David Hodge

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… 

Why 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

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. 

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. 

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. 

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.  

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.

In case you’ve not been formally introduced, this is Charley:

In addition to being a mentor when it comes to balancing all the craziness of life and business and pursuits of happiness, he occasionally helps out by subbing for me and writing an issue or two of Guitar Noise News, the free twice a month newsletter of Guitar Noise. I think he likes to write these because he usually gets a lot of fan mail and that is cool.

Anyway, things have been very crazy and hectic here. If you’ve not read any of our recent issues of Guitar Noise News, then I guess you may not know I’ve gotten a new book contract from Alpha Books. Yes, I’ll be putting out another title in their “Complete Idiot’s” series and this one will be called The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Playing Rock Guitar.  It’s scheduled to be out by the end of this year, which means that I have to finish it by mid-August. And that means that I’m not going to be doing much of anything for a few months.

Paul (”Paul” being Paul Hackett, the gentleman who created and still owns and runs the Guitar Noise website, has long been advising me to get a personal assistant to help with the work load. And while I think it’s amusing to think anyone would want to have me as a boss (let alone be happy with what I could offer in terms of payment), Charley has given me a bit of insight on how to cope. And that’s to not worry so much about things. Yes, there’s a lot to do. Yes, there’s always more to do waiting in the wings. Do what you can when you can. Worrying about it usually causes more worrying and keeps you from doing things in the here and now. And you have to be in the here and now to get things done.

Okay. I’m good. Now let’s get on and see what we can do…

Be chatting with you all again soon.

Peace

So you put a capo on your guitar, say the third fret, and you start playing a song using a D chord. What are you playing?

Most guitarists will say “D.” And that’s the start of a lot of confusion. In reality, when we place the capo on the third fret (as in this example) we raise all of our chords up a step and a half. So your D chord is actually now F. If you don’t believe me, place your capo on the third fret and check the open D string against your tuner.

Now it goes without saying that we do already know this. Or kind of know it. Somewhere in those brains of ours wheels are clicking and our ears are also telling us that this D chord doesn’t sound like D.  But when we think about the actual chord we’re playing, our fingers and brains are saying “D” and not “F.” It might be even better to say that our fingers and brains are on autopilot and not thinking or saying anything.

This is part of the accepted “doublespeak” of the guitarist when it comes to using a capo. We’ll acknowledge that using a capo changes the simple chords we play but we continue to call the chords by their open position names. When you think about it, it’s interesting because we don’t do the same thing with barre chords as we move our index finger around the neck like an instantly adjustable capo.

And all this discussion might also be a big yawn, but not acknowledging the doublespeak is usually what makes us second guess all the time when using the capo. We know what we do but haven’t taken the time to understand what it is that’s exactly happening. And that understanding is key to help us make using the capo easier.

Now, this isn’t to say that you want to start thinking of the new chords and keys each time you use the capo. That’s like expecting some shredding lead guitarist to name off every note in a lightning-fast lick. It’s just not going to happen. We learn patterns, whether those patterns are scales or chord shapes, and we use them without thought once we know where to start, once we have a reference point. And what is a capo if not a reference point?

So begin to acknowledge, if not embrace, the doublespeak. When someone says, “This song is just G, C and D with the capo on the fourth fret,” somewhere in the back recesses of your mind you should be thinking, “Okay, that’s really B, E and F#” and then go back to talking about the chords as if nothing’s changed. Doing this will help you when you’re trying to change a song in a difficult key, because you’ll be starting to recognize the “real” chords as well as the “capo position” chords. And it will also start you on a path where you’ll be thinking about chord progressions in terms of scale degrees. Which is where we’ll pick up next time…

Peace