Ever capo a bass

[JeffKissell]

Originally Posted by mlz77096

I have a teacher and know about circle of 5ths, but not all the chords in every key. That would take me some thinking.. I've just never played outside D,G,A,C,F. I knew how I could do the Eb, but with a new idea and a tune I never heard before and not even a week to learn it, I guess retuning is the easy way out for the time being. I am going to look at how hard it would be just to shift the positions on the bass properly tuned.

I'm not one who said I don't need lessons. I was thrilled to find a teacher in my area.

Originally Posted by mlz77096

The end of this story is everyone did whatever to their instrument to play in Eb. I retuned, there just wasn't time for me to learn the new finger positions, and I had the D chord chart. Nicely said, the tune sounded not good. The consensus is we'll play it in D.

I guess I'm confused by this... the amount of effort required to transpose a song (chord changes) by 1/2 step can't be more effort than retuning your bass by a 1/2 step to play just one song. Even drawing a chart on a piece of paper to show where the new notes would be should only take a minute or two, especially if you have at least some idea of the circle of fifths(fourths) and you know where all the notes are for the changes in D.

Please have your teacher help you with ALL the notes in 1/2 position ASAP and your life will be much easier.

Good Luck,
Jeff

[Bass Doc]

Yes, I built a capo about 2 years ago when I was first starting to play. If took me weeks to design the damn thing. Basically a steel rod inside a plastic tube with an elastic back like a guitar capo. But I had to bend the rod in a vice to match the angle of my fingerboard.

I took the thing to every jam I went to and never used it even once. The fact is I was ashamed to put it on my my bass. I decided I would rather sit out a song than use it.

Later, I learned the Nashville number system and decided I didn't need it. Finally took it out of my bass case pocket about 3 months ago.

Doc

[hsech]

I played in a jazz trio that played most of it's material in Eb, Bb and F. Never thought about anything but learning to adapt. It's not hard to do on bass, much harder on guitar.

[M. Owen Santy]

A capo is never necessary with a bass - however sometimes (especially in studio) the tone of an "open note" (relative to capo) has much more sustain than one that has been fretted with fingers.

[sevenyearsdown]

I've never heard a bass player ask such a thing.

[hdiddy]

I've actually found a practical use for a capo. I think it's legit for use in which you need to change keys between tunes and you do alot of playing where you use open strings (like on the G) while you're playing another string (like the D). Hardly anybody plays in a way that requires that type of thing frequently but I'm learning from a local arco player who does that type of thing alot but he doesn't use a capo... at least not yet.

[wallawallabob]

I would think that putting a capo at the half position very often would be pretty hard on the strings unless the action is pretty low - Especially given how hard it is on my fingers to play in Eb and Bb....

[bdywzbrian]

I've seen a bluegrasser use a velco strap as a capo. It's cheap and it works. It's bluegrass, enough said!

[Jason Sypher]

No. No. No. The fastest way to make sure you'll never be a good musician is to take shortcuts. Once you really know how to play I think it's fine to add tools to make it easier to play at a high level, say "dot markers". I remember a friend who spent all his time trying to be a better bass player by 'outsmarting' the system. He bought five string basses so he wouldn't have to shift too much, he had a half sized bass made for him so he could get around the instrument more easily, he added fingerboard markings (out of place), added felt under the strings to mute them so he didn't have to mute with his hands, used solo strings so they would be easier to depress etc etc etc. In the ten years I knew him he never raised his game an inch. I've seen total beginners become very fine players in five years with the right instruction and strong work ethic. If you want to play the bass, learn to play the bass, don't cheat yourself out of all the rewards of music by trying to invent a better crutch....

[speedster]

[JeffKissell]

Originally Posted by Jason Sypher

...The fastest way to make sure you'll never be a good musician is to take shortcuts... If you want to play the bass, learn to play the bass, don't cheat yourself out of all the rewards of music by trying to invent a better crutch....

+1billion

[Jake deVilliers]

Originally Posted by Jason Sypher

If you want to play the bass, learn to play the bass,

Its just that easy, folks!

[Jazzdogg]

Tablature en lieu of standard notation; electronic tuners en lieu of ear training; capos en lieu of basic interval training: what's this world coming to?

If someone doesn't jump up and say we've all been punked, that this is a joke thread, I think I'm gonna cry.

[Jason Sypher]

Alert Ashton Kutcher

[MaxJohnson]

A gorilla could play the bass with a capo, markers and heavy amplification!

[relacey]

Originally Posted by Jason Sypher

No. No. No. The fastest way to make sure you'll never be a good musician is to take shortcuts. Once you really know how to play I think it's fine to add tools to make it easier to play at a high level, say "dot markers". I remember a friend who spent all his time trying to be a better bass player by 'outsmarting' the system. He bought five string basses so he wouldn't have to shift too much, he had a half sized bass made for him so he could get around the instrument more easily, he added fingerboard markings (out of place), added felt under the strings to mute them so he didn't have to mute with his hands, used solo strings so they would be easier to depress etc etc etc. In the ten years I knew him he never raised his game an inch. I've seen total beginners become very fine players in five years with the right instruction and strong work ethic. If you want to play the bass, learn to play the bass, don't cheat yourself out of all the rewards of music by trying to invent a better crutch....

+1

[DC Bass]

Originally Posted by Jason Sypher

No. No. No. The fastest way to make sure you'll never be a good musician is to take shortcuts...If you want to play the bass, learn to play the bass, don't cheat yourself out of all the rewards of music by trying to invent a better crutch....

I've been looking at TBDB for a long time- I lurked for many years before joining. I have read many a thread, and gotten an unbelievable amount of great advice and general knowledge from doing so. I'm not saying that I've "seen (or read) them all", but I have seen quite a bit.

In all my days of reading stuff on these boards, I do not think I have EVER seen a more valuable sentiment stated in a post...apologies for editing out the middle in my quote Jason.

This post should be a sticky at the top of EVERY subcatagory here.

Thanks Jason.

Sincerely,

Joe Gretz

[DC Bass]

Dig my sporty new sig!!!

I had to edit even more out to make it fit...but I think it still conveys the message.

Thanks again Jason.

Joe

[Stick_Player]

[Jason Sypher]

Nice capo