| Some musicians consider a capo to be only for less advanced musicians. More than a "cheater tool," capo's can be very effective in creating a crisp, clear, open sound - especially on the acoustic guitar. A capo allows you to play a song in the key of Eb with the chord formations of D - creating a beautiful open-string sound.
Many years ago, Billy Foote was playing around with new form of a capo called the "Short-Cut Capo." Essentially, a cut capo leaves some of the strings open - namely, strings 1 (E), 5 (B) and 6 (E). This has the effective of creating a variation on tuning without having to actually retune the guitar. Billy's creativity flowed from the capo so much that he was inspired to write a song that you may know: "You Are My King."
More and more worship leaders are now picking up a Short-Cut Capo to add to their tool box, and lending new-found creativity to their way of playing guitar. In fact, for many formally difficult chords and chord progressions, the Cut Capo makes them more simple to play, with a rich, open resonating sound.
The Short-Cut Capo is primarily used on the second fret for the key of E. However, if you want to use it in the key of F, simply put your full capo on the first fret, and the Cut capo on the third fret. The picture to the left would be an example of the Cut Capo being used in the key of F#.
When positioning the capo, Make sure to place the it right up next to
the fret bar as is pictured. Doing this will provide better intonation and also allows you to
reach the bass note in the F#m position. To play in a different key, a second capo is
used. For instance, place a full capo on the 3rd fret and the Short-Cut Capo on the 5th
fret to play in the key of G.
The Short-Cut Capo is very useful in worship leading because of the “droning” sound
effect it gives. It lends itself to the Celtic and acoustic rock styles -- songs like “Open the
Eyes of My heart,” “Let Everything That Has Breath,” “Be Glorified.”
Many songs today are written with simple chord progressions like E, F#m, A, B (I Could
Sing of Your Love Forever) or G, D, Em, C (Jesus, Lover of My Soul). The Short-Cut
Capo makes those simple progressions more simple to play. Taking your mind off the
chord changes and allowing the player more freedom in playing. Many opportunities to“hammer on” as well as to create new rhythms are possible.
Here is one progression…
The solid bar represents the Short-Cut Capo. The fingerings are much more simplistic
than playing these open chords …
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This article adapted from Mitch Bohannon. You can contact Mitch at mitch@bos-capos.com.
© 2002 Mitch Bohannon
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