capo for bass

well, as discussed, capos for bass are used when there's a need to play many chords in the song. it depends on the individual person's style and preference. we cannot fault a person for using a capo if it's useful for him. :cool:
 
Just a question as I'm quite puzzled... is there any difference using a capo if you aren't playing any chords?

Say the band goes up one key (1 tone), isn't that simply just playing 2 frets higher than normal? With a capo you capo the 2nd fret and shift everything up by 2. Now isn't that the same without any capo?

Only difference I see is with a capo you can still play the open string. Unless that really is the crux of the matter I'm quite curious how it'll make any difference.
thats is basically the crux of the matter. u got it man... but who says you only play open strings when you play chords? if i play the riff of hysteria by muse half a step higher... can you transpose?

someone mentioned using finger as capo... i think that is called barre chord?
 
Ask somebody good to transposed the song in different keys just write the new keys transposition besides the original keys on your song sheet or on a piece of paper . You will be more professional :) rather than using a capo
 
someone mentioned using finger as capo... i think that is called barre chord?[/QUOTE said:
Barred chord is use in guitar. Say you play a Am fingering barred on the 2nd fret, you get a Bm chord. Think what i mentioned earlier is not really called a barred chord (or maybe it is :))

Quoting from an interview with Jaco for the song "Portrait of Tracy"(finger as capo):

Everything but the Eb has a natural harmonic; you have to press down on the A string at the B note (second fret) and then you have to touch the string on top of the Eb.
If you don't have big hands you won't get this. You touch the string on top of the Eb or it's really a D sharp and you get the D sharp on top of the B. So it's like you're using your first finger as a capo. So then you get the D sharp and pick the open F sharp and B right from the D and the G string and you hit a low E and you also touch it a bit and you get a G sharp or a minor 3rd. So you've got the five, the nine, the three on the bottom, and a major 7th in the middle. And you've got the bass note because you're hitting the bass note and the G sharp.

For full interview pls read from JacoPastorius.com : Interviews : Portrait of Jaco (1978)
 
only real useful reason i can think of for using a capo on bass would be if you want to play something with lots of open string drones and trills, like 0-2-3-0-5-0-7-9-0 sort of stuff.

but even then there's always a way around it.

the best reason i can think of would be just to make the familiar a little more unfamiliar! which is good to do for practice's sake.
 
I agree with Visa. A capo can only be useful to a certain degree. Practice makes perfect, so get to know your fretboard better! Learn to shift keys would be a very useful skill, especially during impromptu jams.
 
bro, for key changes, rather than capo-ing you might want to remember by intervals instead.. esp where the chord structure is relatively simple. for e.g. if you're playing G-Em-Am-D, you could try thinking of it as I-VIm-IIm-V.

so, if you have a new band frontman / worship leader who likes to sing in say, even some wierd key of Db, you can just anchor your fretting finger on the Db (root / 'I'), and play your I-VIm-IIm-V thing. you might not even need to know what chord you're playing... as long as you know the relative positioning of the intervals to your root, you'll be fine :)

just a couple of other quickies:
- my view on victor wooten's hair scrungie thing is not so much for voicing, but more for muting of notes. especially when both hand are off the fretboards. i tried learning that briefly, and i must say its really tough to keep all your the strings silent when your left hand is not there to do the muting. even if you fret / tap / slap cleanly, the impact on the bass or the sympathetic resonance of the others string in response to your vibrating string will cause some noise. a borrowed hair scrungie does wonders.

- as primarily a six string bass player, i think putting a capo would just make things more confusing rather than easier for chording. at most, i might capo a couple of low strings if i really need to play an open string and not sound a B/E/A. but its most likely not needed or recommended.

- do note that some bass fretboards can be curved, which would make using a capo unfeasible. also, most bass necks can get pretty broad and chunky - simply too big to capo. so... try not to get dependent on it :)
 
To check out wat Victor wooten did for the hair tie beside muting (some creative ideas, and harmonics), pls check out his dvd with drummer carter beauford (Making Music). There is a part where victor was sharing at the camp and someone asked him about the double thumb technique.

Pardon me if I used the word "voicing" carelessly.

I vi ii V is a nice jazz progression. in key of G - Gmaj7 Em7 Am7 D7
Some people use nashville number system - 1 6 2 5
Personally, using the capo on bass will confuse me but using on guitar is fine:)

Cheers
 
Last edited:

Latest posts

Back
Top