The Ramones: I Wanna Be Sedated

More then a T-shirt, this band is a major influence for punk bands of the late 70’s and early 80’s like Black Flag and the Misfits. If you can play the first three on the list, you’ll have this one. It’s one note, played on two strings, for the authentic punk tone, use all down strokes.

Van Morrison: Brown Eyed Girl

This is an intro riff that can garner the attention of the campfire crowd followed by a I IV I V chord progression. This is yet another prime example of both variations on a theme, and double stops. It’s the same riff played first over the G chord, next over the C chord. As stated in the video, there are two finger patterns, practice the two patters on their own, then switching between them, then the full riff.

Eric Clapton: Wonderful Tonight

This intro riff is as much of the hook of the song as the chorus is. Break it down into two chunks. First, a whole step into a half step bend (bending the note you play to sound in tune with the note a fret above), and then back down. Once you have this movement down there are three different riff endings, learn them separately then paste them together for the entire riff. It’s played a couple of times within the song as an both an introduction and interlude. The riff outlines an e minor scale, the relative minor of the G major that the song is in.

The Cranberries: Zombie

Another 90’s riff based solo,this is a prime example of both variations on a theme and double stops. Variations on a theme are creating a short melody line, and creating alternate versions, either through adding a harmony, or changing one or two notes, or taking it from a major to a minor melody, or vice versa. Double stops are playing two strings at a time. The term is taken from string instruments that typically play single note lines, such as violin or cello. You will find a lot of country and bluegrass players using double stops in their solos. Chet Atkins made an art form of this, Redd Volkert as well. To find the solo, jump to 5:45 in the video.

Nirvana: Smells Like Teen Spirit

Again, I suggest breaking this up into two riffs. I put a double bar in the tab to breakup the riffs at bar 5. If your someone that wants a quick goal post, learn the second half first. It’s a simple three-note riff played twice. As for the first half, that same second half riff is played on a different string in bars two and three, with a few surrounding notes. That tone is a Fender (Cobain used Mustangs and Jaguars), into a Electro Harmonix Small Clone pedal (any chorus pedal will do, but Kurt was known for using the Small Clone), into a Marshall head (Any distortion box will do, the Boss DS-1 was a Cobain favorite).

The White Stripes: Seven Nation Army

On the recording, Jack White is tuned to an open A, tuning the D, G, and B strings up a step each (tuning the D to an E, the G to an A, and the B to a C#), and then using a slide for the solo, ending up playing in a position that makes sense for a slide, but not so much for the average person. Here is a blog post on alternate tunings if you are unfamiliar with them.

Alternate tunings can be a way to open up new avenues in your playing, but they can also be a pain to get into and out of if your just going to use them to play one song. I’ve included a version that isn’t an alternate tuning, jump to the 8 minute mark for the main riff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LURDorez77M&t=585s

America: Sister Golden Hair

While we are on the introduction riffs, lets hit this lick real quickly. The original is played with a slide, a tube that is worn on either the pinky or the ring finger, and is made out of one of several materials. The most common materials are metal and glass, with bone and porcelain becoming more commonplace. Metals range from steel to brass, but the original slides were made from glass bottlenecks, here is a detailed guide to guitar slides. Elmore James is widely considered as the artist to bring the slide to the electric guitar. That being said, you don’t need a slide to play the riff, but if your wondering how America is getting that sound, there it is. I highly suggest picking a slide up to play with on occasion, it’s a small investment (usually in the $10usd range), and just like a capo, it will open up a new world of playing. I prefer metal slides, since they don’t break when dropped like glass does, and are relatively cheap and are readily available.

Here is a version demonstrating without a slide, the riff tutorial is at the 9 minute mark.

Here is a version using a slide:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGIaeb6DfJA

 Green Day: Holiday

You can see the Ramones influence in this solo at the end. Grab the first two bars, then take on bar 3. Play the first two bars one more time, this time instead of going to bar 3, you’ll end up playing eighth notes for an entire measure. First on G, then C, then E, outlining a C chord, then step it up another half step from the E to hold out an F, you’ll hear him trilling to sustain out the F for as long as he can.

Red Hot Chilli Peppers: Californication

This one seems long winded at first, but spends the first six bars outlining an f#m⁷ barre chord (am⁷ fingering on the 9^th fret). Once you have that down, take on the next 4 bars, they are transitioning from the 9^th fret position up into the 12^th. Once your in the 12^th position for the last 6 measures, your mostly bouncing between strings on the 12^th and 14^th frets. To nail John Frusciante’s tone, grab a compressor pedal. Jump to the 2:30 point in the video to get right into it.

Commodores / Faith No More: Easy

This song is originally by the Commodores, and was reintroduced to hard rock fans in the 90’s by Faith No More, who played the guitar solo of the original version note for note. This last one on the list is great for fans of bends and slides. Again, the first two measures are revisited again in the solo. So once, you have that phrase down, you’re halfway to knowing the solo. Learning the bend techniques used in this solo will help to learn BB King’s style down the road.

If you want even more tips on how to play these solos, or improvise like the players who made them, then our blog has plenty of ways to help out. Lead guitar involves having knowledge of the notes on the fretboard, how scales and chords work, and building dexterity and picking technique that allows you to play with accuracy. A few topics we recommend for now include parker guitar models, adore you chords, and the musical key a major.

The post 10 Easy Guitar Solos Beginners Can Master Within One Week appeared first on Uberchord App.

That being said, I’m starting in the last place beginner guitarists want to find themselves, in the middle of music theory class. Quick and painless, chord nomenclature, going through a scale, major chords are written with a major roman numeral, minor with lower case.

7th’s are written with a superscript 7 written on the right of the numeral, diminished chords with a superscript theta to the right of the numeral (ø).

So, without going into too much detail about the why, a major scale (I’ll use the keys of G and C as my samples) in chords are written as such:

If you would like a more in depth look at the theory behind scales and chord building, Uberchord has previously written a full Beginner’s music theory 101 courses here:

Beginner’s Guide To Music Theory – Part 1: The Major Scale Guitar
Beginner’s Guide to Music Theory – Part 2: Music Intervals
Beginner’s Guide to Music Theory – Part 3: Chords
Beginner’s Guide to Music Theory – Part 4: The Circle of Fifths
Beginner’s Guide to Music Theory – Part 5: Music Modes
Beginner’s Guide to Music Theory – Part 6: Chord Inversions
Beginner’s Guide to Music Theory – Part 7: Chord Progressions vol. 1
Beginner’s Guide To Music Theory – Part 8: Chord Progressions Vol. 2
Beginner’s Guide To Music Theory – Part 9: Chord Progressions in Minor Keys

I’ll be referring to information in these articles throughout this article. I encourage all players to start learning theory, it’s a pathway to understanding and breaking down what and how your favorite players are doing. You’ll notice that there are two chords that are used in each of the progressions below, the I, also known as the tonic, and the V, known as the dominant. The tonic is the tonal center of the scale, it defines the key of the song. The dominant contains the tonal implication of the key as well, by containing two notes that are a tonne (one a ½ step, one a whole) lower than the two notes of the tonic, and a single note that is shared in the tonic chord. For example, let’s use the key of C:

I: C E G

V: G B D

You’ll note the G from the I chord is also in the V chord. Walking the B up to a half step you’ll find yourself at a C (the root of the tonic and the key), and walking the D up a whole step you’ll find yourself the E, completing the I chord. The movement of notes that imply a tonal center, or key, is referred to as a cadence.

Chord Progression 1

So, the first progression to learn is a I – iV – V7 (the 7th is optional on this one). V7 to I is a popular cadence or a harmonic pattern that creates a sense of resolution. Basic chord building states the use of every other tone in a scale to build your chord. The most basic chord is a triad, or three tone chord. Built from the root, or the name the chord is derived from, you then pick every note in a scale. So if you are looking at playing a G triad in the key of G. A scale consisting of the following tones:

You build the triad using the three tones in bold.Let’s get to some examples of the progression in use:

Play this in C, which come to C – F – G.

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Richie Valens “La Bamba”

The Beatles “Twist and Shout”

Playing in different keys, with this progression, you’ll find:

The Troggs “Wild Thing”

The Ting Tings “That’s not my Name”

Chord Progression 2

The I – IV – V progression is a break down of the 12 bar blues, which has a few of variations, I’ve included a popular one below, along with an example in the key of E, G and C:

So using the same chords as the first progression in a slightly different pattern.

Examples of the range of music that uses the 12 bar blues?

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Prince – “Delirious”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WI6FJb9cvgY

Travis Tritt – “Leave My Girl Alone”

Wilson Pickett – “Mustang Sally”

Led Zeppelin – “Rock and Roll”

Chord Progression 3

Adding a vi to the I – IV – V open up a whole new world of variations. Wikipedia has a ever growing list posted.

The vi and I share common tones (the 3rd and 5th of the VI chord are the 1st and 3rd of the I chord), and can be used almost interchangeably due to sounding close to alike. Just to keep score, here are examples of I – vi – IV – V in G, C, and E:

As far as those common tones….

Chord Progression 4

Sticking in the common tones theme, lets swap the IV with a ii, again chords that share 2 common tones.

I – vi – ii – V is pretty popular, here is a short list of songs:

John Mayer “Back to You”

Michael Jackson “You are Not Alone”

The Muppets “Rainbow Connection”

Chord Progression 5

Again, I’m listing these progressions in their popularity of use, trying to maximize a repertoire, while minimizing the amount of memorization having to be done. So for the last progression of the article, we’ll go with I – V – vi – iii – IV.

This is a progression first popularized by Johann Pachelbel with his “Cannon in D”:

You’ll recognize it in songs like:

The Red Hot Chili Peppers “Under the Bridge”

Katy Perry “Fire Work”

Green Day “Basketcase”

If you are at all interested in the how and why these progressions are so commonly used, I really do encourage you to read through Uberchords music theory articles. If you would like an extensive list of common chord progressions Hook Theory has put one together in order of simple to complex. There is also a great beginner’s guide on the Better Songs blog about how to create your own progressions that you could check out. 

The best way to learn about chord progressions though is to study songs! Our free blog covers lots of songs and theory topics like the mother we share guitar chords, dont worry you will chords, and how to learn guitar by ear. Once you start integrating some of these principles of music, you’ll be using some progressions like the ones above in no time at all.

The post 5 Most Popular And Common Guitar Chord Progressions For Song Writers appeared first on Uberchord App.

This article is divided into two parts. I’ll be starting on the G major due to the popularity of songs written in the key of G. Here is how you play these three chords:

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G Major Chord

The key of G, with only one accidental (a sharp) is relatively easy to play for both piano and strings, and it’s an easy key to sing in. It’s connected to gentle emotions like contentment, gratitude, and peace. Learn more about the G Major Chord here.

C Major Chord

Why does the C Major chord have the honour of being the first chord most guitarists learn, despite it’s being the third letter in the alphabet and its root the third of the seven basic musical notes?

The short answer: the piano.

Check out Why Does the Guitar Chord Alphabet Begin With “C?”

D Major Chord

It’s the third most popular key used in all songs on Spotify, but we’re willing to bet that if you took out all the doom, the gloom, and the my-baby-done-left-me blues, you’d probably find that most popular songs are played in the key of D. Find out more about our favourite chord here.

All three chords will have your fingers adjusting to a good amount of new positions, finding many people new to the instrument often struggle with fingerings as much as they struggle with building calluses. Starting with these chords lays the groundwork to playing lots of popular songs.

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Johnny Cash – Ring Of Fire
Chords used: G / C / D

Bob Dylan – Knocking On Heaven’s Door
Chords used: G / C / D

Eric Clapton – Wonderful Tonight
Chords used: G / D / C

John Denver: Leaving On A Jet Plane
Chords used: G / C / D

Lynyrd Skynyrd – Sweet Home Alabama
Chords used: G / C / D

The next two chords are: E / A

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E Major Chord

Throughout the history of serious classical music, E Major has been a fairly uncommon key. When you do find it, it’s often as a drama-heightening switch from another key like D minor or E Minor. Bruckner, Haydn, Rachmaninioff, Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Mendelsohn and Vivaldi each produced one-off works in E.

The rarity of its occurrence in classical pieces may be due to its difficulty for wind instruments. E Major is a little easier for stringed instruments, but by far the instrument that E Major loves best is the guitar. Learn everything about the E major chord here.

A Major Chord

In popular music you naturally find it among bands with an optimist twist but also, ironically, with bluesier performers like Eric Clapton and Adele (its slightly earthy character almost rivals the key of E).

The key of A, with only three accidentals— sharps— is fairly easy to play on the guitar, and it’s an easy key to sing in. emotional connections.

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Billy Ray Cyrus – Achy Breaky Heart
Chords used: A & E

The Beatles – Love Me Do
Chords used: A & D

U2 & BB King – When Love Comes To Town
Chords used: E & A

Robin Thicke – Blurred Lines
Chords used: G & D

Bob Marley – Three Little Birds
Chords used: A, E & D

With these 5 chords and 10 videos, you should be able to spend a good portion of time learning and playing songs, rather than feeling stuck just learning techniques. Seek out songs that have one or two chords that you don’t know yet, and learn them as you learn the song. This is one of the most enjoyable ways to learn the guitar.

Once you’ve learned these essential chords, you’ll be ready to tackle more advanced concepts we teach throughout this site! Uberchord’s free blog has an assortment of lessons on music theory, chord shapes, scale patterns, and various gear topics amongst others. We recommend you start with peter frampton chords, summer of 69 guitar chords, and these guitar strumming tips.

The post 10 Essential Guitar Chords for Beginners With Songs – Part 1 appeared first on Uberchord App.

• You can learn what different amplifiers and stomp boxes sound like without having to spend years road tripping to every guitar shop in the state.

• Have a favourite guitarist, would love to get their sound, just don’t have the budget?
  Here you can find a database of guitarists rigs through the years.
  For under $10, Garage Band comes with dozens of amp and stomp box simulators that to play with. You can pop between a few guitarists rigs in minutes for less than the price of a guitar cable.

• You can replace the metronome, or “click track”, with a drumbeat. Try your hand playing against an offbeat reggae feel. Get a simple backbeat going, and you’ll find finger exercises far more enjoyable.

• You can record yourself playing rhythm parts, and spend sometime working out leads over it without having to wait on other peoples schedule to have someone to jam with.

• Learning the vernacular behind the guitar is like learning a new language, working in a DAW is the easiest way to immerse yourself amongst native speakers. So you’ll learn the language quicker.

• Delve into the world of MIDI instruments, everything from piano to violins at the click of a button.

Garage Band is the go to solution for the low budget mobile world in the Mac platform, it’s big brother, Logic Pro -by the way, great beginner’s tutorial here – takes on the same layout as Garage Band, and greatly expands the programs capabilities to allow for far larger amounts of tracks,  and effects usage.

Garage Band (below)

Logic Pro (below)

Pro Tools has been the industry standard recording software since the 1990’s, it’s pricier than the Mac made applications, it also consumes a much larger amount of CPU processing power. The upside of the software is an unparalleled editing capability, and audio manipulation. If you want to bring a project into a professional studio, you’ll just have to bring a hard drive filled with  your files from home into the studio, and you’ll have seamless integration.

Adobe Audition is seeing rising usage amongst Adobe cloud users, seeing as it’s part of the creative suite that Photoshop and Illustrator come in.

Ableton Live thrives on its looping capabilities, and it’s ease of incorporation to physical hardware, great for a guitarist looking to incorporate electronic elements into their live performances.

A few other popular DAWs on the market are Audacity, Nuendo, Digital Performer, Mixbus, and Cubase.

DAWs are much like guitars, in that marketing departments will have you believe in vast differences between them. This article will be an introduction to the similarities of the software.  Lets start with how to hook up your instrument to a computer. The audio interface (image below) is where you can plug-in your instruments, which will have some, if not all of the following aspects to it:

1. Analog to Digital Converters /Digital to Analog Converters (internal to the device, essentially a dedicated computer mother board)
2. Preamps
3. Analog I/O:Inputs (Mic, Instrument, Line),  Outputs (Balanced, Unbalanced)
4. Digital I/O: Inputs (ADAT, AES, SPDIF)/Outputs(ADAT, AES, SPDIF, USB, Firewire, Lighting, Thunderbolt)
5. MIDI I/O: Input/Output/Thru

1 – Analog to Digital Converters/Digital to Analog Converters

The interface is there to give you the ability to take the sine wave (analog) that is produced by any instrument, i.e., your vocal chords, or the string of a guitar, and translate it to the binary code (digital) that a computer understands so it can translate it back into the sine waves that we understand and play it back for you. This is the sole function of the Analog to Digital Converters and Digital to Analog Converters, most often refereed to as the AD and DA converters, .

2 – Preamps

The preamps essentially function the same as a gain knob on a guitar amplifier, allowing the user to dictate the volume of an instrument coming into the computer.

3 – Analog I/O

How to connect your instrument(s), the biggest sell point for an audio interface is how many of these come on each unit. Basically, find the unit that has the number you need, it’s very much a get what you pay for world. For most people, a 2 input, 2 output interface is all that is needed. Without going into too much detail, Balanced/Unblanced, Mic/Line, are easiest understood as the difference between a three pronged, grounded power outlet, and a two prong unpowered outlet.

4 – Digital I/O

In it’s most basic form, this is a way for digital devices to talk to each other without having to convert back into analog first. This will be how your computer and audio interface talk to each other.

5 – MIDI I/O

MIDI stands for musical instrument, digital interface. This is a computer code invented in the 1980’s, that allows for large amounts of information to be sent to a computer for it to decipher and playback into synthesized audio. MIDI is mostly used with keyboards, but there are guitar and bass MIDI pickups, as well as audio to MIDI interfaces available on the market. MIDI information can be carried through a USB cable or through a proprietary 5pin cable. Picking up a MIDI pickup for your guitar will allow you to trigger synth sounds like a keyboardist can. Want a banjo or a cello for a bit? Here’s how. The technology has never been terrific in the guitar to MIDI world, but it can be fun to play around with for a little while.

Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) Controls

Now that you have a basic understanding of how to get your instrument talking to your computer, lets take a look at the DAW. DAWs will have controls for:

• Volume  – allowing you to turn tracks up and down compared to other tracks in the DAW
• Pan – allowing you to place each instrument in a specific location on your speaker system
• Inserts – a section of each track where effects, called plugins in the software world, can be placed on an audio track
• Sends  – for more advanced usages of the software that I will touch upon in a later article
• Input/Output Selection – how to route your interface in and out of the software
• Editsection – A window allowing for word processing like treatment of your audio. Where the ability to copy and paste, deletion of mistakes, movement of off beat notes, and the ability to program in moves in volumes, panning, and effects parameters (referred to as automation) are available to the user.

Garage Band Main Window (below)

Logic Pro Mix Window (below)

Logic Pro Edit Window (below)

Pro Tools Mix Window (below)

Pro Tools Edit Window (below)

Live’s “session” view,  a bit different from the mix window of the other DAWs, but the same principle elements are still present:

Live’s “arrangement view”, recalling the other DAWs edit window, with it’s own set twist on the deisgn.

DAWs allow several tracks of audio to be bounced down, or rendered, to a stereo file that can be played on the standard music player of your choice. So you can create a full demo for yourself with a fairly minimal software purchase, assuming you already own a computer or tablet.

The great thing about these programs is the number of online tutorials. Here are a few videos to help you get started:

An introduction to Pro Tools:

An introduction to Ableton Live:

An introduction to Logic Pro:

An introduction to Garage Band:

An introduction to Nuendo:

An introduction to Cubase:

The reality is that these pieces of software are can seem intimidating at first glance, but are only limited by your creativity. They are all very user friendly, and with just a couple of hours use, can become a powerful tool that works as easily as your favourite web browser, and can increase the fun of learning your new instrument.

The post A Guitar Beginner’s Guide To Recording In DAWs: Ableton, Garage Band & More appeared first on Uberchord App.

With string instruments, you’re asking your fingers to stretch, twist, and grip these tension tuned rods against a piece of timber. Before we start with the finger exercises below, I recommend you to watch this video on hand and finger stretching which will help you release muscle tension, relax your fingers and hand muscles and enable you to play longer without any pain or injuries.

The article below is essentially my lesson plan for a full on fitness class for your fingers. Start incorporating these into a daily warm up for yourself, find the movements that give you the most trouble, and start out every playing session with a minute or so of practicing the exercise of your choice. These are exercises that, after 25 years of playing, I still find incredibly useful to warm up with.

Spending a half hour a day for just a few days with these exercises, I find that my speed and articulation have greatly improved.

This is a series of exercises designed to warm up both your fingering, and alternate picking. The exercises are all built upon one concept, becoming more difficult as you progress. I suggest using a metronome: if you are on your laptop, you can use the Google’s in build metronome or you can download the Uberchord App (click for free download) which also has a proper metronome along with some other chord exercises. Best advice is to start off at around
65 BPM and increase in increments of 5 BPM as you feel like your timing and form are solid at the current tempo. Playing with a metronome is a thing most guitarists struggle with. It’s a struggle to keep up when the tempo is too fast, and harder to keep pace and not run ahead when the tempo is too slow. A few pointers before we begin:

1. These exercises are designed to create muscle memory, and therefore are pretty dry, take them in shorter stints, maybe 3-5min a day.

2. Use your fingertips, your fingers should be curled in a cupped position, not laying flat against the fingerboard.

3. Don’t worry about perfect form early on, the most important thing is to teach your fingers how to move on your instrument, minimising fret buzz, keeping your pick from hitting only the string that your fingers are on, and muting other strings with your fingertips will become easier over time.

Exercise 1

Start with the high E, dedicating a finger per fret, playing the notes chromatically, i.e. first finger plays the first fret, second finger on the second fret, and so forth. Once you get up to your pinky, play the note twice, and reverse the order back downward. Once you’ve played back down to the first fret, slide your first finger up to the second fret and play the second through fifth frets. This should be repeated through to the top of the neck. Play a note with each beat of the metronome, pick downward with each beat as in figure 1a:

This should be repeated for each individual string. Once you are fairly comfortable with the tempo, add alternate picking, playing a second note with an upstroke on the “and” of each beat, as in figure 1b:

Once you’ve made your way through all six strings, try one more variation. Only play the off beats, all upstrokes. This is deceptively tougher, so be patient with getting this one right. I suggest just counting out at least 8 bars with your metronome going before playing your first note to make sure your in time.:

Exercise 2

The second variation of this exercise is to stay in a position, (in this case we play the first position, frets 1-4), while playing chromatically through all six strings, in ascending order only then moving on to the next position (we’ll move to the second position in the example, frets 2-5).

This is a good exercise to test your speed. Play through to the 7th position (playing frets 7-10), and come back to the first position. Up the tempo by 5 BPM and repeat.

Exercise 3

Start with the same concept as in exercise 2. This time, change positions while changing strings, moving one fret higher as you go. When you get to the high E, instead of going back to the Low E (as in exercise 2) move to the B string, then to the G, then to the D, A and E:

Exercise 4 (a)

Go back to exercise 2. This time, invert your order, starting with your pinky on the forth fret of the low E string, work your way down to the first fret playing it with your pointer finger. As in exercise 2, stay in a position, playing through all six strings before moving on to the next position.

Exercise 4 (b)

Another variation is to combine exercise 3’s walking progression, and apply the inverse movement of exercise 4a, changing position as you change strings.

Exercise 5

The final exercise breaks from the chromatic lines of exercises 1-4, by playing each position in the order of pointer, ring, middle, pinky (1/3/2/4). Applying the same logic as the first few exercises where each finger is dedicated to the fret immediately following the finger before it. 5a will be a variation of exercise 2, and 5b, a variant of exercise 3:

5 (a)

5 (b)

When you’ve finished practicing these exercises, we’ve got even more lessons for you to digest. Here at Uberchord we’re regularly updating our blog with articles chock full of tips and tricks to help players of all abilities. Some of these lessons include what is the difference between jamup and jamup pro, sweet dreams are made of this guitar chords, and happy birthday guitar. 

The post 5 Amazing Finger Exercises For Beginners To Improve Your Guitar Playing appeared first on Uberchord App.

Have you ever learned how to play your favourite song, only to struggle to with the singing the full range of notes? Wishing you could just move the song up a step or two, so that low note would not be out of reach, or you could sing that high note down an octave.

This is such a common problem for string players, that sometime in the mid 1700’s,  players created a brass tool, called a Capo to solve it, the name is derived from the Italian words capo testo meaning head fret.

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What is a Capo?

A Capo can best be described as a movable guitar nut. The nut is the strip of material that is in between the neck and the headstock.  It keeps the strings aligned with the bridge. Nuts are made out of many different materials, including; plastic, bone, metals, graphite, and other carbon composites.

The idea behind a capo is to allow you to play standard open chord voicings and change the key to allow a vocalist to match pitch with minimal effort.  For example, placing the capo in the first fret (below), while playing an open G chord voicing results in an A flat, a key that would be difficult to play in without the capo.

How to use a Capo on Guitar?

Capo placement within the fret will depend on the intonation of the guitar and the grip of the capo. The ideal position is where there is minimum string buzz with the most accurate tuning.

This is different for every guitar.

The variations in placement are due to scale (distance from where the nut meets the fretboard, and the string meets the saddle) and height of the action (distance of the string from the fretboard), as well as the width of the fretboard.

A capo will enable elementary players to have the complete range of keys at their disposal. More experienced players may also use capos for ease of key transition.

Different kinds of Guitar Capos?

There are several basic capo designs:

• Cloth and Toggle capos have a toggle of wood, hard rubber, or metal that lays against the fretboard, while a strap of nylon cloth wraps around the back of the neck and connects to the top and bottom of the toggle.
• Spring Loaded capos, also referred to as quick-change capos, are currently the most popular design due to their ability to be easily added or removed with one hand.  The capos have a spring loaded hinged

  

  clamp.  A few dollars more than the Cloth and Toggle designs, they can attach to your headstock for easy accessibility during a gig.

  The only drawback of this design is the inability to adjust the tension of the spring. This may create issues with seating the capo without bending a few of the strings out of tune, or creating fret buzz with higher action and thicker necked guitars. You can clamp the capo on from either the top, or bottom of the neck, it’s personal preference. I tend to clamp from the top, moving the spring mechanism out of the way of my fretting hand.

• 

  C clamp capos remove the spring from the quick change and add a thumbscrew to the hinged clamp. These designs take longer to set in place, but the ability to adjust the tension for the individual guitar can minimise unwanted fret buzz and keeps the strings from being bent out of tune.

• Roller, or Glider capo – A newer design to on the market.  A round toggle lies across the fretboard with a spring on the top and bottom of the toggle that connects to a rubber cylinder that sits on the back of the neck. This capo is designed to sit behind the nut when not in use and is slid to the desired fret when needed.

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How to buy a capo?

The majority of capos range in price from $5-$20 USD, with boutique offerings made from highly polished metal and wood, with interchangeable rubber materials varying in firmness that rest on the fretboard usually selling in the $50 USD range.

Personal recommendations for capo purchases will be in a later article, but here are couple of points someone should look for when purchasing a capo.

1. The quality of the material that touches the fret board – Most modern capos use some type of rubber, which will naturally wear over time. Cheaper capos will use a cheaper rubber that will become brittle over a shorter amount of time than their more expensive counterparts, and will have a shorter usable life span, causing eventual string buzz, and poor intonation. Also be weary of any sharp edges.

2. Smoothness of the Capo – Poor machining of the metal parts of a capo can result in scratching or gouging the neck of the guitar when putting the capo into place, simply run your fingers over a capo to make sure there are not unusual bumps or burs in the unit you purchase.  Any type of spring loaded mechanism will need to be a good quality, since that too, will wear over time, leading to more string buzzing and/or deadening string issues.

A few songs that use capos:

“Hotel California” The Eagles | Capo 7

“Wonderwall” Oasis | Capo 2

“I’m Yours,” Jason Mraz| Capo 2

“Your Body Is a Wonderland,” John Mayer| Capo 3

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