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How Does A Capo Help You Write Songs?

By Mike Hayes | June 24, 2010

Have you ever been playing your guitar and come across a cool
chord or riff but didn’t how to build on that idea? Have you ever
though of writing your own songs but can never seem to get your
guitar playing to blend with your vocals? Well you are not on
your own, 85% of singer/songwriters all feel the same way.

I’m sure you have done this, you get a great idea for a song you
sing it all day and it sounds fine, in fact it sounds more than
fine it sounds pretty damn good, you sing it to a friend and they
like it; then you try to play some chords on the guitar to
accompany your melody and the whole thing falls apart … your
vocals sound like a ‘frog in a bag’ and your guitar playing is
just awful, time to give up and sell that guitar? Heck no, time
to learn what a capo can do for you!

How a capo can help your songwriting

The first thing to remember is that as a songwriter you are
primarily a ’storyteller’ and the guitar’s role is that of an
accompaniment a way of musically ‘framing’ your story.

That being said it’s vitally important to have your guitar
playing in the correct key to suit your voice, remember the
guitar is providing support it’s the secondary consideration your
’story’ is the primary consideration.

Although the key of G is a popular key for singer/songwriters to
play and sing in, it does not suit everyone so I’m going to
explain how to use the basic easy chord shapes from the key of G
and move them to other keys (pitch levels) using a capo to
accommodate your voice.

Chords in the key of G:

G – Am – Bm – C – D – Em- F#o – G

The most commonly used chords are G – C – D, these are your basic
three chord song shapes.

Four chord songs usually add the Em:

G – Em – C – D

or the Bm:

G – Bm – C – D

Here’s a simple chart to help you understand what happens when
you use a capo.

The first number is the fret the capo is placed behind; the next
letter indicates the chord shape you are playing and the last
letter indicates the pitch (concert pitch) you are producing from
your guitar when you are using the capo on that particular fret.

1: G = Ab
2: G = A
3: G = Bb
4: G = B
5: G = C
6: G = C#

1: C = Db
2: C = D
3: C = Eb
4: C = E
5: C = F
6: C = F#

1: D = Eb
2: D = E
3: D = F
4: D = F#
5: D = G
6: D = G#

See how many chords you already know how to play and we have only
used three easy-to-play chord shapes from the key of G, the trick
is to move the capo around the fretboard until you find a
particular area on the fingerboard where it’s comfortable to sing
your songs and accompany yourself on the guitar.

Topics: Capo, Guitar Chords, Guitar Tips | No Comments »

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