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Thread: Best Capo

  1. #51
    jbmando RIP HK Jim Broyles's Avatar
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    Default Re: Best Capo

    Quote Originally Posted by mandozilla View Post



    So Steve L how do you know the OP plays Irish Trad? I couldn't find any statement by Parlor Boyle to that effect.

    Yes it's true mandolin capos are somewhat (actually very) frowned upon in BG music circles (personally, I couldn't care less but don't go there myself). Does Irish Trad mando playing favor a lot of open, ringing tones? I'm not being a wise guy I'm really curious.

    He has stated in many posts that he plays TIM. Can't answer the ringing tones part.
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  2. #52
    Registered User John Flynn's Avatar
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    Default Re: Best Capo

    Quote Originally Posted by testore View Post
    I don't play electric guitar but with all this capo talk, why don't electric players use them???
    I'm sure some electric guitar players do use capos, but as a former electric guitar player, there are a couple of reasons I can think of why it's not very common. First, open chords don't tend to sound that good on electric guitar, due to too much sustain, the opposite situation you find on an acoustic mandolin. Second, electric guitars are typically strung with very light strings, making simple bar chords extremely easy to do...no capo necessary. Bar chords also make it very easy to mute the sustain as you need to.

  3. #53

    Default Re: Best Capo

    To answer the ringing tones in ITM... yes, ITM sounds better with open strings and ringing tones.

  4. #54
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    Default Re: Best Capo

    So Steve L how do you know the OP plays Irish Trad? I couldn't find any statement by Parlor Boyle to that effect.

    He's been posting on this site and over at the session.org for months and I've read most if not all of his stuff.

    Does Irish Trad mando playing favor a lot of open, ringing tones? I'm not being a wise guy I'm really curious.

    Well, it's somewhat unusual but not unheard of for mandolins to play chords in Irish music. It's primarily a melody/counter-melody instrument. Backing is ususally done by guitar or bouzouki playing open, droning voicings, sometimes only a couple of notes. Some people prefer no one plays chords at all and the music really doesn't suffer when that happens. It's a completely different world. I became interested in the mandolin through Irish music, I don't care for bluegrass at all.

    One of the worst things you can do in an Irish session is to start playing chop chords. It's just awful.

    [/QUOTE]
    Steve

  5. #55
    Mando accumulator allenhopkins's Avatar
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    Default Re: Best Capo

    Quote Originally Posted by testore View Post
    I don't play electric guitar but with all this capo talk, why don't electric players use them???
    Albert Collins live.

    Bruce Springsteen live

    Bonnie Raitt live


    etc., etc. Got Mark Knopfler too, but it was an electrified National acoustic, so maybe it didn't count...?

    Electric guitarists may use capos, if they're looking for a particular open-string sound. Collins uses one all the time, I believe.
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  6. #56
    Mark Evans mandozilla's Avatar
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    Default Re: Best Capo

    Well, it's somewhat unusual but not unheard of for mandolins to play chords in Irish music. It's primarily a melody/counter-melody instrument. Backing is ususally done by guitar or bouzouki playing open, droning voicings, sometimes only a couple of notes. Some people prefer no one plays chords at all and the music really doesn't suffer when that happens. It's a completely different world. I became interested in the mandolin through Irish music, I don't care for bluegrass at all
    Very intersting, thanks Steve L...I know nothing about Irish Trad as you've probably deduced.

  7. #57
    Registered User auteq's Avatar
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    Default Re: Best Capo

    Quote Originally Posted by Steve L View Post
    This thread and it's innummerable predecessors are driving me a little crazy. . . . If you feel using a capo is musically undignified you're entitiled to your values, but please do the rest of us a favor and just skip the next capo thread.
    Steve L---not to pick on you but your comment of "been done" has also "been done" Come on, to be fair the same goes for the pro-capo crowd. (Now for full disclosure I have a capo and I fully believe that if we outlaw capos, only outlaws will have capos. )

    The cafe threads are full of "predecessors" or repeat issues like:
    tab v. reading notes; Thile v. anybody else; A style v. F Style; Down stroke on the down beat v. DUDU for efficiency; I am new and what is the best mando for $XXX; Top tune in an open jam; Oldtime v. Bluegrass; etc... These (along with the capo) are what keep people (nay Honest Mandoliners) coming back and enjoying the Cafe.
    OR the repeat issues are the price/pennace you pay for surfing the message board more than playing the mandolin??? ( I am very guilty of this myself).

    Now you also posted:
    "Imagine if someone posting asking how to structure a bluegrass break was greeted by posts from jazz players telling them to quit playing around with such childish triadic harmonic structures, simple progressions and cliched licks and learn to play over "Giant Steps" or "Donna Lee" going outside the tonality and incorporating 7th chords with altered tensions and a dizzying kaleidoscope of complex scales."
    ......I would pay to read that!! Is a great 3 chord song less than a good 7 chord song. (Rush v. Nirvana?) This is what makes a great thread, like the capo, there is no right answer. The last capo thread I read noted that Ricky Skaggs used one on an Irish TV show. (proving that the best of 'em use 'em) but the debate between scale knowlege and open string sound is an artistic one that should get every mandolin lover think'n.

  8. #58
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    Default Re: Best Capo

    Quote Originally Posted by auteq View Post
    Steve L---not to pick on you but your comment of "been done" has also "been done" Come on, to be fair the same goes for the pro-capo crowd. (Now for full disclosure I have a capo and I fully believe that if we outlaw capos, only outlaws will have capos. )

    The cafe threads are full of "predecessors" or repeat issues like:
    tab v. reading notes; Thile v. anybody else; A style v. F Style; Down stroke on the down beat v. DUDU for efficiency; I am new and what is the best mando for $XXX; Top tune in an open jam; Oldtime v. Bluegrass; etc... These (along with the capo) are what keep people (nay Honest Mandoliners) coming back and enjoying the Cafe.
    OR the repeat issues are the price/pennace you pay for surfing the message board more than playing the mandolin??? ( I am very guilty of this myself).

    Now you also posted:
    "Imagine if someone posting asking how to structure a bluegrass break was greeted by posts from jazz players telling them to quit playing around with such childish triadic harmonic structures, simple progressions and cliched licks and learn to play over "Giant Steps" or "Donna Lee" going outside the tonality and incorporating 7th chords with altered tensions and a dizzying kaleidoscope of complex scales."
    ......I would pay to read that!! Is a great 3 chord song less than a good 7 chord song. (Rush v. Nirvana?) This is what makes a great thread, like the capo, there is no right answer. The last capo thread I read noted that Ricky Skaggs used one on an Irish TV show. (proving that the best of 'em use 'em) but the debate between scale knowlege and open string sound is an artistic one that should get every mandolin lover think'n.

    (Sigh)
    Steve

  9. #59
    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Default Re: Best Capo

    Quote Originally Posted by Steve L View Post

    One of the worst things you can do in an Irish session is to start playing chop chords. It's just awful.
    Yes absolutely. One of the more egregious of newbie errors.

    I should add that I am forgiving of first timers. Yes we should all listen before playing, but many of us have been so anxious to get to playing that we get it backwards - and I totally understand that enthusiasm.
    A talent for trivializin' the momentous and complicatin' the obvious.

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    funny....

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