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  #121  
Old 09-29-2013, 12:04 PM
Monk of Funk Monk of Funk is offline
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Originally Posted by johnd View Post
Well yes, obviously it's the same shape, and if I capo on the 4th fret and play E this is a G# with the exact same strings fretted in the same places. My question is if me playing a barred G# should be indistinguishable - should the barred notes ring out just as clearly when pressed with my finger as when pressed by a solid steel capo? For me, they wouldn't sound identical, the barred strings would always be a little mushy in comparison - I don't know if this is acceptable/normal, or a sign of poor playing.
The nut will be the clearest and most sustained barre. A capo, will be next best, but already your sustain is a little gone and some of the crispness will be slightly dulled. Barring with your hands will be even more so.

Like I said, I much prefer that, most of the time. I will try to play in a key that never uses those low open chords for that reason, unless that's the effect I want.

that is, if I am free from all other restraints to key. Sometimes for a certain chord i'll want to throw in a nice open low E, or something like that, so I'll choose a key so that that chord can do that. Or if I'm singing, that will be a big consideration in what key I choose, but even at that I'll try to find a key where I can sing, and not use open string chords, or I might even choose chord inversions I prefer less, in order to avoid playing those open chords.

But yes, definitely they have more crisp and clear sustain with them, and your capo will have more than your fingers also. But those are not necessarily desirable things. I find you have much less control that way.
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  #122  
Old 09-29-2013, 12:09 PM
johnd johnd is offline
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Good point. Playing a song where I have a mixture of open and barre chords can be a bit tricky, which was partly why I asked the question... my F (or A & B using the same shape up on 5th/7th fret which sound nice) tend to a lot quieter than playing E or regular A.
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  #123  
Old 09-29-2013, 12:55 PM
Monk of Funk Monk of Funk is offline
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Originally Posted by johnd View Post
Good point. Playing a song where I have a mixture of open and barre chords can be a bit tricky, which was partly why I asked the question... my F (or A & B using the same shape up on 5th/7th fret which sound nice) tend to a lot quieter than playing E or regular A.
Ya, quieter, and also, playing up on the 5th for your A, will let you do more. You can add that ninth up there with your pinky, and you have more of a range to do stuff like playing a A maj ninth and stuff like that, or the high D shaped Emaj, with an A root. You have a larger range between your low root note, and all the other higher notes you could hit in the same hand positioning, which I find is more useful, than having notes below your root that are available. But that can depend also on the tune, and how you finger also.

Like I said, I play barres like the A on 5th, by fretting the low A with my thumb, and the high A and E with my index, and the other 3 as one would guess after that. I play those almost exclusively that way, except for times where I might wanna hammer on a A7, then I need to do the standard barre with index, and hammer on the rest.
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