Things you play will have much more ‘shine’ to them as the higher frequencies ring out more. If you are shortening the length of the fretboard, you are making the tone of the guitar higher and brighter. Once you fully understand what a capo does, you can take advantage of some of its other benefits. Other uses of caposĬapos can do more than just letting you change your tuning to play specific songs. Instead, detach and then reattach the capo. When moving the capo, try not to slide it up and down the strings. Sometimes putting a capo on your guitar can create fret buzz-just readjust if needed. Once you’ve applied the capo, strum the guitar and check that each string is ringing out clearly. Then use whatever mechanism is suggested to tighten your capo. Make sure it covers all of the strings on the same fret unless you are using a partial capo. To apply your capo, simply choose which fret you are going to be using the capo on. In this case, you may want to go for a capo with a clamp design. You may want a capo which you can quickly and easily put on or take off the strings. The choice will come down to your personal preference. Generally speaking, all styles of capo do the same thing. Using partial capos can quickly end up in a world of complex tuning, so it’s recommended that beginners stick to the standard capo design covering all six strings. Partial capos are often used instead of alternative tunings, such as Drop D tuning, like in the previous example. For example, you can use a partial capo to cover all but the low E string. A partial capo works just like a regular one, but instead of covering all strings of the guitar, it only covers some of them. In addition to the clamp-style capos and ones with a “cloth and toggle” mechanism, there are also partial capos. These are sometimes called “cloth and toggle” capos. 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. 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. There are a few different types, but all serve the same purpose. How to use a capo?Ĭapos have some sort of clamping or tightening mechanism. Effectively, playing something with a capo is simply transposing the song, or changing its pitch. The chords played will be different, but the chord progressions you have learned will still sound good. This means that the chord shapes you have learned can still be used higher up on the fretboard. Instead of allowing the strings to pass over, though, it clamps over them to effectively shorten the strings.īy doing this, you change the pitch and key of the whole guitar. In other words, a capo acts as a sort of moveable nut. The nut, located on the headstock, dictates where the playable area of the strings ends and where the string vibrations stop. In a way, the capo is similar to the nut of the guitar. Placing the capo up a fret will make the pitch of your guitar higher as well.Ĭapo means “head” in Italian. This makes the area you can play on shorter and raises the pitch of your guitar. Capo explainedĪ capo is a small device that fits in the palm of your hand and is designed to clamp down on all strings across the guitar fretboard (this is why you might sometimes see a capo called a guitar clamp). So, what is a capo? What benefits do they have for guitarists and how can a capo help you? We explain more in this article. When the day comes that you’re at band practice and someone says “you’ll need a capo on the 4th fret” then it pays to know what they are and what they do. It’s easy to ignore what they do, as many songs can be played without a capo. A capo is one of those pieces of equipment that can be very confusing for beginners.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |