Playing bass at jams when guitars use capos

[GregT]

Last night I played bass pretty much all night at an acoustic jam. It seems like almost every song had a capo on a different fret. Is there any advice anyone can give me about backing up people when they use capos. I am a competent guitarist so I had no problem seeing what they were playing as far as chords. I was having a hard time transposing them quickly enough to be on time. I usually had it by the middle of the song just fine, but I'd like to be able to get there a little quicker.

 

[lz4005]

Ignore the capo and concentrate on what the root of the chord is. Concert pitch, not transposed pitch.
E is E and F is F. Putting a capo at the first fret doesn't magically make F into E.

 

[MalcolmAmos]

I normally ask the keyboard what they will play the song in. No keyboard, then you gotta know a couple of things.

1. What's the sheet music in before the capo came into the picture. Beyond that I'd have to know;
2. What fret is the capo on?
3. With the capo in place what key is he playing in?

From that I can take a peek at my handy dandy capo chart and figure what is going on.

If the capo is on the 3rd fret and he is playing D, G, A stuff the original sheet music was in F. You could walk this, but, I'm in this capo situation so seldom I'd rely on the chart as my cheat sheet.

Going to a jam session where I know capos will be used the chart would be with me. Yep it's glued to the top of my amp.

 

[GregT]

Thank you! Your handy dandy capo cart is now my handy dandy capo chart!

 

[quickfix]

Forget the capo. Play the song in the key that you hear.
For instance...2nd fret capo and G shape is the key of A. Play the key of A.
2nd fret capo C shape is the key of D. Play in the key of D. Ad Nauseum.
Learn to recognize what the key is and roll with the punches.
Glance at the guitarist's grips at the beginning of the tune, but then look away and play without reference to his/her playing. Play your instrument (bass, guitar, keyboard, fiddle) in accordance with what the song requires.

I'm not sure why folks can't simply play the appropriate chords for the keys required by their voices, but...whatever. I guess not everyone wants to be a guitarist, but would rather just be a singer with a "reasonable" ability to accompany themselves.

Just remember that it's all about the music.

 

[jasmangan]

Makes no difference. Play the song in the correct key and your good. Of course, if the guitar player is unsure of the key and looking to you to follow his hands…your f****d

 

[GregT]

I'm not sure why folks can't simply play the appropriate chords for the keys required by their voices, but...whatever. I guess not everyone wants to be a guitarist, but would rather just be a singer with a "reasonable" ability to accompany themselves.

I agree totally. Out of the couple hundred songs I play on guitar, I capo only two because James Taylor did and Tom Petty did on their respective songs. I took my bass to the jam with the intention of playing bass for anyone who wanted me to. Pretty much everyone did.

I play bass AND guitar. I don't ever want to sound like a guitarist who plays bass. I appreciate the input. I think I will do better next week.

 

[GregT]

Makes no difference. Play the song in the correct key and your good. Of course, if the guitar player is unsure of the key and looking to you to follow his hands…your f****d

That's it exactly. They didn't know the key they were in so I needed to figure it out quickly so I could support the music in a professional way.

 

[quickfix]

I play bass AND guitar. I don't ever want to sound like a guitarist who plays bass. I appreciate the input. I think I will do better next week.

I hear ya but...the only bass player that I know that doesn't play guitar at all sounds like $#!t on bass.
I basically played rhythm guitar like a bass player all my life. Kind of a reversal. No one ever asked me to play lead but I was in demand as a rhythm player. Didn't really understand where that came from until I started playing the bass again after 40 years. I realized it was because I did both as a preteen. Never used a capo though.

 

[Old Blastard]

If they are playing a C-shape chord and they have a capo on the second fret, just move the key up one full step to D and play it in D. It gets confusing when they put the damn capos on the 4th fret or something like that, but all they are doing is taking the key ... let's say G ... and moving it up a half step for every fret they capo. So if the key is G and they put the capo on the second fret, the key is actually A. Your I is A, your IV is D and your V is E.

 

[Old Blastard]

If the guitarist doesn't know what key he's in but you can read the chord shapes that are being played, do the same thing and move what you play up the same number of frets that they capo.

 

[MalcolmAmos]

If the guitarist doesn't know what key he's in but you can read the chord shapes that are being played, do the same thing and move what you play up the same number of frets that they capo.

I don't ask a guitarist what key it just confuses the issue. They follow the chords and do not care what key. They capo when they have to play an F chord or the song is in a key - like B - and they never learned the fingering for F and that F# really messed them up.

Of course LOL

 

[Humbled]

When someone calls a song and can't tell me what key they intend to play it in, I'm a bit annoyed, but press on by looking at the chord they're starting on, and if they're capo'd just add a semitone for every fret they've capo'd up, and vi-o-la, you know where to start.

 

[GregT]

I was kinda thinking this was something everyone had to deal with. It was just my first time being the bassist at an open mic acoustic jam. I'm sure I will get better at adjusting to the capos. All this has helped me to get some ideas. Last week at an electric jam, the guitarist played Can't Get enough of Your Love....in D. Then Rocket Man.... he just said the key and I was good to go. I guess since it was my first time with the capos, it really threw me off and I felt like I needed to go home and figure this out.

 

[samson3382]

When someone calls a song and can't tell me what key they intend to play it in, I'm a bit annoyed, but press on by looking at the chord they're starting on, and if they're capo'd just add a semitone for every fret they've capo'd up, and vi-o-la, you know where to start.

Exactly. It can be a even more of a challenge on upright.

I play in two bands that never use them and one that does all the time. I think switching is good practice though, good for intonation. As a bassist, if I want to sing a song I just have to find the right key for my voice and learn it.

 

[TortillaChip520]

I don't ask a guitarist what key it just confuses the issue.

I once asked a guitarist what key he was playing, and he said "Seven.... on the top string..."

 

[BazzTard]

my originals trio use a capo on 3 songs,as I was following their chart,I used a capo too.
Think I will re-write it so I don't need the capo,thanks for all the great advice.

 

[10cc]

Capos.

 

[MegaSwing]

Sound it out. Unless there is something truly arcane about the song, it will fall into some recognizable pattern, which as a bass player you should be able to cop. It's what we do.

 

[HolmeBass]

I go more the "look at the root" method. If a guitarist has the capo on the 3rd fret, and is playing an open G major chord form, it is pretty easy to see his "G" is concert Bb. Faster for me than transposing the G and every other chord in the song, although I suppose transposing would be better work for my music mind.