Capo on a bass?

[StereoPlayer]

Our band down tunes to Eb for for vocal reasons. But some songs require a standard tuning…harmonica…and sometimes a vocal preference.

I do not like to use two basses at gigs. Period.

Now I either have to take two basses or transpose on the fly.
Some songs require, IMO, an open string…Psyco Killer as an example. For me anyways.

So…after playing bass since 1968 or so…for the very first time, I’m going to use a capo…

It’s so weird.

Discuss…or not…

 

[buldog5151bass]

No reason not to. If it works, it works.

 

[StereoPlayer]

I tried it this morning. Weird. It works. But still.
‘I also forgot to mention that I play fretless. It takes a little adjustment to get it right…

 

[Killing Floor]

Ned Steinberger design. Perfect.

And a capo is just another tool. No biggie.

 

[White Beard]

I like to tune D-A-D-G and capo at the third fret (F-C-F-Bb) on my ABG and I can get a pretty good approximation of the rhythm guitar of Street Fighting Man.

 

[StereoPlayer]

I tried it at rehearsal the other night. It’s persnickety with a fretless. Micro adjustments…
Overall…I did not like it…

 

[5StringBlues]

Probably time to build another bass.

 

[StereoPlayer]

Probably time to build another bass.

Fighting the urge…

 

[micguy]

It’s one way to do it. It’d actually make things harder for me - if you have perfect pitch or very good pitch retention, your brain fights you trying to play an open string that’s tuned differently than the pitch thst your brain associates with that string played open.

I play a standard tuned 5, and playing songs in C (one half step above the lowest note) is not a problem. Playing in E flat - also not a problem.

 

[StereoPlayer]

It’s one way to do it. It’d actually make things harder for me - if you have perfect pitch or very good pitch retention, your brain fights you trying to play an open string that’s tuned differently than the pitch thst your brain associates with that string played open.

I play a standard tuned 5, and playing songs in C (one half step above the lowest note) is not a problem. Playing in E flat - also not a problem.

I like open string sometimes. We play Psyco Killer, Talking Heads. I use both the A and the D string open in riffs. The guitarist downtune but play that song with a capo on the first fret. Standard tuning. I’m not taking 2 basses…

Other songs I like to riff between the open string and the octave up…like E.
I can play in any key that’s not the problem.

I’m just venting.

 

[HelpImaRock]

I love capos, especially as writing tools. My preference for the past 15 years or so has been Shubb.

 

[Bassngtr]

I play at church and while practicing the hour before we play, we are constantly experimenting with keys (all 4 of us sing) so depending on the song and who's singing lead (also considering if we're short staffed for the day) having a capo is really handy. Alternatively if we need to go lower than the written music, I just notate the chords transposed as needed. We are Agile.

We have a rotation of a few hundred songs so we play them 3 to 6 times a year at the most. Different songs every week depending on the readings.

 

[fretlessguy]

Sir Paul used a capo although I am not sure which bass or songs he used it on.