TOPIC: CAPO

Last night, one of the members of the group that I was in (Herman) had learned the song we were to "perform" in "C" where the rest of us knew it in "D" so he just CAPOed and everything went really smooth. That was so cool to me as I had never really seen it "done" before....where only 1 person "capoed"...(remember, I'm new at this.) My only problem was that I kept thinking I was playing the wrong chords each time I looked his way and compared his "fingering" to mine....learned really quickly to not look his way

I was in the group that EVERYONE was capoed (but me) because "Simple Gifts" for the mandolin is in A(a wonderful key for mandolins)but the guitars and banjo had it in G. Remember to bring your capos, they could save your life one day!!!!

Bring a capo, or a circle of 5ths cheat sheet...but then you have to insert the new chords, which would feel odd if you practiced it in the key it was tabbed in. We guitar players should practice the songs standard and capo'ed, just in case a mando is in the group. Here's my mental issue: I sometimes get a brain to finger block (which happens even under normal circumstances) when i see the capo on the fretboard, i lose my place with chord fingerings. This is because i don't practice with it enough, so it's an un-familiar object, then my brain has to tell my fingers that the capo is the nut, and so-on.

Hey Dave2311...notice your new sign....why didn't you pick a "D" you know...to go with your name??? just wondering....Anyway, I like using the capo....it was just weird watching another guitar player, playing the same as me but fingering differently...

Thats a good question...i picked G cuz i work for the "G". (Government) I'll most likely grow bored with it and change it. It took me forever to figure out how to import a pic for that avatar! The capo just plays with my mind alittle, i need to practice the tunes both ways just in case. Hey, if the other guitarists were capo'ed, and you were not, you would have been out of key, but my novice ears didn't pick it up...did you modulate to a different key? you said your fingering was different, so i'm assuming you did.

No, I didn't have to make changes....what happened was that Herman had learned the song in "C" where the rest of us were playing it in "D" so he capoed so he could play the song as he knew it and didn't have to modulate! (am I using this term correctly here? I'm sure the other Dave will let me know...) Anyway, when it was he and I playing the chords, although it sounded right, each time I looked his way, his fingering would throw me....so I stopped looking his way! I can usually find a solution to my woes