The Complete Handbook of Capos

Chapter 1: Understanding Capos

The capo is the most underestimated tool in the guitarist's kit. It is a simple mechanical device: a clamp that presses all of the strings onto the fretboard at a chosen fret. Yet the effects it has on playability, tuning stability, tone, and even the entire creative direction of a song are profound. A capo transforms an open-tuning instrument into a transposing instrument, allowing the guitarist to use the familiar shapes and open-string sounds of the key of C, or G, or A, in any other key. It does not change the notes the guitar is tuned to; it changes the pitch at which the open strings sound.

Understanding the capo requires a clear mental picture of what it actually does to the string. When you press a string down at a fret with your finger, you are mechanically shortening the vibrating length of the string. The capo does the same thing, but to all six strings at once, at the same fret. It becomes, in effect, a moveable nut. The strings that are now open - those between the capo and the bridge - are just as open as the strings in front of a regular nut, but they sound at a higher pitch because their effective length has been shortened. This distinction is the key to understanding the practical value of the capo. It is not a shortcut or a crutch, despite the way some guitarists view it. It is an integral part of