How to Use a Capo on Guitar A capo is a device that clamps down across the guitar's fingerboard at a particular fret. Capos shorten the length of all the strings at the same time, creating, in effect, a new nut. All the “open” strings now play in higher pitches than they do without the capo. How much higher? A half step for each fret. If you place the capo at the third fret, for example, the open E strings become Gs (three half steps higher in pitch than E). All the strings become correspondingly higher in pitch as well — B becomes D; G becomes Bb; D becomes F; and A becomes C. You can’t play anything below the capo — only above it on the neck. Sometimes, engaging or disengaging a capo causes the strings to go out of tune. Remember to check your tuning and make any necessary adjustments whenever you attach or remove the capo. Using a capo to instantly change the key of a song Say that you know how to play “Farmer in the Dell” in the key of C and only in the key of C....
Barre Chord Numbering Putting it All Together Click here to download a PDF file of Intro to Barre Chord Theory. For people applying chord theory and chord numbering on the piano/keyboard, it is easy to visualize how the chords work together. For the guitarist, it is not that simple. Many musicians have moved to the Nashville Number System for chording songs, and instead of writing the progression G, C, D, C, they might write 1, 4, 5, 4 with the thought that they may transpose from one key to any key. This is one of the benefit of understanding chord theory: making transposing easier. Barre chords enable the guitarist to visualize and transpose with ease. If we are in the key of F, we can play all our major and minor chords with these barre chords (remember I, IV and V are major; ii, iii, and vi are minor): Some important things to observe here include: The I, ii, and iii chords are all whole steps apart. We use the E shape barre chord for them, changing to the Em ...
Key Note Signatures Key note signatures refer to the number of sharps or flats in any key. For pianists and other musicians who largely rely on sheet music to play their instruments, it is common to refer to “The Circle of Fifths” to determine key note signatures. However, this can be cumbersome. And many guitarists don’t even refer to keys by their signature. Looking at the major scales one can easily determine the key note signatures by counting the numbers of flats or sharps in the scale. For instance, the key of C has no sharps or flats. A Major Scale Chart 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Key of C C D E F G A B C Key of G G A B C D E F# G Key of D D E F# G A B C# D Key of A A B C# D E F# G# A Key of E E F# G# A B C# D# E Key of F F G A B♭ C D E F The key of G = 1 # (one sharp) The key of D = 2 # The key of A = 3 # The key of F = 1 ♭ (one flat) etc. One Response to Key Note Signatures Andrew Buchanan on April 25, 2010 at 10:33 am Dear David, What a w...
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