Capos?

[noseforsharpies]

Alright, so, I'm a bit torn on the issue of the capo. I bought one yesterday, and really enjoy it, but now I'm reading about people claiming it's a "crutch" or something. Should I put the thing away so that I don't take advantage of being able to play all these nice tones? Eh.

[Akira]

Hmm, I don't see why it would be considered a crutch...

I've played around with a capo a few times and thought it was lovely, it makes you think differently as your reference points shift and you can get some nice new sounds. However, i'm not really experienced with capo's so there may be more to it than appears.

[Grumpy Smurf]

I use one every now and again for some of my acoustic stuff. More or less because I end up finding a sound I like and think it fits well with what I hear in my head. I suppose as long as I'm happy with how the capo makes the guitar sound I'll keep on crutchin'. So my take is....keep the capo long as you like it.

[Fret spider]

it can be a crutch if u use it as a bar instead of doing bar chords. if u never earnt bar chords because its easier just to stick a capo there this is bad and it will limit you.

but if you can do bar chords and u will use them when they are apropriate then there is no reason to also use a capo, it just makes things a lot easier, and can give u access to diiferent voicings. so basically use it but dont depend on it too much

[andrew3in1]

I use two different capos all the time. Both Kaysiers. One a regular full length and a short cut or a combo of both.

I sing a little high for a man and the capo helps raise the tones. But like a previous poster said you still need to learn barr chords.

[jimmy_kwtx]

I use one when playing for the Church. It helps when having to play in some of the odd keys just place the capo in the correct fret and you can play your open chords but still stay in key.

Sometimes you only have about 30-45 minutes to learn all of the 4-6 songs that they will play at the service that day and you don't have allot of time to transpose and find the chord that will work best in each song in that amount of time.

[ren]

Depends what you're doing, but I tend to use my index finger as a kinda substitute capo, and then play chords with middle, ring and pinky.

I used to use a capo sometimes, but it's restricting to not be able to use the are of neck behind it... to be honest now I rarely play acoustic, and even more rarely play open chords so it isn't an issue. Therefore when it comes along (as in 'Under the Bridge' when drunk) I make do without a capo for the increased freedom.

[iiholly]

I don't consider it a crutch, as long as you don't use it to subsitute for barre chords (the intro to under the bridge is a good example where you could do that.) Most people I know, including myself, use them while they're playing and singing (or someone is singing with them), because there vocal range is higher then how you play without a capo allows. Kind of like how some songs are tuned down because some vocalists have a lower range.