Difficulty: medium

The Capodasto

The Capo acts as a barre. When we do a "Capo 3rd", we are barring the 3rd fret, and can therefore play a G Major Barre chord simply by fingering an E Major chord.

Normal - G Major Barre Chord              Capo 3rd - G Major

                      

Explanation:

The first chord is a normal G Major Barre chord. The second chord shows how a G Major Barre chord is played with a Capo on the 3rd. It looks like an E major chord, but if you listen to it, its definitely G Major.

Here is a simple capo chord chart.

The 'No Capo' column refers to the original chord. 'Capo 1' means a Capo is placed on the first fret, and so on. The chords in each column tell you what the original chord will now be, with a capo on that particular location.

No Capo	Capo 1	Capo 2	Capo 3	Capo 4
A	Bb	B	C	C#/Db
Am	Bbm	Bm	Cm	C#m
B	C	C#/Db	D	Eb
Bm	Cm	C#m	Dm	Ebm
C	Db	D	Eb	E
D	Eb	E	F	F#
Dm	Ebm	Em	Fm	F#m
E	F	F#	G	Ab
Em	Fm	F#m	Gm	Abm
F	F#	G	Ab	A
G	Ab	A	Bb	B

 

For example, we saw above how the E chord played with a Capo on the 3rd fret is actually a G Major chord. If we look at E in the 'No Capo' column, and follow it to the 'Capo 3' column, we see that it is indeed a G chord.

As you have probably guessed, the capo will change a lot of the rules we have come to learn about the fretboard.