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This particular page was created 28/11/2003 and last updated 17/05/2005
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| | There are three fundamental views on capos:- The purist's view:
- Using a capo is cheating.
- The gadget enthusiast's view:
- A capo is a great tool for expressing the music.
- The musician's view:
- I use it when I need it. What's the big deal?
Using a capo is not cheating. A capo can be a very useful tool, both to simplify playing, and to modify the tone of the instrument. There are things that simply aren't playable without a capo.The capo is useful when you play with people who have learned a tune in a different key than you have (or if their instruments are tuned in odd pitches). Just slip the capo on the correct fret and off you go. It is also useful if you have just one tenor banjo and want both irish and standard tuning. Put a capo on the fifth fret of an irish tuned tenor banjo and you have standard tuning. ut it on the second fret of a standard tuned instrument, move all the notes one string down, and you can play 90 percent of the irish tunes as if you had an irish tuned banjo.
Also, in Celtic music we stay on the lowest frets virtually all the time. That means the frets and fretboard get worn out much faster there than elsewhere on the neck. With a capo we can even out the load, prolonging the life of the banjo and also keeping it better balanced.
Choosing a capo There must be hundreds of different capo types out there, some cheap, some expensive, some good, some hopelessly bad. What you want is a capo that is small and neat, is quick and easy to attach, secures the strings well without messing up the tuning and doesn't scratch your banjo's finish. In other words, you want something like the Shubb capo pictured to the right. Make sure you buy an original one though. The Shubb designed have "inspired" lots of copycats and some of the cheap replicas have sharp edges that'll mess up you banjo's finish.Another very good alternative is the Kyser Banjo/Mandolin Capo pictured at the top of this page. In most respects it's even better than the Shubb. It is a bit bulky though. That's why I'd rather choose the Shubb.
The emergency capoThere's one thing all capos have in common: you've always forgotten them at home when it turns out you really, really need it. ;-)Don't despair! You can always improvise a makeshift capo if you can just find some flat object to press the strings down and some eleastic band to keep it in place. Borrow the landlord's favourite pencil, steal the ribbon from a fair maiden's hair and off you go. It might work badly and look worse, but it'll do in an emergency.
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