How to use a capo – Transpose a song

What is a capo?

‘A capo (short for capotasto, Italian for “head of fretboard”) is a device used on the neck of a stringed (typically fretted) instrument to shorten the playable length of the strings, hence raising the pitch. It is frequently used on guitars, mandolins, and banjos. G.B. Doni first used the term in his Annotazioni of 1640, though capo use likely began earlier in the 17th-century.’ – WIKiPEDIA

Using a Capo can be quite a difficult thing to get to grips with.

A lot of songs on the internet will state whether a capo is used a few don’t.

But besides playing a song in the way it was intended we can us a Capo for other reasons.

transposing a song to our voice without having to change chord shapes or when trying to avoid too many barre chords.

Why avoid barre chords?

The first obvious reason is that when we start playing guitar the barre chord is a deal breaker.

It’s damn hard for new guitarists to move freely to a barre chord and sometimes dammit you just want to play that song!

The other is that when finger picking we can use open chords to play more elaborately, also the preasure needed to apply barre chords while picking can be very wearing on the fingers and hand.

Below are some tables showing the transposed open chords when the capo is applied to each fret.

The ‘Black‘ letters indicate the Original Chord, mainly Open Chords apart from the ‘F‘ and ‘Bm‘ which can be Barre Chords.

The ‘Red‘ letters indicate the new chord.

I’ve used the most common chord shapes to keep things simple.

The way to use these tables is to write out your chords on a peice of paper and then look for the best solution.

Find the chords you have in the red row and then move the capo to that fret. Using the chord shapes form the black row will now give you the transposed version.

 Capo 1st Fret

STRUMPATTERN
STRUMPATTERN
1(2)34+1+234+
G
D

Capo 2nd Fret

STRUMPATTERN
STRUMPATTERN
1(2)34+1+234+
G
D
1+234+1+234+
CD
CD

Capo 3rd Fret

12341234
12341234
DownDownDownDownDownDownDownDown
AD
ADAD
AD
ADADADAD

Capo 4th Fret

STRUMPATTERN
STRUMPATTERN
12+34+12+(3)+4+
G
Cadd9
EmD
CDG

Capo 5th Fret

FunctionValueValueMidi Number
FunctionValueValueMidi Number
Wah Pedal1
Volume Pedal7
Amp Gain0-12712
Amp Treble0-12713
Amp Mid0-12714
Amp Bass0-12715
Amp Vol0-12716
Presence0-12717
Reverb Mix0-127*218
Amp Type0-32with default cabinet *319
FX Type0-15with defaults *120
FX Off/On0/12721
Reverb Send Off/On0/12722
Cabinet Type0-15*523
Reverb Type0-8*424
Noise Gate Level0-1525
Drive Off/On0/12726
Wah off/Position0/1-12727
pre Effect Type0-2*644
pre Effect Parameter 1*645
pre Effect Parameter 2*646
pre Effect Parameter 3*647
pre Effect Parameter 4*648
Delay Type0-2*749
Delay Time high0-117*850
Delay Time low0-127*851
Delay Spread0-12752
Delay Feedback0-12753
Delay Mix0-127*954
post FX Mode0-6*1055
post FX parameter 11*1056
post FX parameter 22*1057
post FX parameter 33*1058
post FX Mix0-127*1159
Assign FX control0-15*160
Amp Type without cabinet change0-32*361
TAPValue>6364
Request ControlsValue = 8080
Set Position0-15Set Character 32-12781
Tuner Bypass Volume0-12782
Tuner Center Frequency 25-5583
Configuration0-4=S1,S2,S3,L1,L284
Live EQ Treble0-12785
Live EQ Mid0-12786
Live EQ Bass0-12787
Digital out(44.1/48/96/ext; bit 2:pro)88
Preset0-124127=TunerProgram Change

Capo 6th Fret

BANKABCDE
BANKABCDE
1Street w/o Name1SRV2Every Breath U T3Sultans o’Swing4ZZ’s Lovin’5
2Highway To Hell6Ain’t Talkin b.7Crazy Diamond8Under The Bridge9Wring That Neck10
3You Oughta Know11Little Head12General Lee13Wheatherman14Larry w/o Lee15
4Straight Rhythm16Straight Crunch17Straight Drive18Still Got Blues19Money For Nothin’20
5Ultimate Rhythm21Big Venue22Ambience Crunch23Long Clean Delay24Make Me Dizzy25
6Dry Rhythm26Eddie’s Tapping27Crunchy Chorus28Heaven’s Ballad29Savage Ultra30
7Blue Rhythm31Blue Lead32Voxy Drive33Clean Comping34Robben’s Blues35
8Dry Funk36Full Blown Solo37Quack38Less Is More39Edge ’n Bite40
9Nu Bad Rhythm41MAKE MY D(el)AY42Doubled Solo43Is This Love?44Automatic Solo45
10Ambience Combo46Canyon Rock47Run To You48Bathroom Champ49Twins?50
11Solo Force 151Rhythm Force52FX me!53A-Wah Attack54Innocent Clean55
12Solo Force 256Solo Force 357Richie’s Dream58Paganini Solo59Dizzy Lizzy60
13Timebomb!61Uni Rhythm62Clean & Loud63Clean & Broad64Saga Solo65
14Tune 2 D66Strat Solo67L.A. Clean68Dist. Rhythm69Dist. Solo70
15Rhythm Crunch71Blues Lead72Tele Twang73Tele Jazzy74Ch+Del Lead75
16Recti-Rhythm 176Recti-Rhythm 277Recti-Solo Bal.78Dynamite Crunch79Heavy Funk80
17Spacy Clean812H Tap Clean82Clean Accomp.83Bluesy Tremolo84Dry Riff Clean85
18Balladeer86Breakin Blues87Westm. Abbey Rock88Rectified Chorus89SLO Lead Chorus90
19Raw Crunch912x12 Crunch92V-heaven93Flying Crunch94Drive 2 Space95
20Slow Motion96Whale Watching97Wah ’ts dat98Wet Dreams99Stratosphere100
21Fractal Blubber101Driving Duck102Parcival’s Virus103Fat On Stage104Watch The DJ105
22Next To U106Virus Fat107Didgeridoo108Sonar109303 Flubber 135b110
23Delay Line111Centrifugal Power112Parcivals Drum 1113Parcivals Drum 2114Bad BD 2115
24Blubbb116BD Fat 1117BD Fat 2118Bad BD 1119Percussion Tube120
25Steam Industry121Soft Shaker Perc.122Percussion Delay123C64 Percussion124Percussion Spin125

Capo 7th Fret

BANKA
BANKA
1Street w/o Name
2Highway To Hell
3You Oughta Know
4Straight Rhythm
5Ultimate Rhythm
6Dry Rhythm
7Blue Rhythm
8Dry Funk
9Nu Bad Rhythm
10Ambience Combo
11Solo Force 1
12Solo Force 2
13Timebomb!
14Tune 2 D
15Rhythm Crunch
16Recti-Rhythm 1
17Spacy Clean
18Balladeer
19Raw Crunch
20Slow Motion
21Fractal Blubber
22Next To U
23Delay Line
24Blubbb
25Steam Industry

Capo 8th Fret

BANKB
BANKB
1SRV
2Ain’t Talkin b.
3Little Head
4Straight Crunch
5Big Venue
6Eddie’s Tapping
7Blue Lead
8Full Blown Solo
9MAKE MY D(el)AY
10Canyon Rock
11Rhythm Force
12Solo Force 3
13Uni Rhythm
14Strat Solo
15Blues Lead
16Recti-Rhythm 2
172H Tap Clean
18Breakin Blues
192x12 Crunch
20Whale Watching
21Driving Duck
22Virus Fat
23Centrifugal Power
24BD Fat 1
25Soft Shaker Perc.

Capo 9th Fret

BANKC
BANKC
1Every Breath U T
2Crazy Diamond
3General Lee
4Straight Drive
5Ambience Crunch
6Crunchy Chorus
7Voxy Drive
8Quack
9Doubled Solo
10Run To You
11FX me!
12Richie’s Dream
13Clean & Loud
14L.A. Clean
15Tele Twang
16Recti-Solo Bal.
17Clean Accomp.
18Westm. Abbey Rock
19V-heaven
20Wah ’ts dat
21Parcival’s Virus
22Didgeridoo
23Parcivals Drum 1
24BD Fat 2
25Percussion Delay

Note:

These charts show only the basic chords so as to avoid confusion.

Only one 7th chord is used and no sus chords have been used.

If you find that your chord progression has any of these follow the chart below to replace or add.

[kml_flashembed publishmethod=”static” fversion=”8.0.0″ movie=”http://www.untidymusic.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/clockfacetranspose_full.swf” width=”600″ height=”500″ targetclass=”flashmovie”]

Get Adobe Flash player

[/kml_flashembed]

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.