why the dislike for capos

[Robban_80]

capos are for amateurs ! Tommy E , for example

[FrankB2]

Originally Posted by Puddleglum

I saw a vid once with Phil addressing the capo thing. Someone said it's cheating to use one; Phil said frets must be cheating too then. Good point.

My son began playing violin at the age of 6, and had a real violin teacher. He as doing solo recitals for various groups and local restaurants by the age of 9. She he was around 13-14, I asked him to try guitar. He said, "Why would I be interested in playing a fretted instruments?" He did eventually begin playing guitar, and is quite good.

Capos aren't cheating. I know people who pride themselves on never using one, but the only thing I'm interested in proving, is that music is a wonderful thing.

[Pick guard]

Originally Posted by FrankB2

My son began playing violin at the age of 6, and had a real violin teacher. He as doing solo recitals for various groups and local restaurants by the age of 9. She he was around 13-14, I asked him to try guitar. He said, "Why would I be interested in playing a fretted instruments?" He did eventually begin playing guitar, and is quite good.

Capos aren't cheating. I know people who pride themselves on never using one, but the only thing I'm interested in proving, is that music is a wonderful thing.

It is funny sometimes when I meet someone who has their nose in the air about playing fretted instruments calling them "cheaters". I'll ask if they play the piano and most of the time they do. "Isn't that cheating?" I ask.

[Pheof]

They can make chords sound brighter and prettier because of the different voicing they provide. But I think of them as a tool for singers who want to play the same chord shapes only up a few steps to allow them to sing more within they're vocal range. Personally, I'd rather just transpose the song and play in key w/o a capo. I don't like the look of anything sticking of the end of a headstock either.

I use them occasionally for the sound of a higher voicing. I also use them for checking neck straightness, checking frets and clamping the strings down when I do saddle work so the strings don't get tangled up or come out of their posts.

[dave42]

ahhh, again I post the three things I was told when I was learning to play. I believed them because I was 10-12 years old.
1. Using a capo is cheating.
2. There is only one way to tune a guitar.
3. Led Zeppelin III is an awful album.

All incorrect 'truths' told to me as a young player.

It is a tool. Use it as needed. Heck there is a video of Ricky Skaggs playing mando with Gillian Welch using a capo on the mando at the 5th fret.

Don't listen to others when creating your music.

Also about acoustic guitars sounding bad capoed up... That is one of the test for a guitar when looking to buy. Make sure it does sound good. My Martin HD28LSV is the most fantastic sounding guitar I've played capoed up. I'm sure there is something better, but I don't need it.

Have fun!

[HAPPYDAN]

Originally Posted by clintj

Absolutely not. Some chord voicings are darn near impossible to achieve without one.

+1 On a lesson learned thru some difficulty. After all, it's really the sound we're after, isn't it?

[Mooh]

Because chords within a key share many of the same notes, transitions between open chords will in all likelihood sound smoother than transitions between barre chords. This is reason enough to use a capo on many songs and tunes that require or benefit from that sound. Not utilizing this charming aspect of the guitar is metaphorically shooting oneself in the foot.

At last night's gig, for example, I used a capo for a couple of fiddle tunes but not at all for the swing tunes. The latter being almost all closed chords while the former was almost all open chords.

If capos are cheating then so is using a terz, baritone, down tuning, etc. Capos have been used for as long as there have been stringed instruments.

Utter nonsense.

[Dru Edwards]

Sometimes I like using a capo at the 5th or 7th fret when fingerpicking just because it has a different voicing, something that I can't get without a capo. Gives the song a different feel.

Other times I'll use a capo just so I can sing the song. I could find another key with open chords but those little flourishes I put in a song would be near impossible.

[frances50]

James Taylor makes use of capos quite a bit in his songs. If they're good enough for him, they're good enough for me.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by richard1

…I used to play with some other guys, and one ( an electric guitar enthusiast ) used to habitually make derogatory comments about my using a capo on certain songs. He seemed to regard it as some kind of cheat, like I couldn't really play the song properly, so I resorted to the devil's device.
…Is the capo a device of the Devil ?

Hi richard...

As musicians, we are often mimicking and quoting our heroes rather than actually thinking for ourselves, and sometimes we end up either stuck in our ways or we change our thought and grow.

Capo is a topic which can be a bit of a lightning rod. In certain communities (jazz comes to mind) they are avoided and disdained. In others (folk and gospel come to mind) they are used a lot, and expected. And in a community where they are disdained, players who hold those beliefs may treat those who use capos with disregard and disdain as well. It's a mixture of feelings of superiority and snobbery. In the communities where they are accepted (and expected) we debate which capo is best.

I don't believe they are devilish at all.

In traditional gospel hymn playing, a lot of hymns of the church (songs hundreds of years old) are written in the keys B♭, E♭, A♭, and F, which are hard keys to play with chords in first position (sometimes called Cowboy chords). The chords to hymns in flat keys can be barred all day long, but at that point we may not emulate the style being played if we resort to only playing barres. Flats are more comfortable for most pianists to play in, sharps for most guitarists. And pianos don't have capos...so guitarists adapt.

And frankly, playing all day in barred positions is not very creative for me. It gets boring fast.

Also, as a fingerstlye player, I often select keys for accompaniments, and arrangements, for the open strings which I use as open Bass notes. Sometimes I even drop tune to achieve them. So if I need to shift the same song to another key, a capo may be the simplest way to get there.

I've seen capos probably overused twice in my more than 50 years of playing.

Once was watching a bluegrass group in Berea, Kentucky at a restaurant where the kid (18-20 yrs old) playing acoustic guitar apparently only knew how to accomplish Bluegrass runs in key of G. So all night long every time the band changed keys, he slid his capo to the position which would allow him to play in G, which was interesting in keys of C and D. His playing was highly skilled, but his range of style variation was severely limited.

Another was a singer/songwriter at a festival I was playing and teaching workshops at who was a novice player, and while she wrote great lyrics and nice melodies, she could only play guitar in key of G. In chatting with her later I discovered that in college she'd learned 6 chords in key of G maj, and had been contented with them for the next 20 years. As a result, her playing became boring to the audience very quickly and we had to 'endure' a full hour of her. Lot's of people decided to visit the concession area during her set.

I've also heard alternate tunings like DADGAD spoken of with similar disdain.

During the 2013 Healdsburg Festival I took an Al Petteway workshop, and someone asked him why he spent all his time playing in DADGAD and called it a 'limited' tuning. So Al broke into about 16 bars of full on Jazz comping in key of B♭ and said "I don't find it too limiting."

As I get older and expand my circles of playing friends, it's interesting the startling ideas I hear and hope to dispel as a result of my friendship with these new and interesting folks.

[Lacks Focus]

People who deride capos don't understand them. Or they never sing. Or they never play with people who are playing other instruments. Or all three.

[Woodstock School Of Music]

There are still people saying that capos are cheating? lol funny

When I was studying jazz 40 years ago I remember hearing that but I thought that thinking went away

[DesolationAngel]

The notion of 'cheating' somehow implies that someone is trying to gain an advantage, to 'win'. I'm not trying to do either. I'm trying to make music. I'm trying to make music that appeals to me. I don't care what anyone else is doing. I'll use whatever tool it takes to inspire some creativity, change my sound, drive something new. Different guitars? Yes. A different pick? That too. Alternate tunings? Why not? Capos? Absolutely.

Sometimes you want to climb a mountain... other times you'll take the cable car. The view is still the same.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by The dman

…When I was studying jazz 40 years ago I remember hearing that but I thought that thinking went away

Hi dman...

The idea continues on and is similar to the snobbery which exists among many forms of musicians from classical to rock who do a little rock-slinging and name-calling as they speak of those who play in different genres than theirs.

I wonder which bad ideas I unleash on others?

[AvenueG]

Originally Posted by Dru Edwards

Sometimes I like using a capo at the 5th or 7th fret when fingerpicking just because it has a different voicing, something that I can't get without a capo. Gives the song a different feel.

Great example is "John Barleycorn (must die)". Would not be the same uncapoed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t887...W3MeFcY-salzfR