1 00:00:03,962 --> 00:00:05,649 How are you doing? Justin here. 2 00:00:05,649 --> 00:00:07,690 Welcome to BC-163, 3 00:00:07,690 --> 00:00:12,860 where we're going to be discussing the use of one of these things: 4 00:00:12,860 --> 00:00:14,799 Which is a capo. 5 00:00:14,799 --> 00:00:21,147 Now, a really really useful little trick for beginners, using a capo. 6 00:00:21,147 --> 00:00:25,268 Now, I use this brand of capo called a Kyser capo, 7 00:00:25,268 --> 00:00:28,102 and they don't give them to me or anything, 8 00:00:28,102 --> 00:00:31,164 I don't have any endorsement, I just think they're really good. 9 00:00:31,164 --> 00:00:34,649 And, you can easily get replacement rubber bits as well when they wear out, 10 00:00:34,649 --> 00:00:37,514 which for some for some of the capos, you can't. 11 00:00:37,514 --> 00:00:41,585 There's also a very excellent capo made by G7 in the UK, 12 00:00:41,585 --> 00:00:43,066 I think their capos are great, 13 00:00:43,066 --> 00:00:45,318 I've got one of those that I use quite regularly. 14 00:00:45,318 --> 00:00:47,770 The other commonly used one is Schubb, 15 00:00:47,770 --> 00:00:49,791 although I don't recommend that for beginners, 16 00:00:49,791 --> 00:00:52,381 because it's a little bit fiddly to get it set up. 17 00:00:52,381 --> 00:00:54,618 Whereas this one, very useful! So what does it do? 18 00:00:54,618 --> 00:00:56,878 If you haven't seen a capo before, you might find it a little surprising. 19 00:00:56,878 --> 00:01:01,663 What it does is clamps on the neck, we looked earlier at the barre chord F, 20 00:01:01,663 --> 00:01:04,510 where I said that first finger covers all of the strings. 21 00:01:04,510 --> 00:01:08,681 So, you can think of the capo as being a "barre chord machine," 22 00:01:08,681 --> 00:01:11,083 or a little device that helps you with a barre chord. 23 00:01:11,083 --> 00:01:15,121 So, what I first of all want to do is talk about putting the capo on. 24 00:01:15,121 --> 00:01:19,350 Now, most of them have some sort of lever to separate the capo, 25 00:01:19,350 --> 00:01:23,729 I usually put it on the top, because I find it easiest to access it to move it, 26 00:01:23,729 --> 00:01:28,150 but some people prefer to put the lever on the bottom, like that. 27 00:01:28,150 --> 00:01:30,907 To be honest, it doesn't really make any difference what so ever, 28 00:01:30,907 --> 00:01:32,218 it 's just a personal preference, 29 00:01:32,218 --> 00:01:34,376 it doesn't make any difference to the sound or anything. 30 00:01:34,376 --> 00:01:38,195 But, I prefer to put it with the mechanism over the top, like that. 31 00:01:38,195 --> 00:01:40,858 Now, one thing that is very important with a capo 32 00:01:40,858 --> 00:01:43,396 is the positioning of the capo within a fret. 33 00:01:43,396 --> 00:01:46,550 So before I talk anymore, let's go to a quick close up, 34 00:01:46,550 --> 00:01:50,197 and I'll make sure you get the position of the capo nice. 35 00:01:50,197 --> 00:01:52,099 So here hopefully you can see 36 00:01:52,099 --> 00:01:55,833 that the capo is positioned very close to the fret. 37 00:01:55,833 --> 00:01:56,812 Now this is important 38 00:01:56,812 --> 00:02:01,707 because if you put the capo too far back away from the fret, 39 00:02:02,829 --> 00:02:05,757 You tend to get a lot of buzzing noises, 40 00:02:05,757 --> 00:02:07,589 if you put it too close to the middle, 41 00:02:07,589 --> 00:02:12,250 sometimes the capo will pull the strings a little bit too close to the wood 42 00:02:12,250 --> 00:02:13,913 and pulls it out of tune. 43 00:02:13,913 --> 00:02:18,964 So, by far the best place for a capo is just before the fret without touching it. 44 00:02:18,964 --> 00:02:20,470 Now, from the front there, 45 00:02:20,470 --> 00:02:23,227 it's probably looking now like it's on top of the fret, 46 00:02:23,227 --> 00:02:24,140 it is just before, 47 00:02:24,140 --> 00:02:28,310 but the rubber is beveled inwards a little bit. 48 00:02:28,310 --> 00:02:30,818 So that is a really good position for the capo, 49 00:02:30,818 --> 00:02:37,146 the thing that you need to remember with a capo is that the capo is replacing the nut of the guitar. 50 00:02:37,146 --> 00:02:41,284 So if you put a capo on, you can now play an E chord, 51 00:02:41,284 --> 00:02:44,827 (my capo is on the fifth fret just in case you want to capo along with me) 52 00:02:44,827 --> 00:02:48,259 You can see here now that if I'm playing an E chord, 53 00:02:48,259 --> 00:02:50,332 the first fret is now the sixth fret, if you like, 54 00:02:50,332 --> 00:02:51,974 and I can actually play. 55 00:02:53,097 --> 00:02:56,409 This is my old E chord there, 56 00:02:56,409 --> 00:02:58,244 and I can play any chord, any open chord, 57 00:02:58,244 --> 00:03:08,796 C chord, G chord, D, D7, B7, F, C "old school", 58 00:03:08,796 --> 00:03:13,310 there's loads of different ways that you can do these different chords here. 59 00:03:13,310 --> 00:03:15,764 The thing that you have to remember with a capo is 60 00:03:15,764 --> 00:03:17,977 that it's changing the pitch of the whole chord. 61 00:03:17,977 --> 00:03:21,637 And we've talked about tones and semi-tones before, and the note circle, 62 00:03:21,637 --> 00:03:23,812 so that's all that you have to remember 63 00:03:23,812 --> 00:03:28,867 is that it's moving the chord up, one semitone at a time for every fret. 64 00:03:28,867 --> 00:03:31,657 So if we take the capo off, 65 00:03:31,657 --> 00:03:33,611 I'm going to use an E chord for this example 66 00:03:33,611 --> 00:03:36,751 With no capo, you get an E chord. 67 00:03:36,751 --> 00:03:41,483 Now if I put the capo on the first fret and play an E chord, 68 00:03:41,483 --> 00:03:46,702 it's one semitone higher, so it's now an F chord. 69 00:03:46,702 --> 00:03:51,329 If I put the capo one more semitone up, one more fret up, 70 00:03:51,329 --> 00:03:56,227 it's now on the second fret, it's now an F# chord. 71 00:03:56,227 --> 00:04:02,899 If I move it up one more semitone to the third fret, my E chord becomes a G chord. 72 00:04:02,899 --> 00:04:05,244 Does it sound like a G? 73 00:04:05,244 --> 00:04:08,239 Let's test that and play an open G chord. 74 00:04:09,702 --> 00:04:11,929 Sounds pretty close to me. 75 00:04:11,929 --> 00:04:13,792 There's a G open chord, 76 00:04:13,792 --> 00:04:16,771 Here's capo at the third fret, 77 00:04:16,771 --> 00:04:18,999 playing an E shape: 78 00:04:18,999 --> 00:04:20,631 Sounds almost the same. 79 00:04:20,631 --> 00:04:22,086 This is why capos are cool, 80 00:04:22,086 --> 00:04:26,030 because it gives you alternative ways of playing the same chords. 81 00:04:26,030 --> 00:04:32,193 It's also really good for if you're trying to do a song that's too low or too high, 82 00:04:32,193 --> 00:04:34,417 if you're sitting there playing: 83 00:04:37,632 --> 00:04:40,208 and it's too low, I'm just singing any random song, 84 00:04:44,562 --> 00:04:47,557 Then you can just go "let's whack that up a little bit" 85 00:04:47,557 --> 00:04:49,076 Put the capo up at the fifth fret: 86 00:04:53,353 --> 00:04:56,650 And you can start singing a little bit higher, 87 00:04:56,650 --> 00:04:59,420 and it helps you sort out your vocal. 88 00:04:59,420 --> 00:05:01,099 This is a really good thing about capoes, 89 00:05:01,099 --> 00:05:07,307 particularly if a girl is trying to sing a song that was originally sung by a guy. 90 00:05:07,307 --> 00:05:11,851 Generally, girls will put the capo around the fourth to seventh fret, 91 00:05:11,851 --> 00:05:14,261 so let's say the average is the fifth fret. 92 00:05:14,261 --> 00:05:18,922 It's about how different, how lower a man's voice is 93 00:05:18,922 --> 00:05:23,815 compared to how a woman's voice would sit in the register or the key. 94 00:05:23,815 --> 00:05:28,442 So, the capo is a very good idea for girls singing songs originally by guys. 95 00:05:28,442 --> 00:05:32,777 But generally, it can be really useful technique 96 00:05:32,777 --> 00:05:36,980 especially if you're going to sing and play guitar, you probably want a capo. 97 00:05:36,980 --> 00:05:40,964 The other time is, lot of times people will use capos to record their original songs. 98 00:05:40,964 --> 00:05:45,884 So you'll find that if you try to play a song without a capo it becomes really difficult 99 00:05:45,884 --> 00:05:48,428 and with a capo it becomes really easy. 100 00:05:48,428 --> 00:05:50,225 So, this is a little bit about capoes: 101 00:05:50,225 --> 00:05:53,930 Best thing to do with a capo: experiment with it a little bit. 102 00:05:53,930 --> 00:05:57,477 So, if you haven't got one already, go out and get yourself a capo, 103 00:05:57,477 --> 00:06:00,291 the Kyser ones, like I said, are really good, 104 00:06:00,291 --> 00:06:03,426 they're a little more expensive than some other capos, 105 00:06:03,426 --> 00:06:07,100 but I don't think I've ever broken one or worn one out, I've only ever lost them. 106 00:06:07,100 --> 00:06:09,598 Which unfortunately I seem to loose them all the time, 107 00:06:09,598 --> 00:06:11,162 I think the sock monster steals them, 108 00:06:11,162 --> 00:06:13,328 you did realize the sock monster plays guitar, right? 109 00:06:13,328 --> 00:06:15,581 You know the sock monster that comes and steals your odd socks, 110 00:06:15,581 --> 00:06:18,330 you put socks in the washing machine and then you go back to it later 111 00:06:18,330 --> 00:06:21,547 and there's loads of individual socks and the other ones are missing? 112 00:06:21,547 --> 00:06:23,933 Well the guy who nicks them is the sock monster, 113 00:06:23,933 --> 00:06:26,623 and he also definitely plays guitar, 114 00:06:26,623 --> 00:06:29,667 because he steals picks all the time, loads of picks, 115 00:06:29,667 --> 00:06:34,766 this guy must have loads of my picks. 116 00:06:34,766 --> 00:06:37,495 And recently he started experimenting with capoes, 117 00:06:37,495 --> 00:06:39,268 because he's been nicking these as well. 118 00:06:39,268 --> 00:06:40,842 Now that was a proper tangent, apologies for that. 119 00:06:40,842 --> 00:06:44,327 Go and get yourself a capo, they're really really useful, 120 00:06:44,327 --> 00:06:47,861 lots of fun, and they help you play lots of cool songs, 121 00:06:47,861 --> 00:06:52,693 So have fun, and I'll see you for another lesson sometime very soon. Bye-bye.