Capo and "detune"
Okay one of the small discussions I had in the past couple days was about guitar capos. This came up because I saw someone playing a semi-hollow electric and he changed the capo in between EVERY song (seriously). And I'm not talking about putting it up at the 12th fret, it was like 3rd fret, 2nd, fret, off, 5th fret, all relatively low for capo purposes. Being the snotty musician I know that I can be (and being married to a very capable guitarist), it bothered me. I was explaining why this bothered me to some of the people I went to the conference with.
Basically capoing the guitar is a "only do if you have to or if it serves a musical purpose" kinda tool... and even then it's really only an ACOUSTIC guitar kinda tool. But people also know that you can easily change keys simply by sticking a capo on a different fret. And granted, if you need to change keys (usually to accomidate a singer's vocal range) at the last minute, and aren't very good at transposing, the capo is okay, but otherwise, just change the chords and play it sans-capo, like the capable musician you are. So the capo can be misused as an easy way to get out of doing something a little more difficult. Which is why I tend to be bothered when I see a capo (unless it is used under the proper conditions). And I get really bothered when I see a "professional" musician using a capo under the wrong conditions.
Then today Matt and I made a stop at Melodee Music and while wandering around I found a book about Guitar Capoing. I picked it up an kinda browsed through it... and it basically confirmed most of what musicians think about capoing. 1- For the most part it is considered cheating, or at least taking the easy way out (kinda how pool players feel about using a bridge ... just use it for the shots you absolutely can't get on your own... but now imagine someone using a bridge for every shot... that could be a little irritating), but it does have some functional uses and can add a lot of versatility to the instrument (by instrument here they are referring to acoustic instruments, it never once mentioned capoing an electric, especially since electrics have softer strings) when used properly... for instance capoing in order to have open strings be different notes, or to assist with alternate tunings. 2- When it comes to tuning the guitar to Eb, I finally understand the term "detuning" which Matt uses a lot. Unfornately, i always thought that that he was saying "D-tuning" as in tuning the instrument to D or down a whole step, and I kept trying to correct him by saying that E to D is a whole step, not a half step so he should be calling it "Eb tuning". But when I saw the term "detuning" in the book I finally realized my mistake. Detuning means tuning the guitar to Eb, and if you want to tune it to D, you call that Drop D. I was glad for the clarification.
Those are my thoughts on the capo and I hope whoever reads this was able to understand my thoughts amongst the insane number of paranthesis.
Basically capoing the guitar is a "only do if you have to or if it serves a musical purpose" kinda tool... and even then it's really only an ACOUSTIC guitar kinda tool. But people also know that you can easily change keys simply by sticking a capo on a different fret. And granted, if you need to change keys (usually to accomidate a singer's vocal range) at the last minute, and aren't very good at transposing, the capo is okay, but otherwise, just change the chords and play it sans-capo, like the capable musician you are. So the capo can be misused as an easy way to get out of doing something a little more difficult. Which is why I tend to be bothered when I see a capo (unless it is used under the proper conditions). And I get really bothered when I see a "professional" musician using a capo under the wrong conditions.
Then today Matt and I made a stop at Melodee Music and while wandering around I found a book about Guitar Capoing. I picked it up an kinda browsed through it... and it basically confirmed most of what musicians think about capoing. 1- For the most part it is considered cheating, or at least taking the easy way out (kinda how pool players feel about using a bridge ... just use it for the shots you absolutely can't get on your own... but now imagine someone using a bridge for every shot... that could be a little irritating), but it does have some functional uses and can add a lot of versatility to the instrument (by instrument here they are referring to acoustic instruments, it never once mentioned capoing an electric, especially since electrics have softer strings) when used properly... for instance capoing in order to have open strings be different notes, or to assist with alternate tunings. 2- When it comes to tuning the guitar to Eb, I finally understand the term "detuning" which Matt uses a lot. Unfornately, i always thought that that he was saying "D-tuning" as in tuning the instrument to D or down a whole step, and I kept trying to correct him by saying that E to D is a whole step, not a half step so he should be calling it "Eb tuning". But when I saw the term "detuning" in the book I finally realized my mistake. Detuning means tuning the guitar to Eb, and if you want to tune it to D, you call that Drop D. I was glad for the clarification.
Those are my thoughts on the capo and I hope whoever reads this was able to understand my thoughts amongst the insane number of paranthesis.
Comments
Matt laughed when he saw me put a capo on my electric guitar and said that only Keith Richards was allowed to do that. But really, all you're doing is changing the tuning with less work, so it's a useful tool for that. You're right that it's cheating, but it's cheating in the same sense that alternate tunings are cheating. The worst thing about capos on electric guitars is that it makes them look less cool!