I recently received this email and it seemed like a great way to ease back into our discussion on the use of the capo:
David,
First. Great articles.You have a way of presenting potentially complicated music topics in a way that the average musician can get their brain around.Thanks and please keep them coming.I have a question on the transposition article you posted, and this could be a dumb question.Sorry in advance for that.I understand the transpose proc ess, and I understand the various reasons for using a capo in some situations.Here’s what I don’t understand.In several examples in the article, “Edmund Fitzgerald” etc… You do both.In other words, you first transpose the song AND use the capo.I guess my question revolves around the reasoning there. Without overlooking that the capo transforms the texture of the chords/sound as a possibility…ÂWhy would there be a need to 1st transpose to a different key, and then use the capo?Couldn’t the same be accomplished by just using the capo on the appropriate fret (for whatever key you desire..)?I know I’m missing some fundamental here.Any clarification would be a big help.Thanks David
Best Regards
Thank you for writing and thank you as well for your truly kind words concerning my work at Guitar Noise. Both Paul (Paul Hackett, the gentleman who created and still owns and runs the website) and I always appreciate when someone makes the time to write to us.
Now let’s see if I can justify those nice things you said about me!
There are one basic reasons for both transposing and using a capo and this should have been cleared in the article. Let’s even use “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” as an example. The song, as pointed out, is in C and I’ve transposed it into the key of A. So picking the first line (and hoping I’ve spelled “Chippewa” correctly), the chords in C would be:
The (C) legend lives on from the (Gm) Chippewa on down to the (Bb) great lake they (F) call Gitchee (C) Gumee.
We’re okay so far?
Transposed into the key of A, the chords of the first line would be:
The (A) legend lives on from the (Em) Chippewa on down to the (G) great lake they (D) call Gitchee (A) Gumee.
I’m assuming we’re still okay. Now comes the tricky part.
If I play the transposed chord without a capo, meaning just using regular position chords, I am playing this in the key of A. We’re agreed on this. But suppose I actually want to play it in the key of C. Maybe the vocals are easier or maybe I’m playing with a bass player who insists on playing it in the “right” key. The trouble is that I still want to play it in A because I think the chords are easier or have better voicings.
So I need to play in one key (A) but have it magically be a different key (C). This is where the capo comes in. Placing the capo on the neck of the guitar automatically raises the key that you’re playing in. If I put my capo on the first fret and play an A chord, it’s not going to sound like the A chord of someone who doesn’t have a capo on his or her guitar. In fact if we both play A chords at the same time, it’s going to sound positively dreadful.Â
That’s because the minute I put my capo on, I stopped playing in “standard tuning,” Technically, my guitar is now tuned up a half-step on each string.Â
Here’s where a little “intentional magic” comes into play. When I transposed “Edmund” from C to A, I changed each chord one-and-a-half steps lower. So if I still want to play in the original key but still use the chords I’ve transposed to, then I need to use the capo to raise my transposed chords up one-and-a-half steps in order to play in the original key. If I place my capo on the third fret and play an A chord, and have another guitarist (without a capo) play a C chord, we will be playing the same chord. Different voicings (my A will have a note higher than his) but still the same chord.Â
So this two part process should be thought of in this manner:
1) Transpose down X number of half-steps20to make the chords easier or to get better voicings
2) Place capo X number of frets (the same “X” as in Step 1) to play transposed chords in the original key. Â
I hope this helps. Part of all the confusion is the language involved, an issure I tried to address in my last entry here. And hopefully we’ll keep this discussion going on a more regular basis! It would be great to get everything back on track again.
Until next time…
Peace
June 5th, 2009 @ 1:45 am
Hi David,
Wow, more great information! Thanks to you and all the GN crew, unlike previous attempts, I think I might get a real handle on this guitar of mine.
Your encouragement and support in everything you write is more helpful than you might know. I finally bit the bullet and exposed some friends to my dubious talent for an evening by the fire. They were more than accommodating as I fumbled with chords and forgot words and we all had a great time.
Best wishes and good luck with the final push to complete your latest book!
Jim
August 8th, 2009 @ 1:22 am
Mr. Hodge
I have been playing guitar for a number of years and I understand how to use the capo with major chords, flats and sharps but I still can’t find a chart for minor chords (ex: Em, Cm, Am) with the capo. Specifically for the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th fret positions.
I found some sites that had two charts for major chords. One called Actual Chords and the other called Root Keys. Now this is new to me. If I want to use two guitars which chart do we use? I would appreciate any suggestions or advice. Thank You!
GV
September 9th, 2009 @ 9:50 pm
How can i get the Em, Am, and Dm sound if the capo is on the 3rd fret
One kid is playing the song without a capo,
the other kid is playing with him with capo on 3rd, I used the chord chart to match up all chords except these
September 15th, 2009 @ 9:34 pm
Hi Cindy
I’m assuming that the one without the capo is playing the Em, Am and Dm chords, right? Or are you saying that the one with the capo is playing Em, Am and Dm with the capo on? Well, let’s look at both cases. Second one first:
If someone has a capo on the third fret and is playing Em, Am and Dm, then we want to start with the Em chord and figure out what chord it would be at the third fret. The answer is that it’s one-and-a-half steps higher, so it would be Gm. Doing the same with all three chords would show us that Em=Gm, Am=Cm and Dm=Fm.
If someone is playing Em, Am and Dm, without a capo and we have a capo on the third fret, we work in reverse. We have to find out which open position (or barre chord) would become Em at the third fret. That would be C#m, since E is a step-and-a-half above C#. So if you have a capo on the third fret and you want to play Em, Am and Dm, you’d need to play C#m, F#m and Bm.
Hope this helps.
Peace
October 13th, 2009 @ 4:16 pm
Hello David!!!
This is Miguel from Spain.
Thanks very much for your classes, they are so nice and clear!
I have a question on this subject, using the capo. Would you give me an example on using the capo, when playing two guitarrist?
How to make music more rich? (I mean one could use open chords and what about the other? how to use the capo for this purpose?)
Thanks a lot !!!!
October 13th, 2009 @ 4:19 pm
David, again Miguel. Thanks in advanced. There is a song that I like a lot but cannot find the chords anywhere, and to be honest I thought of you…
The song is “Lord of the Ages” from the group “Magna Carta”. Maybe you can review it soon at guitarnoise!!!
Thanks anyway, and I recommend you to listen to it in case you didnt hear about. Best of love
October 13th, 2009 @ 4:43 pm
I love your stuff man. Good insight and you’re a good teacher too. We are doing ‘you are the light’ at our morning service next week. it’s been stuck in my head for days now lol.
October 13th, 2009 @ 9:02 pm
Hi Miguel
How about an example that you can listen to? This is Romeo, which Nick wrote and plays in B minor in open position. I’m using a capo on the seventh fret, which means I’m playing chords in Em (my Em is his Bm, my G is his D, my D is his A, etc.,). Because I am much higher up on the neck, my guitar is in the same general range of a mandolin and the open position chords ring out differently than barre chords woild. It’s fuller to my ears, anyway.
As for Lord of the Ages, I’ll have to give it a listen as I’m not familiar with it. Things are very behind schedule right now with the Guitar Noise lessons, so it may be a while before I can get ’round to it, but I’ll see what I can do. If it’s just a matter of figuring out the chords, it shouldn’t take all that long. But you should give it a try, too. Being able to figure out chords of any song is a matter of practice and one has to start somewhere!
I hope this helps and I look forward to chatting with you again.
Peace
October 13th, 2009 @ 9:06 pm
Hi Joshua
Thanks for writing and thank you, too, for your kind words. Hopefully I’ll be back on schedule for doing a lot more writing very soon, for both Guitar Noise and my own blog!
Looking forward to chatting with you again.
Peace