on the top four strings, the other plays on the bottom three. It's a smart way to play, if you ask me.
And I don't use a capo very much. I use barre chords, like Ron Wood;)

[grito]

Not to start a pissing match, but you have to know the music. I never look at another player's hands. I end up playing the same thing as them and that's not very musically interesting. I'd rather know the key and the changes and see how things go.

Capo? Only when I had a singer who needed it and I didn't have the know how to deal with it.

[Cogs]

Well, yeah, you should have a good idea how the song goes
But in a jam situation or even just sitting in, I like to play a different inversion than the other gut is playing. I used to do pickup gigs in Seattle w/a bunch of guys & Tim Sherman was one of them. He'd always ask me before a song started, "You wanna go high or you wanna go low?"
If I don't know the song then I just find the key & solo over everbody. :wail2

[grito]

Originally posted by 71818
If I don't know the song then I just find the key & solo over everbody. :wail2

Wanker... ::nya

[Cogs]

When anyone compains, I tell 'em it's my ART!!!

[grito]

...and if you hit a bad note, tell 'em it's jazz!

[Kap'n]

Originally posted by grito
...and if you hit a bad note, tell 'em it's jazz!

No, no, NO! Jazz is three or more wrong notes in a row.

[shunka]

A capo will give you a certain sound that it is almost impossible to attain with bar chords. The other guitar player in my acoustic group uses one regularly. There are a few times a night when I may use one as well. He's not the first guy that I've worked with who uses a capo.
It used to throw me to watch his hands when we were learning a song. Now it's second nature. We've pulled off a few tunes that I was totaly unfamiliar with because I could see his hands as well as use my ears.
I believe it is a legitimate tool. No worse than using an open tuning or tuning down.

[Sven]

I don't always play with people I know well. In fact, I make an effort to play with new people whenever I can. What that means is that we just might not know all the same songs Duh! or even normally play the same type of music, much less have time to learn them ahead of time. So, no problem, I can change chords really fast...just go ahead, and I'll jump in with you.

Or are you es actually suggesting that we only play the same old shit with the same old farts all the time???

[pbradt]

Originally posted by Sven
I don't always play with people I know well. In fact, I make an effort to play with new people whenever I can. What that means is that we just might not know all the same songs Duh! or even normally play the same type of music, much less have time to learn them ahead of time. So, no problem, I can change chords really fast...just go ahead, and I'll jump in with you.

Or are you es actually suggesting that we only play the same old shit with the same old farts all the time???

Well, I donno, but think about this: what if someone is using a different tuning? When I play slide, I'm in G tuning, and if you watch my hands, you're in a world of trouble.

If someone has to watch my hands in order to know a song, they're in deep shit, because I might play an E7 one way in one verse and completely different, in a different place on the neck with a completely different hand shape.

I think depending on that is a crutch. JMO, YMMV.

[Folk_guy]

I use a capo on acoustic regularly, especially when finger picking, because some songs sound better with open chords. I can play bar chords with no porblem anywhere on the neck, and use that skill on electric, but I find some acoustic stuff just sounds better with a capo and open chords.

[moonpie]

Case in point...."Fire and Rain" by James Taylor.

Capo on the second fret, play a G formation and you're playing in A.

Play the song without a capo in A and you lose all the intricacies
of the fingerpicking or the original song.


Hope that made sense.

[Cogs]

Same with "Here Comes the Sun".