The ShadowMusic Web Community

artyman wrote:I still have my 500 chord shapes as well, though the Bert Weedon tome has long since disappeared, an original is probably a collectors item now!

Never used a capo for strumming, never been a finger picker. Can't see anything wrong though if it helps with the sound, or helps older fingers function, why not. Alfred Black's modern chord method was my first book. I still have my Play in a day original. I also met Bert once.
I was outside the venue when his car pulled up next to mine. I asked him if he would kindly autograph
some records for me and he said "Certainly, come inside with me and I will do it backstage. My wife and I followed him
backstage he signed the records, we came out we were treated like royalty, table reserved and waited on, as they mistakenly thought
we were with Bert. A great memory a lovely man and on top of that, he sent me a tape of a record I had lost and been unable to replace.

The capo, as far as I am concerned, is not just a tool for letting an unskilled guitarist play in an "in-between" key.

As others have said, using a capo allows all sorts of voicings which are not available without it. For instance, playing in the key of E by (effectively) playing in the key of C with a capo at the fourth fret sounds completely different from playing root chords in the 0 / 1 position.

In my opinion, the keys which benefit most from use of a capo are those which can be achieved by playing root D chords, because that key and position, whilst sounding very naturally bright, is the most difficult to shift bodily up and down the fretboard. A good example would be using D-shapes (including open G and open A shapes) with a capo on the third fret. It sounds much more compelling and pushy than playing in F down around the first fret with every string fretted.

Mike Berry has introduced That'll Be the Day at concerts by demonstrating to the audience how Buddy Holly used a capo on the 5th fret to achieve the opening riff (with one finger!).