3 Guitar Questions! What is a Guitar Capo used for? How do you know when to use it in a song?

Chocolat: 3 Guitar Questions! What is a Guitar Capo used for? How do you know when to use it in a song?
Hi! I actually have 3 Questions:
What is the guitar capo used for?
When do you know when to use it in a song?
Do Electric Guitars Use Capos?
I’ve never seen a Electric guitar with a capo.

Answers and Views:

Answer by sissysaysdance
1. A capo is used to change the key of a song you are playing without having to transpose the chords. You play the chords you know, but the capo makes the key change for you.

2. It’s good to have when you are playing with other folks. If you have learned the song in another key, it is often quicker and easier to capo into the correct key than to transpose on the spot. It also allows you to change keys for a singer, to get it into their range.

3. They can.

Answer by cconsaul
A capo is a bar with some kind of attachment device, usually clamp or elastic, that you put across the fingerboard of the guitar to facilate playing up the neck without having to barre. (place your first finger across the fret directly in back of the chord you want to play)

There are full capos and partial capos and they shorten the length of the string so you don’t have so much to worry about. A full capo (Capo sul tasto) reaches all the way across the neck and a partial capo only reaches across the first two, three, four, or even five strings.

Beginning guitarists uses capos to change the key of a song so they don’t have to learn it in a new key to sing it. Advanced guitarists use capos to extend the range and possibilities of the guitar without constant retuning and detuning. It is also easier to employ a capo, than to purchase a Quinto (guitar tuned up a fifth) or requinto (guitar tuned up a fourth) and the strings generally last longer.

Jazzers often use a capo if they only have one piece of sheet music to read and they are working with a transposing horn. If you put the capo up two frets, you can play the same music with a tenor sax or trumpet, and if you put it up six frets, you can play along with an alto sax without having to transpose.

The type of guitar has nothing to do with whether a player uses a capo or not. I find them to be a useful tool, but I hardly ever use them because my knowledge of chord forms is sufficient in most cases, to do without them. If I want a sparkly bright sound without having to think too much about it, or some emergency on the fly transposing to do however, I have no problem with slapping on a shubb or even an elastic capo to get the job done.

If you think about it, the fifth string on a bluegrass banjo, is just permanantly “capoed” up to act as a drone when it is played.

As to when to use a capo in a song, you use it when you need it. If you need to change a key because the notation was written too high or low, or if you need the effect of a very high string sound without retuning your strings and possibly breaking them, reach for the handy capo. It’s a tool. Use it when you need it and keep one in the case just in case. I’ve seen them used for everything from emergency case repairers to windclips on music stands. You never know how handy they are until you have one.

Answer by Carmzy warmz
caops change the sound, and add to the chord you play, u will know if u need one cus it should say on the tab, and u can but them for both acoustic and electric

Answer by punk_rock_guy_chris
You clamp the capo on the guitar to make a chord an octave higher or make it easier to perform more complicated chords. If its in a sone it usually stays on the guitar the whole song but occasionally one performer will remove it in the middle of the song. Usually electric guitars don’t use them, but they can if needed.

Answer by Gunny
A capo is used to change (raise) the key of your open chords.

A capo is most commonly used by guitar players that aren’t good at barre chords, or for guitar riffs that require open strings in a key other than where open strings are available.
(In a barre chord you use your fore-finger as a capo)

A capo can be used on an electric as well. Even though it’s electric, it’s still a guitar (same rules). Most famous people you see performing with electric guitars know barre chords and don’t need a capo.