Someone please explain the benifets of a capo for my guitar..?!
Question: just got one..is there anything I should know besides the obvious>?
Answers: just got one..is there anything I should know besides the obvious>?
You can use a Capo for a guitar, like: when you only know how to play in the keys of C, D, E and G, and the sheet music you just got for your fav song is in the key of say, Eb. Then, you would put your Capo across the first fret of the guitar and play in the key of D on the third fret and actually be playing in Eb.
You can also get other mid-neck and high position easy open chord progression fingerings, by sliding the capo farther up the fret board.
You can use a capo to get a different sound out of the same chord, in what is known as a different "inversion" of the chord.
There are other uses too, I suppose; But, usually though, a capo is used to play guitar in simple open chord keys, those keys that are harder to play, or that you don't know how to play in, yet!
A capo allows you to easily play a song in a different key. That is really helpful if you sing and want to accompany yourself in a key that is comfortable for your voice.
Just to expand on Jeff A's answer, if you wanted to play in the key of F#, it's about impossible to play open chords without a capo. But maybe that's the best key for your voice. So you put the capo on the 2nd fret, and away you go. You can play just as if you were playing in the key of E, but it will sound like F#. Just act as if the capo were the nut of your guitar. Have fun, and just play around with it.