Capo is fine for banjo and guitar...why not mandolin?

[Nashville]

Sam Bush has occasionally used a capo. Apparently he found a good reason for it. And Sierra Hull uses a capo on her Weber octave mandolin. It's just a tool to help make music. In the end it's all about the music.

[DavidKOS]

When I want a quickie soprano mando effect without spending the $, I capo on the 7th fret and voila.

A very cool way to not buy a special instrument.

I suppose the mandolin parts written for those smaller instruments tuned up a minor 3rd or a 4th or 5th could be done with the right capo use.

[Paul Kotapish]

I'm playing in a show now that includes a big production number in Eb with a horn section, huge chorus, etc. The melody and chords are simple and easy to play in Eb--no harder than Bb or F, certainly--nothing too challenging. But the piece really calls out for an open-chord sound with droning strings and it just sounds BETTER with a capo and the open chords against the melody line. That's not about knowing my instrument or practicing. It's about the sound.

[DavidKOS]

I'm playing in a show now that includes a big production number in Eb with a horn section, huge chorus, etc. The melody and chords are simple and easy to play in Eb--no harder than Bb or F, certainly--nothing too challenging. But the piece really calls out for an open-chord sound with droning strings and it just sounds BETTER with a capo and the open chords against the melody line. That's not about knowing my instrument or practicing. It's about the sound.

This is the right way to use a capo, the decision is based on musical choices not limitations.

[allenhopkins]

Must we flog this dead horse for another few pages and few dozen posts??

Use a capo if you want to; don't use one if you don't. I use one "once in a blue moon" on mandolin, but fairly regularly on mandola, octave mandolin and mandocello. I often like to use open strings, and also have parts worked out for certain songs, that sometimes need to be "moved" for a different singer's vocal range. Rather than re-learn them in the new key, I keep the part and use a capo.

There should be no shame attached to capo use. As others have said, it's just a tool, not necessarily a crutch, and IMHO not worth arguing about over and over. However, one of my older guitarist friends keeps referring to his capo as a "cheater;" says that's what everyone called them when he was learning guitar. Guess that's the attitude that recruits people into the Capo Police.

[Franc Homier Lieu]

What I can't figure out is why Cal resurrected this thread yesterday. He posted in 19 old threads about tuners and this one. Perhaps he knew he was going down in a spamming blaze of glory, and decided to start the capo discussion (for my money worse than tonerite, BC, and A Vs. F threads put together) as a final diabolical gesture. Well done Cal. Well done indeed.

[OldSausage]

"Fly, you fools!"

[Randy Smith]

What I can't figure out is why Cal resurrected this thread yesterday. He posted in 19 old threads about tuners and this one. Perhaps he knew he was going down in a spamming blaze of glory, and decided to start the capo discussion (for my money worse than tonerite, BC, and A Vs. F threads put together) as a final diabolical gesture. Well done Cal. Well done indeed.

Old threads, like Dracula, lie just waiting to be brought to life once more. After this current capo thread slips back on the General Mandolin Discussion pages, it will reappear and look for more blood. Keep your cross near your laptop.

[Petrus]

Must we flog this dead horse for another few pages and few dozen posts??

That seems to be how the Cafe rolls.

Up next: F style vs. A style!

[Nashville]

Just because you've already seen the gold faucets in the men's room doesn't mean the rest of us don't want to take a peak. Newbies like me haven't had our horses flogged yet! :-)

[allenhopkins]

Just because you've already seen the gold faucets in the men's room doesn't mean the rest of us don't want to take a peak. Newbies like me haven't had our horses flogged yet! :-)

So we're taking a pee(k) in the men's room? Didn't know we'd be "going" there…

Far be it from me to discourage the curiosity of yout', but a quick search on "capo" will yield a rich crop of long, contentious threads. To summarize: some think mandolins are unsuited for capos (short scale, tuning problems); some think capo use is evidence of laziness and mediocre musicianship (real mandolinists learn how to play fluently in every key without a capo); some think a capo is a useful tool in the ol' toolbox (like the "open string/first position" sound in keys where it's nearly impossible to achieve without using a capo).

I'm firmly in the third camp, but even more, I'm weary, weary, weary of the same arguments being hashed over by successive generations of Cafe´-ers. No one really gets convinced, tempers flare, and we're gonna do what we're gonna do regardless of what others may think.

I ordered a new Shubb radius-fingerboard capo for Xmas, and I don't care what better mandolinists think. I'm gonna clamp it on the neck of my Lehmann five-course, and wail away in E♭ to my heart's content. And -- forbear from posting on "capo" threads (New Year's Resolution #17).

[Petrus]

Third camp FTW. I have personal experience that disproves the "too short scale" argument (5th or 7th fret capo for a quickie temporary piccolo or soprano mando!) Also, to make a very long story short (and I'm not going over seven pages to see if this has been mentioned already) open strings and closed strings don't sound precisely alike: the seventh-fret D on your G string doesn't sound exactly the same as your open D string even if your intonation seems exact to the ear. Also, you can't do vibrato on an open string, etc. (Old-timers know all this, 'natch.)

I might be going too far if I admit that I've actually capoed on the 12th fret ... let everyone flog their own horse on their own time (preferably not in the men's room!)

[Petrus]

Minor correction ... having just tried it, I realize it's impossible to capo on the 12th fret due to the neck heel. But I can capo up to the 8th. And I've been known to play mando with a slide, and emando with a violin bow. Sounds weird, but the effect is mind-blowing through an amp. Yeah I know Page did it first. Also Jón Þór Birgisson (from Sigur Ros) bows his guitar on occasion. You can't do all four strings/courses properly due to the lack of a curved bridge, but you can get the first and fourth courses very well, or all four courses at once.

[farmerjones]

wondering if I posted now, would it pop the thread to 7 pages?

[derbex]

Must we flog this dead horse for another few pages and few dozen posts??

I am into sadism, bestiality and necrophilia, am I floggong a dead horse? Or just an old joke?

[Hallmark498]

So we're taking a pee(k) in the men's room? Didn't know we'd be "going" there…

Far be it from me to discourage the curiosity of yout', but a quick search on "capo" will yield a rich crop of long, contentious threads. To summarize: some think mandolins are unsuited for capos (short scale, tuning problems); some think capo use is evidence of laziness and mediocre musicianship (real mandolinists learn how to play fluently in every key without a capo); some think a capo is a useful tool in the ol' toolbox (like the "open string/first position" sound in keys where it's nearly impossible to achieve without using a capo).

I'm firmly in the third camp, but even more, I'm weary, weary, weary of the same arguments being hashed over by successive generations of Cafe´-ers. No one really gets convinced, tempers flare, and we're gonna do what we're gonna do regardless of what others may think.

I ordered a new Shubb radius-fingerboard capo for Xmas, and I don't care what better mandolinists think. I'm gonna clamp it on the neck of my Lehmann five-course, and wail away in E♭ to my heart's content. And -- forbear from posting on "capo" threads (New Year's Resolution #17).

FYI -The quick search has NEVER worked for me.

There is nothing wrong with with a capo on it. Some will look down on it others will not, I could care less unless it makes you out of tune. But when I do see someone do it I remember what my Father said when I first started playing "dont use a CAPO."

[JeffD]

Ahh well.

[jaycat]

. . . some think a capo is a useful tool in the ol' toolbox (like the "open string/first position" sound in keys where it's nearly impossible to achieve without using a capo).

Maybe I'm missing something, but when you capo an open string, doesn't it become a closed string?

[Franc Homier Lieu]

Maybe I'm missing something, but when you capo an open string, doesn't it become a closed string?

Closed strings vs. open strings? Maybe I misjudged these capo threads:

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/conten...ng-theory.html

[JeffD]

Maybe I'm missing something, but when you capo an open string, doesn't it become a closed string?

Open, in the context of this discussion at least, means not fingered.

[MarkusSpiel]

I use it on the octavemando.

[jaycat]

Open, in the context of this discussion at least, means not fingered.

Doesn't "open string sound" connote a more ringing sustain than you would get with a fingered note?

[Eddie Sheehy]

Step away from the Capo and no one will get hurt...

[Franc Homier Lieu]

Doesn't "open string sound" connote a more ringing sustain than you would get with a fingered note?

EDIT: Yes.

[JeffD]

Doesn't "open string sound" connote a more ringing sustain than you would get with a fingered note?

Well I am not sure. I think when you use the capo and play the strings that are not fingered, they ring out and sustain. More so than if you fingered the same note. (Well maybe not if you fingered and held it as long and tight, I never tried.)

Depending on the nut I am not sure the difference between an open string and capoed string would be that much. Especially if there was a zero fret. Maybe.

But I think of open meaning I am not fingering a note on that string, just playing the string as it is, and letting it ring through whatever else I might be doing on other strings. Capo lets me do that further up the neck. I am not sure the sonic difference would be much, just the pitch obviously would be higher.