• From: Fair Oak England
  • Registered: 2008-06-19
  • Posts: 17

Topic: Another dippy question

Is shifting your capo on to the second fret excatly the same as transposeing your chords 2 semitones.DOOOHHH my head is going explode.
You see i was quite happy picking up song books and playing tunes before i came on this site now i've got this idea in my head to learn some music theory,i mean how many players out there have the manual dexterity to play guitar but have not a clue about theory,e.g i can play Hotel Califoria intro and all the rest virtually note perfect, but ask me with a gun to my head what a semitone is and i couldn't tell you.

Thanx in advance

i wish i could play like jimi hendrix
  • From: Starkville, Mississippi USA
  • Registered: 2006-03-04
  • Posts: 2,069

Re: Another dippy question

Hi SEAGULL1,
Much better to ask a question and learn than to not ask and not know.

Yes, putting your capo on the 2nd fret is the same as transposing UP (+) by two semitones.

A semitone is one-half step in a scale. There are 12 half-steps in an octave. On a guitar, a semi-tone is one fret.

Try this: On any guitar string just play from an open string and then one fret up at a time on that same string until you get up to the 12th fret. You have just played a chromatic scale (all semi-tones).

"That darn Pythagorean Comma thing keeps messing me up!"
[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythagorean_comma[/url]

James McCormick's Website

  • From: Fair Oak England
  • Registered: 2008-06-19
  • Posts: 17

Re: Another dippy question

Thankyou for your help.

So this begs the question why do people bother with a capo,why not transpose the chords,or the voicing sound different.Or am i an idiot and got the wrong end of the stick.

i wish i could play like jimi hendrix
  • From: Bellevue, WA
  • Registered: 2006-06-15
  • Posts: 3,336

Re: Another dippy question

The cappo allows you to transpose and play songs with the open chord shapes.   This is particularly usefull in country and bluegrass numbers, where the guitar parts are all very similar.  You can move the key from whatever the root is and not have to do anything different.

And to second Jame's point, there are no dumb questions.

Someday we'll win this thing...

[url=http://www.aclosesecond.com]www.aclosesecond.com[/url]

jerome.oneil's Website

  • From: Murphysboro Il
  • Registered: 2007-02-10
  • Posts: 292

Re: Another dippy question

SEAGULL1 wrote:

Thankyou for your help.

So this begs the question why do people bother with a capo,why not transpose the chords,or the voicing sound different.Or am i an idiot and got the wrong end of the stick.

There are a lot of songs, particularly in the folk/country vein, where open strings are needed. Try playing Norwiegin Wood by the Beatles (key of E) without a capo and then with a capo on the second fret (D) shape and you will see what I mean.

"Nobody paints by ear so why would I play guitar by sight?" hmm