How does capo work

A lot of guitarists both beginner and advanced never take to time to learn how they work. In this lesson, we'll be taking a closer look at how capos work, and how they can make your life as a guitar player a whole lot easier.

Capos are great if you're interested in learning how to play your favorite songs on the guitar. With a capo and a few basic chords , you can play in almost any key. A capo is just a simple clamp that goes across all 6 strings to make it easier to play in different keys. A capo allows you to do this because it essentially moves the nut of the guitar up or down the fretboard. There are a number of great reasons to use a capo. One of those is for raising or lowering the key of a song if you're working with a singer.

If a song is a little too high, or too low for the singer, you can simply use the capo to adjust the key of the song to fit their voice.

Using a capo this way makes it easier for you since you don't have to change the chord shapes you already know, you just move the capo. Another reason to use a capo is to keep the chord voicings when you change keys.

Say you're playing a song in G major, and you're using open chords. When you transpose that song to A major, you could use open chords in A major, but it would sound quite different. Using a capo on your 2nd fret and using G major open chords will make the chords sound the same as the original key you were playing in, but you will be playing in the key of A major.

This is an appropriate name. In a way, the capo is similar to the nut of the guitar. The nut, located on the headstock, dictates where the playable area of the strings ends and where the string vibrations stop. In other words, a capo acts as a sort of moveable nut. Instead of allowing the strings to pass over, though, it clamps over them to effectively shorten the strings.

By doing this, you change the pitch and key of the whole guitar. This means that the chord shapes you have learned can still be used higher up on the fretboard.

The chords played will be different, but the chord progressions you have learned will still sound good. Effectively, playing something with a capo is simply transposing the song, or changing its pitch. Capos have some sort of clamping or tightening mechanism. There are a few different types, but all serve the same purpose. Some have a bar that clamps onto the strings, which is held in place by a cam-style clamp or by a screw that allows you to physically tighten it yourself.

The other popular style has a rubber bar attached to a material strap which can tighten around the back of the fretboard, like a watch on a wrist. A partial capo works just like a regular one, but instead of covering all strings of the guitar, it only covers some of them. For example, you can use a partial capo to cover all but the low E string. Partial capos are often used instead of alternative tunings, such as Drop D tuning, like in the previous example.

Generally speaking, all styles of capo do the same thing. Sign up for convenient, affordable private lessons today! Mike J. He received his Applied Music Degree from Mohawk College and has gone on to receive many certifications and awards since then.

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The spider capo is a famous example:. With this capo you can choose which strings you want to press down. You can learn a lot more about partial capos here. Partial capos can make the impossible, possible. Check out this spider capo extravaganza from Luca Stricagnoli!

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