what's a capo for and why some songs require you to have them to play the song?

[DeepEnd]

It's a good idea as long as the strings stay in tune but in my experience most spring capos put too much pressure on the strings and throw the tuning out of whack. The Planet Waves/D'Addario models don't if they're properly adjusted but they're not super cheap. You're almost better off with an elastic capo.

[DeepEnd]

Personally I'm a ''singer/guitarist'' and I find a good capo indispensable due to the limits of both my playing and voice. You can tune with the capo in place or not--most of us tweak tuning a bit once we put the capo on--but remember to allow for the fact that the pitch will be higher. For example, with the capo at the third fret EADGBE becomes GCFBbDG.

[Delmont]

Deep - My voice is just as awful in every key. It's an equal-opportunity annoyer.

 

Sam - I'm saying it depends. If you want to write songs that use the same open chord shapes in every key (e.g. a cowboy G shape), you need one. If you don't, you don't.

[rlspencer]

Capos are fun to use after you get used to them . they are great for different voicings without a retune. My problem is when I need to be LOWER than I already tune. I tune a whole step down and capo UP for a few tunes yet when I play(and sang) a song like PLEASE COME HOME FOR CHRISTMAS the tuning STILL isn't low enough for my timbre of voice. So I either HAVE TO get another guitar tuned to a D FLAT or tediously retune for that one song.

when I do SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW I capo wayyy up on the seventh or ninth(caint quite remember)but so was wondering if any of you know theory enough to relate if placing a capo UP would put the guitar in the key needed and still allow me to use the same FIRST POSITION CHORDS.

lot of knowledgeable folkes on this site so thanks for lettin me pick yore brane.

[Phil O'Keefe]

Sure - you can capo up and then sing down an octave.

[Freeman Keller]

It is also very common to tune a guitar down one or two (or more) semi tones, then capo back into concert pitch. Twelve string players do it all the time - both to reduce the tension on the neck and to get a lower "growl" to the sound. Then, if you need to play in standard pitch, throw a capo on it. (Putting a capo on does not change the tension on the strings so if you've down tuned to reduce tension it will be the same)

[DeepEnd]

Following up on what Delmont posted, suppose you have a song that incorporates a cute little E F# G bass run while going from Em to G but the result is a key you can't sing in comfortably. You use a capo and achieve a key that works with your voice while preserving that ''essential'' bass run. I learned ''Galveston'' recently and found that D was a tad too high (the original is in F, AFAIK, but I don't have Glen Campbell's pipes) and A was a comfortable key to play in. Voila! Capo at 4 and play in A, giving me C#.

[Delmont]

=O]

[Delmont]

The six-string pickers my sister in North Carolina hangs out do it all the time, too. Someone at a jam says "Blues in D!" and all the capos come off. Apparently it makes string bending a breeze.

[DeepEnd]

Tension is proportional to the square of the frequency so yeah, tuning down makes for much easier bends. A .013 first string tuned to D has about the same tension as a .011 tuned to E.