Capo Angle

[coolarrow]

Do you place your capo at an angle, rather than parallel to the fret? If so, why? Thanks.

[Opa John]

I do it like this guy does it. Kind of at an angle and not quite right up against the fret. It works for JT and it works for me. By doing it this way, it gives me a little more "finger room" when I'm up close to the capo.

[Howard Emerson]

Originally Posted by coolarrow

Do you place your capo at an angle, rather than parallel to the fret? If so, why? Thanks.

I put mine right down the middle of the fret wire, at zero angle.

I do this so that I can tighten it firmly with as little distortion to the strings as possible. If anything I have to give a tiny pull to the 6th string to flatten it afterwards.

HE
It Ain't Necessarily So: http://howardemerson.com/music2.html

[Misty44]

Do you place your capo at an angle, rather than parallel to the fret? If so, why? Thanks.

To get it out of the way of my big hand! The design of some capos interfere with my playing more than others, and those get "rear-shifted" accordingly.

Like Howard, when I use my old McKinney, I place it atop the fret in the manner of many bluegrassers to minimize distortion.

[cpeehler7]

Originally Posted by Howard Emerson

I put mine right down the middle of the fret wire, at zero angle.

I do this so that I can tighten it firmly with as little distortion to the strings as possible. If anything I have to give a tiny pull to the 6th string to flatten it afterwards.

HE
It Ain't Necessarily So: http://howardemerson.com/music2.html

Thank you for that post! That might help me out quite a bit while using a capo on my 12 string. You need to tighten it so much to keep the octave strings in the middle from buzzing, that tip might help me a lot...Now I need to go try it.

[Howard Emerson]

Originally Posted by cpeehler7

Thank you for that post! That might help me out quite a bit while using a capo on my 12 string. You need to tighten it so much to keep the octave strings in the middle from buzzing, that tip might help me a lot...Now I need to go try it.

It really helps on 12 string specifically for the reason of the rubber needing to depress a whole bunch on the wound strings before reaching the plain string octaves!

It still deflects the strings a little bit by virtue of the slight overhang in back of the fret, but it's a whole lot less than when you put the capo in between the frets!

HE
It Ain't Necessarily So: http://howardemerson.com/music2.html

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by coolarrow

Do you place your capo at an angle, rather than parallel to the fret? If so, why? Thanks.

Hi coolarrow...

Another serious player, Franco Morone of Italy, is an avid capo player, who rarely plays without a capo, and moves capos around the neck through an entire concert. He angles his from the 6th string next to the fret wire to about ⅓ the distance back from the fret wire of at the first string.



Franco - CliCK

Franco again - CLiCK

I've seen him place it this way with several brands of capos and on many different brands of guitars, and he's done it this way for at least a decade.

I've been experimenting with that for several weeks, and it really does hold tune better.