Who the cap-o fit

When looking around on YouTube for videos that teach you how to play guitar I'd seen many of them included the word "capo" in the title. I had no idea what one of them was - to me capo is a donkey who Celtic once signed or something a Spanish superhero would wear.

 

Bet you were expecting this to be the Celtic bloke but no, it's Luca Toni - who once won the capocannoniere, another capo thing with nothing to do with guitar



At first it looked as if I'd be able to get away with having to find out what one was as the first couple of songs on Andy's website could be played without one. After that things started getting a bit trickier so it was time to educate myself.

A capo clips onto the guitar at whichever fret you chose and changes the sound the strings make when you strum them. You still use the same chord shapes as before and where the capo has been clipped on is effectively the top of the fretboard. Normally you would play an E chord by putting your fingers on the first and second frets. If you put a capo on, for example, the third fret then you make the same shape but put your fingers on the fourth and fifth frets. This then lets you play songs using the easier chords rather than learning ones that are rather more complex when you're a beginner.

Having found out what one was, I needed to get my hands on one. A quick search of eBay revealed you could get them for a couple of quid - the only downside seeming to be they came from China (despite claiming it had been dispatched from Glasgow). As a temporary measure I tried to make my own using some internet instructions, a pen and two rubber bands. It's fair to say this did not go well. I briefly dabbled in playing a few of the lessons from level two, where another chord is introduced, but while I managed to struggle through a few it was clear I needed to wait until the prodigal capo arrived. Meanwhile I practiced the songs I had already tried.

A homemade capo like the one I tried to make. Do not try this at home - not for safety reasons, it's just a waste of time.



Finally it arrived - at a time when I couldn't play my guitar for a few days. Typical. A few more days waiting was required before I could finally be unleashed in all my capo goodness.

The first classic song to be assaulted by my unique brand of guitar playing was Love Me Do by The Beatles. This was a good start as the rhythm is very similar to Three is a Magic Number, which I had been practicing for a few days. Even better is the fact it's actually slower than that so is fairly straightforward to pick up. It was also probably the first time I'd tried to base my strumming pattern on the lyrics while playing along to the real song, rather than counting notes in my head. Whether or not this is good in the long run only time will tell. However, it seemed to go OK.

The capo in all its glory



Up next a song from Pulp Fiction, although sadly not the one everyone knows from the start of the film. Instead this was the Chuck berry number that John Travolta and Uma Thurman dance to. This took a bit of getting used to as I tried to judge the speed of the rhythm (for this reason I had given up on an Ed Sheerin number. He may be a fellow ginger but that didn't seem to help me) and it was also rather repetitive - eight bars of A followed by eight bars of E and repeat for the whole thing. Doesn't seem the most challenging on paper.



The same could not be said for another Beatles' song - Paperback Writer. This seemed simple enough when played without the song which I'll be honest and say I didn't really know until I tried to play along to it. For a beginner guitarist like me it seemed to be quicker than Usain Bolt and I had to abandon repeated attempts to play along to it. I had to watch Andy's video two or three times to try to get it right and I'll be honest and say I'm probably still not there, although I am getting better. practice makes perfect and all that - an adage that is definitely true for learning the guitar.

If I'd tried Paperback Writer like this it probably couldn't have been any worse.



In my view the capo doesn't really change things. As long as you get it in the right place the rest of playing is the same as before. You just have to adapt to where your fingers are meant to go. In fact, I actually found it easier at times to change between chords than when I was playing normally, which was a bit unexpected!

Playing along to songs seems to be my biggest problem at the moment, or rather judging when to play along to them. I'm not talking about the act of playing the chord sequences in time, more when to actually join in with the music. This was my problem with the final two songs in level one, which are both from U2. Elevation - which introduces some simple, single finger playing stuff for the first time, I can do - but you can't really play it the whole way through. It's a similar problem with When Love Comes to Town - a song I didn't really know. I can play it fine in "offline" mode if you like, with no music playing - then I get confused by the song changing and not going as expected. Suppose it will come to me.

Battering a wasp camera is very much like playing the guitar.

Anyway, in my mind I have managed to complete level one - in the same way I used to complete levels in The Simpsons: Hit and Run game. In that you could complete the tasks and move onto the next level, however there were loads of extra bits like collecting trading cards and kicking wasp cameras (don't ask). I feel I have completed the targets set at the start of level one: I can play the chords from memory, I can play A and E in a variety of sequences and I can play along to at least three of the songs. There are still bits to perfect - it would be great to play along to all 10 songs - but I feel ready to move onto the next level.



 



And that's where things get a bit harder - because that's where I need to learn another chord.;