About
Hey there -
I started this site because partial capos are immensely useful (life-changing for some) and I wanted one web-place to have lots of information about the different kinds of capos and techniques.
I’ve written bunches, and recorded a pile of YouTube vids with partial capo lessons. I’ll build this website bigger in the months to come. Any feedback would be helpful, thanks!
Randall
“So there’s finally a map to this territory! Thanks, Randall. I’ve made my way through this wilderness for years without seeing the big picture.” – David Wilcox
i’ve taught guitar lessons since about 1992. as a working musician, my teaching and my playing are evolving together. i’m a different guitarist today than i was then, and i work hard to learn new skills – for myself and for my students.
guitar lessons are helpful for players of any level. how many and how often depends entirely on your motivation. even someone who has “no” time to practice will make the time if they feel motivated. students go from wanting to play to needing to play because of how much they enjoy it.
a word about who, why, how, and what i teach:
who: all ages. a motivated six-year old can gain lots from guitar lessons, as can an adult who feels that their musical years have already passed them by. most important here is that you feel motivated to play. if you’re motivated, you can’t stop playing, because you have to – it feeds you so much. making the transition from “wanting to play” to “needing to play” as quickly as possible is the key to progress.
why: i teach because i love teaching. i teach because music can change lives: it changed mine.
how: if you can’t teach something, then you haven’t learned it. a student needs to thoroughly understand why something is the way it is. this is very true of fingerpicking, capo techniques, and open tunings. most intermediate students can learn the basics of open tuning in about 30 minutes, if they know why it works. i adapt my teaching to fit what students are ready for. if a student needs notes or tab written out, we do that. if they are ready for ear training, then we work on ear training. any teacher should be an excellet listener.
what: students typically dive first into their own musical vocabulary to find songs they already know and love. i teach adaptation rather than repetition. if you want to play jimi hendrix note for note, then i’m not your guy. if you want to figure out how to adapt peter gabriel for open tuning or how to develop a strumming and picking style that will enable you to play hundreds of songs, then call me. i can teach you why things work the way they do – so that you can create and interpret by yourself.
workshops:
i teach three different group workshops. if you’re interested in any of these, please contact me.
introduction to open tuning
open to guitarists of any level, no previous open tuning experience required.
workshop participants learn:
· how to think functionally on the guitar
· how open tunings work and why they do
· how to retune a guitar in a variety of open tunings
· how to transpose songs and play them in open tuning
open tuning two
open to anyone with experience playing in open tunings or a strong grasp of music theory.
workshop participants will:
· review basic functional thinking on the guitar
· explore why open tunings work idiomatically and create new open tunings
· learn how to build and structure chords in open tunings
partial capo techniques
open to guitarists who are comfortable playing at least a few songs.
workshop participants learn:
· how to chose capo positions for idiomatic voicings and ensemble playing
· how to use partial capos in standard tuning
· how to use several capos to create multiple drones
partial capo techniques two
this very cerebral workshop is open to guitarists who are comfortable playing in several open tunings and have a strong working knowledge of music theory.
workshop participants learn:
- how to structure partial capo use in standard and open tunings using the circle of 5ths
· how to create open tunings which are friendly to partial capos
· how to use partial capos in cross keys in standard and open tunings
· how to use multiple capos in open tunings
all workshops consist of an interactive lecture followed by practice and one-on-one coaching, then each participant will perform a song that uses the techniques they have learned. one session is about two to three hours.
a one-page handout will be provided for each workshop. participants should bring a guitar and standard six-string capo, as well as pen and paper. audio recording is encouraged.
about the workshops:
most of us pick up a guitar and play it because we like how it feels. that’s great. In fact, the truest music anyone can make is probably made because someone loves doing it. where some of us falter is when we need to advance past three-chord songs and we don’t understand which chords go together and why. music theory explains why, and it gives a framework in which we can create.
when presented slowly and carefully, music theory is not at all intimidating. open tunings and advanced capo techniques become surprisingly approachable when understood in the light of theory. idiomatic voicing, timbre, and chord function lead up to “structural thinking,” which helps workshop participants understand the guitar in a whole new light. best of all, once a student knows why something works, they can reproduce it themselves.
More on capo schtuff:
Who’s afraid of the big bad capo?
For whatever reason, some people shy away from partial capos. Maybe they were scared off by a complicated fingering diagram that made it look like they would have to re-learn the instrument. Or maybe they once saw David Wilcox or Willy Porter put a partial capo on top of an open tuning and felt unworthy to even attempt it.
But there’s really nothing to be scared of.
This article is a simple explanation of partial capo technique. Read it with your guitar and a capo in hand. If you have a Short-Cut capo as well, even better.
There are two reasons to use a capo:
To change the key:
Most players use a capo to make a song fit their voice better. If you’re playing a song in C, but it’s a little low for you, you can put a capo somewhere up the neck – to play the same chord voicing, but raise the key. This is changing the key, but not the voicing.
To change the voicing:
Or, if you want to play a song in the key of B, it’s a whole lot easier to put the capo on the 4th fret and play a G chord than it is to always return to that B barre chord. This is changing the voicing, but not the key.
The simplest approach to partial capo work is through voicing changes. Let’s start there.
Structure:
If you put a capo on the second fret and voice a D major chord, you’re actually hearing E. In a D chord, you usually don’t play the 6th string. But if you take the capo off the 6th string and just clamp strings 1-5, you can let the low string drone, giving a nice full sound.
If you take the capo up to the fourth fret, you can play a C chord and still be in the key of E with the same drone. On the fifth fret you can voice B or Bm, on the seventh fret you can voice A or Am, and on the ninth fret you can play a G. Notice that as you move the capo up, you go down with the chords.
Second fret – voice D or Dm
Fourth fret – voice C or Cm
Fifth fret – voice B or Bm
Seventh fret – voice A or Am
Ninth fret – voice G or Gm.
But we never changed key, even though we played different chords. Every one of those voicings was in the key of E.
Color:
Now if you turn the capo over and just clamp strings 2-6, you leave the high E string open, and you can play all the same voicings. This affects the color of your chord.
The bass string is typically the anchor of a chord. If you want to add color to a chord, it usually happens in the middle or on top, but rarely at the bottom. For example, an A7 chord almost never uses the 7th (G) in the bass. It’s often in the middle (on the G string) or on top (the high E string, 3rd fret,) but it’s rarely on the low E string, third fret.
Structure is on the bottom, color is on the top.
The Short-Cut Capo
A Short-Cut capo leaves the inside string and two outside strings open. Put a Short-Cut Capo on the second fret of your guitar, pointing down. This leaves the low E string open, and the high E and B strings open, too. Remember, structure is on bottom, color is on the top. Now when you play a D chord, you have the low E string open, and you can lift your fingers and have the high two strings open, too.
You can put the Short-Cut in all the same places you put the other capo, facing both directions. Just remember that when you leave the high two strings open, you’re making a color choice (this is easier) and if you leave the low two strings open, it’s a structure choice (which requires a bit more thought.)
There’s a video of this article on the Kyser website which is pretty easy to understand. If you still have questions though, contact me. Thanks!
