use of capo

[vac4873]

Originally Posted by ljguitar

[size=2]My take is if three guitarists are playing at the same time, and all using the same fingerings, turn the best one up and let the others sit down and take a break.

size]

I have to second Larry on this. If you have two people playing the exact same thing, one of them is redundant. The second guitar should be adding some harmonic interest to what the first guitar is playing. Capos are a great tool for accomplishing this, as witnessed by Larry and his playing partner.

[TerryAllanHall]

Originally Posted by Jim Tozier

By all means, use a capo so that you can sing/play it.

There are some sticklers who will argue that it's important to keep songs in their original keys, but unless you're going to be playing with other musicians (who prefer to use the original key), I can't think of a good reason not to use whatever key works best for you.

In fact, just to irritate some of those sticklers, I think I'll arrange "Pachelbel's Canon in D" for the key of Am.

I learned to play "Canon" in "A" (G w/ capo at 2nd fret) just because it segues from "The Way" (Fastball) so nicely (same chords in refrain)...

Doubt Pachelbel is likely to sue...

I almost never use a capo on electrics, but all the time on acoustics.

[vac4873]

The late, great Albert Collins used a capo on his Tele and open tuning as well. Few would argue that he was a great blues player, despite his unorthodox approach.

Matt