Every guitar player needs to know how to use a capo! It’s a must! It’ makes it easy to play higher and transpose your music. To begin, let’s understand what is a capo?
What is a Capo?
A capo is a device that acts as the nut at the top of the guitar neck. A capo will bar all 6 strings so you can play the same chord shapes, but with a higher sound. I’ll explain all of this later on in this lesson. Below is a picture of a capo! There are a bunch of different kinds of capo. This is only one kind, but it’s a pretty common one!
They all do pretty much the same thing, but you will eventually find one you like the best. The clear pad on the bottom goes under the neck and the black top will press the strings down.
Also Read – No Capo Guitar Songs
How to use a Guitar Capo?
When you use a capo you will want to put it straight on so it doesn’t bend any strings while it’s on. Also, when you put it on the fret, make sure it’s right before the metal fret, but not touching it. This will give you the best sound. There will be times when you need to move it towards the middle of the fret so you can play certain things.
Now that we covered what a capo is and what it looks like, let’s talk about why it’s used.
Why Use a Capo?
So, why should I use a capo? There are a couple of reasons why actually! Like I said earlier, a capo acts as the nut on the top of the guitar neck.
Say you play a chord progression like G Major, C Major, D Major.
That would be in the key of G. Maybe that is too low for your to sing to. If you want to play that same progression just in a higher key then use a capo!
No transposing chords necessary! Just put the capo on any fret, let’s say the 3rd fret, and now the capo acts as your open note and you can play the same chord shapes as before and they will be in the key of A#.
Why?
Because if your capo is on the 3rd fret and you play a G Major chord shape, that would be an A# Major chord since the root note is on A#. The capo was just used to play the same chord progression just in a higher key!
See! Learning how to use a capo isn’t that difficult. Now, there are many different ways to learn how to use a capo!
There is partial capoing, which is just capoing maybe 4 strings or only 5 strings instead of all 6. This is where you get into some crazy sounds! A lot of guitar players like Andy McKee use this technique.
Now there is another capo like the spider capo! A spider capo lets you capo certain strings and leave others open. This is a very advanced capo, but it really helps your creativity!
If you want to really get crazy with capos then check out Trace Bundy! He is known for using 4 or 5 capos at one time! But we are kinda getting off-topic haha.
Hopefully, this lesson helped you learn how to use a capo! If you have a lesson you want to learn or just a really awesome lesson idea you think I should write, leave it in the form below!
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