The Capo

Yesterday I was playing guitar with a friend and the subject of capos came up. I have nothing against capos, and in fact, I would love to get one of those Spider Capos, check them out! A quick way of setting up alternate tunings!

Anyway, when using a capo, how do you refer to the chords? We were playing a regular I-IV-V-II progression in the key of G and he decided to capo up to the third fret. Even though he was playing the same chords as I was down on open tuning, he was referring to them as the same chords, so for example, Capo 3 and playing a G pattern, he was actually playing a different chord.

Actually, it was a simple opportunity to refresh my memory, and to teach him how transposing works. And a reminder that I need to really focus on memorizing the bass notes of a guitar, but anyway, this was simple. The third fret on Capo 3 is a G. So, when playing a G pattern, he was actually an A chord. Correct me if I'm wrong, it's still too early in the morning for me!

In fact, this guy here has a much better description of transposing chords when using a capo!

http://www.guitartipsweekly.com/how-to-transpose-chords-with-a-guitar-capo/