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Capo on a bass ??

#41
I've seen some players use capos for a different sound while slapping, tapping, or otherwise doing peculiar things. I think one of the bass's greatest draws is the effortless transposition, so capos aren't really needed for their usual intended function, but being able to change the pitch of open strings still has plenty of applications for pursuing new sounds and styles.

I hear they straight-up murder your frets though.

--^@
 
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#42
9Thumbs said:
I'm playing more and more upright. I like open strings a lot. If the guitarist wanted to change the key of one of my "easy" (rest my hands) songs, I'd probably start to cry and lie on my face kicking and punching the floor 'til he gave up.
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I also play upright on occasion, usually country, bluegrass, Americana stuff and they tend use open strings a lot. Mostly due to the tunings of the other instruments (fiddle, mando, banjo, dobro). I take advantage of the open strings where I can, but am always ready to change to closed strings when that weird guy calls a song in C# ... :)
 
#43
Mushroo said:
A capo changes the note names (but not the pitch!) of every note on the neck. For example, if you put a capo on the 2nd fret, that becomes your new "E" (even though it sounds like F#), the 3rd fret is called F (even though it sounds like G) and so on up the neck.
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It changes neither. That capo F is still an F. What changes is the shapes and patterns one will use in open vs capo'd.
 
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#44
I've used them some. Normally I don't bother, but we were doing a "band-a-roke" thing for while where we'd play random requests from the crowd while they sang. It was nice for songs I didn't know where the only tabs I could find were guitar tabs for "capo XX". Throw on a capo and wing it was much easier than transposing on the fly while playing a song I had never heard before.
 
#48
Lots of ignorance here what a capo is and how it is used in actual performance practice.

A capo turns a string instrument into a transposing instrument (like an Eb saxophone or Bb trumpet). If a guitarist wants to play a song in the key of Bb, but with the sound of open chord shapes, as opposed to barre chords, he puts a capo at the 3rd fret. Then he can play G-C-D but it will sound as Bb-Eb-F.

A capo is simply a tool for altering the pitch range of your instrument to different possibilities other than standard tuning, just like a hipshot detuner, 5 string bass, or pitch shift pedal. As with any other tool, uncreative players will use it uncreatively, and creative players will use it creatively.
 
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#50
RustyAxe said:
As an acoustic guitarist (too) I use a capo to get different chord voicings and such. Personally, since I started playing bass in 1967 I have never seen anyone capo a bass. I'm sure with a little effort you could play that song in F. In another thread I was disparaged for saying I liked playing fretted notes even when there's an open string available. Here, my friends, is a prime example of why.
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I also will use a capo on an acoustic, but have never done so on a bass. I typically will use a fretted note where an ope is available, but If I want the sound of an open string will use it. Fretting a note gives me much more control.
 
#52
The main way capo is used on guitar is to move the cowboy chords up the neck and get them in different keys. I've also seen them used in many other creative ways, as elsewhere noted. But their main function is obviated by the fact that we as bassists don't play those chords - our chords are *usually different. That said, as others have pointed out, you can do loads of interesting things with open strings, so I would be open to using a capo for that - like letting a note drone under a line, or playing nice open sounding chords, or slapping. That said, I don't, and I probably won't. But I am certainly not threatened by the idea, lol.
 
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#55
By the way, bass is a transposing instrument, too. It sounds one octave lower than written. So, any time someone is composing or arranging music for us, they must make a mental adjustment and transpose to a different octave. In light of this fact, I tend to cut capo-using guitarists some slack (as well as horns and other transposing instruments) and extend them the same courtesy that they are extending to me.
 
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#58
superheavyfunk said:
What Mushroo said makes sense, if you look at it from a guitarists perspective, trying to play in first position.


What? The fifth from B is E, not A.
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upload_2016-11-3_10-52-1.png

I feel really stupid. I thought I read EADG. Never mind.
 
#59
QweziRider said:
Yeah, I have. It's called the daggone insufferable "transpose button." Seen far too many use that and forget to transpose back to another key for the next song.
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Yes, I've seen that happen, and had it happen to me. Again, it depends on WHY one uses the transpose feature. Personally, when playing with this band or that act, I find the same songs come up but in different keys. Learning them in C and transposing as needed means I don't have to transpose on the fly every time I sit in. Just gotta be quick with the left hand to get to where I need to be, or soldier on transposing on the fly if I can.
 
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