Ramblings From Justin Penney

Among guitarists, the capo can be a very divisive tool. Some guitarists take it as a challenge to never use a capo. The opposing side sees it as silly to make it hard when this little device can make something much more direct.

I recently had a discussion with an anti-capo person and brought up two things that the capo changes that most people overllook: timbre and voicing.

The change in voicing can make an old chord progression feel completely different. It can also help get two guitars out of each others way. Considering that an open chord can cover as much as two octaves, simple changes, like in which octave a third resides, makes a huge difference in keep the parts distinct but supportive.

The timbre of the instrument is completely changed too. Playing a B barre chord on the 7th fret sounds completely different from capoing at the 7th fret and playing the same pattern. There is less flesh in contact with the instrument and the overall resonance of it feels and sounds completely different.

I think a lot of guitarists overlook these components ... and not just with capos. I get in a rut playing the same chords, the same patterns ... it gets dull and lifeless. Some people turn to alternate tunings, which are fun but I would probably never use them as they can be daunting to perform live. Instead I've taken the observation of timbre and voicing and played other instruments before picking up my guitar.

My mom gave me an old autoharp and tonight I was working on getting it in playing order. I had it mostly in tune and started playing a bit. The same I-IV -V progressions that sound tired on guitar were completely new sounding. The chords were all voiced in a strange way and the plinky sound was unique. After playing it until it went horribly out of tune, I picked up my guitar and tried to emulate some of the character that I heard in the autoharp.

After about 30 minutes (about as long as my thumb can take playing) I had a couple new song pieces and even some new melodies. They were nothing like I was playing on the autoharp but those snippets of song would have never come in to existence I not been trying to capture an unfamiliar sound.

# posted by Justin @ 10:04 PM