A guitar capo turns the guitar into a transposing instrument. This can make it difficult to transcribe music into tablature.
Transcribe Guitar Music That Has A Capo
Here are the steps to transcribe fingerstyle guitar music with a capo:
- Determine which fret the capo is placed on
- Use a media player to transpose the music down the appropriate number of semitones
- Create your guitar transcription in normal tuning
By following these steps, you will be able to quickly create or transcribe fingerstyle guitar arrangements with a guitar capo.
What Does a Capo Do on the Guitar?
The capo shortens the length of the guitar neck, raising the pitch of the guitar. You can lower the pitch of the guitar by loosening the strings, or you can do the opposite and raise the pitch of the guitar by using a capo.
What Is A Guitar Capo Used For?
You can transpose music into a different key just by using a guitar capo. This means that the chord C major will sound in a higher key when fretted on a guitar with a capo.
Since the strings are tighter, the timbre of the instrument is changed slightly: the guitar will sound brighter. You will also enjoy the added response of slightly tighter strings when the capo is used in higher positions.
How does a Capo work?
When a capo is placed on a fret of the guitar, it effectively shortens the length of the strings, raising their pitch. The specific interval that the capo transposes the strings depends on the fret that it is placed on.
Guitar Capo Transposition Chart For a C Major Chord
Look at the following transposition chart to determine how the capo affects the pitch of the guitar.
| Fret Number | Transposition Interval | C Chord Sounds |
|---|---|---|
| 1st fret | up ½ step (minor second) | D♭ |
| 2nd fret | up a whole step (major second) | D |
| 3rd fret | up 1½ steps (minor third) | E♭ |
| 4th fret | up 2 steps (major third) | E |
| 5th fret | up 2½ steps (perfect fourth) | F |
| 6th fret | up 3 steps (augmented fourth/diminished fifth) | F♯/G♭ |
| 7th fret | up 3½ steps (perfect fifth) | G |
| 8th fret | up 4 steps (minor sixth) | A♭ |
| 9th fret | up 4½ steps (major sixth) | A |
For example, if I place a capo on the first fret and play a C chord, that chord will now sound like D flat.
How To Transpose Guitar Chords With a Capo
To transpose a guitar chord with a capo, determine which fret the capo is placed, and raise the fundamental note of the chord by that number of semitones.
For example, if I place my capo on the second fret and play a B minor chord, the resulting chord sound will be C sharp minor.
How To Use a Media Player to Transpose Your Arrangements
Once you know on which fret the capo is placed, you can use the transposition or pitch modification functions of the media player to bring your arrangement down into normal tuning.
In MPV video player, you can use the "rubber band" to transpose the music by a certain number of units called cents. This chart will show you the relationship between cents and semitones for transposing music with a capo.
Transposition Chart For MPV Media Player
| Semitones Down | Cents value |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0.9438743126816935 |
| 2 | 0.8908987181403393 |
| 3 | 0.8396078054371148 |
| 4 | 0.7900137734439613 |
| 5 | 0.7420635105153656 |
| 6 | 0.6957222550505588 |
| 7 | 0.6510075918168027 |
| 8 | 0.6079194109207544 |
| 9 | 0.5663978323691282 |
| 10 | 0.5264045494833026 |
| 11 | 0.4879095812018027 |
| 12 | 0.4508845152426485 |
For instance, let's say our guitarist is playing music with the capo on the third fret. I need to bring the music down 1½ steps, or three semitones. to hear it as if there were no capo. After locating the corresponding cents value in the table above, I call the media player with this command:
mpv.exe --af=rubberband=pitch-scale=0.8396078054371148 my_media_file
How A Guitar Tab Works With A Capo
When reading tablatures intended for a guitar with a capo, the capo takes the place of the nut or fret number 0.
If you place the capo on the fifth fret, the sixth fret now becomes the first fret, the seventh fret is now the second fret; etc.
Playing In Higher Positions Makes the Fretting Hand Easier
By placing a capo in a higher fret (beyond the fourth fret), means that you will be playing in higher positions. Therefore, stretches are now available to you which normally cannot be done in the lower positions.
It’s much easier to stretch from the first fret on the sixth string to the fifth fret on the first string when the capo is on the fourth fret, for example.
The advantage of using a different key
Transposition means you can create an arrangement of a song in a ‘difficult’ key (i.e. a key that requires a lot of barre chords) and transpose into an easier key on the guitar. The easy keys are those which use lots of open strings, such as C Major, G Major and D Major.
Disadvantages of the Guitar Capo
By using a capo, you will lose access to the low pitches on your guitar. Some guitarists have preferred to retain access to the low open strings by using “half capos” but this presents other fingering challenges.
The Capo Requires Extra Care when Playing Harmonics
The capo also creates challenges when using guitar harmonics. Since the frets are displaced by the capo, the nodes for your harmonics are now found in different frets.
For example, by placing the capo on the third fret, the node to touch in order to sound the harmonic which is one octave higher than the open string is now three frets past the twelfth fret, i.e. the fifteenth (seen with respect to the guitar without a capo).
Transcribing a Melody That's In a Different Key
Let's say a song you want to learn is in F sharp major, and you've decided to transpose it to C Major.
First, you will need to work out what the melody of the song is. You can either place the capo on your guitar immediately, and suss around by ear until you work out an arrangement.
My method: Transcribe in a Familiar Key
Or, you can transpose a melody down to C Major with a media player and work out the melody in a familiar key with fewer sharps and flats. This is my preferred method.
I’d much rather do a transcription of a song transposed to C Major rather than a song in D flat major.
Deciding Whether Or Not to Use A Capo
Some keys are challenging to play on the guitar but sound beautiful, such as E Major. Having access to the low E bass note is a huge advantage in this key.
An Example in E Major Without a Capo: Love Yourself
There is a tutorial available on my channel for “Love Yourself” arranged by Sungha Jung. This song is in E Major and the arrangement is without a capo.
In Love Yourself, the chords used in the verse are E Major, B Major, C# Minor and F# minor. Outside of the first chord in the list, the rest are barre chords. This can be challenging and somewhat tiring to play.
An Example With a Capo: What Makes You Beautiful
Contrast this to an arrangement that I made of the song “What makes you beautiful” by One Direction. This song is also in E Major, but by placing a capo on the fourth fret I can now transpose the song to C major.
By transposing the song into an easier key, I’ve eliminated all the barre chords. However, by using a capo, I no longer have access to the low open ‘E’ string.
I could try a workaround involving either tuning down the sixth string to Low C before placing the capo, or using a half capo and not stopping the sixth string. In both these cases I create fingering problems which all but negate the original advantage of using a capo in the first place!
Is using a capo cheating?
Are guitar capo's cheating? There’s no right or wrong answer when it comes to using a capo in your guitar arrangements. It comes down to a question of ease of playing or timbre.
Try playing a new arrangement both with and without the capo to see the relative advantages or disadvantages of each, and choose which suits your tastes.
If you would like more help in creating your very own fingerstyle guitar arrangement, there is an entire section in my course Play Fingerstyle Guitar Now! which shows you how to create a fingerstyle guitar arrangement.
