The capo can be a useful tool.

Someone showed me an interesting trick in which you capo strings 1 to 5, at second fret, leaving the 6th string open - make your "D" shape and get an interesting sounding E chord that way.

Dylan used the capo a lot years ago on things like "Blowin in the Wind", and the capo is handy for bluegrass jams too.

I use the capo for a few songs. It's strange because it changes the feel of the neck, making it seem shorter. It can throw me a bit sometimes.

One fun thing to do is capo at the 7th fret and play Traffic's version of "John Barleycorn."

It does alter the feel of the neck. I always have to
practice the song a lot... else I will miss by 2 or
3 frets sometimes!

I've heard of some people that have used double
capos instead of alternate tuning.... pretty cool!

I have read about the use of 2 capos to alter the tuning. There are also capos that will let you capo individual strings.. .. with a little trial and error some cool things could be discovered.

In the bluegrass jams I have been in, we would either capo at 2nd fret or 4th fret - that way you can make more use of the "G" and "C" shapes for the keys of A and B and get full sounding 6 string chords.

I have also just transposed the chords from time to time, its a good exercise and yields a different sound from having 3 guitars playing the same chord voicing all at once.

I rarely use a capo. I have had to use it on several occasions.

1) Rush Tribute Band - Big Money. Alex used one in order to get the natural harmonics played through out the song.

2) Heart Tribute Band - Alone. Played on Acoustic guitar the song IIRC is in Bb.

3) Emulate Albert Collins. I have since did away with it but as I was trying to cop his style, I capo'd to play it.

4) Used Capo to play certain tunes that I wanted to use open chords as opposed to bar chords.

I use a capo often. I'll almost always play a tune that's in E, capo'd at the second fret and then play a D fingering from there. It gets me in E, I like the sound of it better, and it's not quite as loud that way which allows me to sing without hollering to get over my gittar...
Most of the folks I play with use them occasionally.

Thats a nice voicing for the E chord.

Try it while leaving the 6th string open, or tune down the 6th string to D before you capo and see how you like the sound of the chord - it has a great ring to it that way.

The bass players mocked me for using one....hehehehe! I'm working on an original song written in C minor. I capo the third fret. Then I can play higher chords wile riding the C bass note. It also opens the door to a lot of tapping. I also screwed around with downtuning the E & G string creating an open minor bar chord. That makes for a lot of interesting tapping as well. But, hey..... I'm just a bass player.

Dave

Dave sounds like you are more innovative and ambitious on the bass than most!!

Im just always pushing to improve. I use a lot of chords with open strings and since I only have four it can get old. A capo opens up the neck for me more. The song Im working on is turning out really nice. I use it sometimes when we play Detroit Rock City by Kiss but then I use it just to show off and confuse my guitarists.hehehehehe!

Dave

How do you use the capo on Detroit Rock City?

We play it in C so I capo the first fret. Then all those notes I'm hitting there are open strings for me. It makes it easier to play (not that it's hard to play to begin with) and it makes for a cleaner sound. I don't hit any note lower than an F in the song so it works out. It just makes it a little different to play and I love that confused look on my guitarists face when I point it out to him.....hehehehehe!

Dave

I use a capo on one song only... "Landslide" (Fleetwood Mac).

That's the extent of my capo use! LOL