To Capo or Not

black nalu

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That is the question. I noticed that James Hill can change tuning at will--without a tuner. I guess he has perfect pitch. What a great asset! I know some songs sound better tuned a half or full step higher that gCEA. Question: is it better to retune or to capo? How does it affect the strings and tension say on a concert uke, over time or is this a non issue? I know a lot of tunes played on a resonator uke appear to sound better played 1/2 to 1 step higher. How high above gCEA can you safely tune?
 
Capo is quick and consistent. ;)
 
Aloha Black Nalu,
A person Of James Hill calliber, I'm sure he has his own adjusted tunings
where maybe he tunes strings individually different. With a capo it's
even all across...Just a guess.. anybody thinks it's possible... or maybe it's just for convience.HMMM
"Keep on strumming them strings" Ukuleles are for ever!!!MM Stan..
 
I have tried several capos and they all seem to get in the way.
There are some folks who are purists and think using a capo is silly, not me.
For example: You have work really hard to learn a great lead/chord melody in lets say "G". You go to jam and some one says lets play this in "A".
All you need to do is slap the capo on and you can look like a wizard.
You are playing a higher key, but all your finguring is the same.
Two problems, if they go to high you will run out of frets and worse they say lets play in "F"
There are no reverse capos.
Personally for one step up, I will just do a quick re-tune. For big jams I carry a second tenor uke tuned "DGBE".
Between the two ukes, some re-tuning and my trusty capo I pretty much covered.
 
You don't need perfect pitch to retune quickly without a tuner. Just practice.
 
When I used Worth Brown strings on my ukulele, I tuned to Bb instead of C. When I tuned to C with the Worths, the sound was just a little too thin for me. I would either play a step lower or transpose the chords.

I have been able transpose on the fly, but if I was playing with someone my "on the fly" skills have diminished enough to where I'd rather capo.

If I just wanted to change tuning, I'd probably re-tune... or bring a second uke... of course with multiple different re-tunings that would be pretty cumbersome and expensive.

John
 
Apologies for off topic, but it's kinda... affiliated... and I figgered here is better than starting a new thread.

So, I learned and have been playing "Hey Soul Sister" in C (C G Am F) because a) I am a baritone (baritenor at best) and can sing it in that key and b) I'm still starting out and it's a LOT easier to play those chords... and c) I'm working on playing and singing at the same time. Still can't do it, but I'm getting there.

Anyway, the band I sing with wants me to bring my ukulele to the next gig to play for the female singer who, of course, does it in the original key.

Now, I'm going to try to get it down but, seeing as I JUST got the Em down, I'm not sure that I'm going to be able to play it properly.

Would a capo allow me to play it with the chord shapes as I know them? If so, which fret? The 4th, no?

Ordinarily, I'd say that I'm not ready, but the gig is a tribute to a friend of mine who died recently and he loved that song (and "Over the Rainbow", which I think I'll be doing at the concert, either singing and playing or just playing), so I kinda want to do it.

Thanks for the help.
 
How is your uke tuned ?
What key do you want to play it in with the shapes you know?
I am assuming you know the "C" shape chords.
Using your shapes:
Capo 2 will be in key of "D"
Capo 4 will be "E"
Capo 5 will be "F"
etc.
You can also tune your uke to ADF#B (up one step)
you can then capo accordingly and still have some space on the neck.
 
Okay, so here's a question. If I have a dGBE baritone, what are the keys on the various capo'd frets? In other words, if I put the capo on fret one, what key am I in? Capo 2? etc?
 
Okay, so here's a question. If I have a dGBE baritone, what are the keys on the various capo'd frets? In other words, if I put the capo on fret one, what key am I in? Capo 2? etc?

You need a little music theory.
Each fret is a half step.
 
If it is easier, use the capo. No point in beating yourself up over what is "right". Do what works for you. Heck, there are lots of things that James Hill can do that most people cannot.

You say music theory? Some of the best $$ you will EVER spend-

http://www.edly.com/mtfpp.html
 
Okay, so here's a question. If I have a dGBE baritone, what are the keys on the various capo'd frets? In other words, if I put the capo on fret one, what key am I in? Capo 2? etc?

That depends what key your song is in.
If you play an A chord with no capo. and you move the capo down from 1st to the 12th fret and play the same fingering (open A) you get.

A#, B, C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#, A (One octave higher)

I'll use a capo on a Baritone, I have a friend that uses one on his tenor. Kind of sucks the sound out of them if you go much higher than the third fret. Don't use at all on the concert or Soprano.

You can tune any healthy Soprano and concert up to A D F# B with no problems.
 
I found that they get in the way of my hands on my ukes. Although I haven't tried it on a Tenor size...

Does not work for me on Soprano for sure.
Cheers,
Skottoman
 
In my experience, using a guitar-sized capo on a concert scale ukulele...doesn't work that well. It got in the way of my hand (especially for the D chord shape), and caused a fair amount of buzzing. I bet these problems wouldn't have been as bad if I used a larger scale and a smaller capo. In any case, I don't see any problem with using a capo, so long as it does what you need it to do.
 
In my experience, using a guitar-sized capo on a concert scale ukulele...doesn't work that well. It got in the way of my hand (especially for the D chord shape), and caused a fair amount of buzzing. I bet these problems wouldn't have been as bad if I used a larger scale and a smaller capo. In any case, I don't see any problem with using a capo, so long as it does what you need it to do.

That's what I found out. When I ordered my soprano flea the order form had a place for ordering a ukulele capo, but I figured I could just use my guitar one. I figured wrong. On the bright side, I've gotten much better at transposing on the fly-er-I mean flea!
 
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