All you need to know about Guitar Capo

_{The Guitar Capo- A Boon For The Guitarists}

A Capo is used to change (raise) the key of your open chords. A capo is most commonly used by guitar players that aren't good at ‘barre’ chords, or for guitar riffs that require open strings in a key other than where open strings are available.
(In a ‘barre’ chord you use your fore-finger as a capo).

A capo can be used on an electric guitar as well. Even though it's electric, it's still a guitar (so same rules apply). Most famous people you see performing with electric guitars know ‘barre’ chords and don't need a capo.
You clamp the capo on the guitar to make a chord an octave higher or make it easier to perform more complicated chords. If it’s in a ‘sone’ it usually stays on the guitar during the whole song but occasionally one performer will remove it in the middle of the song. Usually electric guitars don't use them, but they can, if needed.
Beginning guitarists use capos to change the key of a song so they don't have to learn it in a new key to sing it. Advanced guitarists use capos to extend the range and possibilities of the guitar without constant retuning and detuning. It is also easier to employ a capo, than to purchase a ‘Quinto’ (guitar tuned up a fifth) or ‘requinto’ (guitar tuned up a fourth) and the strings generally last longer.

Capos come in different brands but the common kinds are the elastic capos (the nylon capos and the steel string capos), which are the least expensive and commonly used by guitar players.

To use the capo, attach it in any of the frets. Also make sure the clamp can hold all the strings down. Inspect for any kind of pulling of the guitar strings because it may result in the guitar sounding out of tune.
A special kind of capo, the third hand capo, is a gadget that can surely and easily clamp all the strings of the guitar in place. Like the ordinary capos, it allows the guitar player to play tunes that may be difficult to get or to play using the ‘barre’ guitar strings.

The basic premise of the capo is that, it shortens the length of your guitar's strings. You can technically place a capo anywhere on a guitar's neck, but most players typically don't attach it much higher than the seventh fret. The fret on the neck where you attach the capo now becomes your guitar's nut. For example, if you capo your guitar on the second fret, you have raised your guitar's pitch two half-steps or one whole step. That means that a chord you now play on your guitar (keeping in mind that you need to play the chord in relation to the capo now and not your guitar's nut) will be one whole step higher than it was without the capo. If you finger a D chord, what you will hear will be an E chord. If you finger an A chord you will hear a B chord, and so on. The idea is that if you want to play a song in D sharp, but don't want to learn the complicated way to play a first position D sharp on your guitar, you can simply capo your guitar on the first fret (raising the guitar's pitch one half step) and play a D chord like you normally would. The result is a chord that looks and feels like a D to you, but sounds like a D sharp to everyone else.

The important things to remember while using a capo are:

1) Figure out how your capo attaches to your guitar neck. There are several types of capos on the market today. Some are spring-loaded, others use an elastic type of material, and others are manually clamped to the fret-board by the guitarist. Whichever type you prefer, take a second to understand how it is supposed to hold the strings down to the fret-board.

2) Always attach your capo as close possible to the fret that you want to capo. For example, if you want to capo your guitar at the second fret, don't put the capo right in the middle of the space between the first and second frets, but rather slide it down so it's as close to the second fret as it can be. Don't put it on top of the second fret, but put it as close as it can be without touching it. This helps make sure you stay in tune.

3) Speaking of tuning, always check your tuning when you apply a capo. Often a guitar will have intonation issues, this means that the guitar might be in tune at the first fret but will get further out of tune as you move up the neck. Try to correct any problems with intonation by checking your tuning every time you apply a capo.

What songs are good for Beginner Guitarists

Learning to play the guitar has been enticing people universally. However the biggest hurdle they face in the process; is to play the chords of a song successfully. Although there are many ways by which you can learn how to play the guitar, mastering your first song is very rewarding and fun. Despite the fact that there are numerous songs, for strumming the guitar, song selection can be a tricky proposition. So, here are a few basic but fantastic tracks to play along to.

Many of R.E.M. songs, such as

1) Losing My Religion

2) Driver Eight

3) Love Is All Around

4) Man On The Moon are great for learning about song structure - intro, verse, chorus. These songs by R.E.M. can easily be learned by beginners and turned into nice solo arrangements.

5) ‘Hey There Delilah’ is a great song to learn for improving partial chords, playing with finger-style or pick, and making interesting chord changes on the fly.

6)‘Man on the Moon’ is a beautiful song that beginners can play easily and at the same time adding some nice touches for a solo arrangement.

7) ‘Help!’ is a classic Beatles song which can be used to get started on barre chords and learn a cool little guitar riff.

8) ‘Brain Damage/Eclipse’ by Pink Floyd; this song is geared to the nearly absolute beginner. A very simple strumming/picking pattern can be added to the basic chords already learnt.

9) ‘As Tears Go By’ by The Rolling Stones is a classic, and once the basics are in place, you can make the rest of the arrangement as simple or as complicated as you like.

10) ‘Folsom Prison Blues’ by Johnny Cash and ’Your Cheating Heart’ by Hank Williams, are two great country classics. They can be used by beginners to work on chord changes and strumming.

11) ‘Friend Of The Devil’, a song originally by the Grateful Dead is a very good song for beginners, because technically, it only uses four chords: G, C, D and Am.

12) ‘Eleanor Rigby’ by The Beatles is a simple, two-chord song and focuses on changing chords and strumming. You’ll also get a practical introduction to slash chords and, if you still need more to learn, there are a couple of fun and easy riffs for you to add. To play ‘Eleanor Rigby’, you’ll need to know two chords, Em and C.

13) ‘Nowhere Man’ by The Beatles is in the key of E. And is one of the easiest songs for beginner guitarists.

14) ‘Hurt’ by Johnny Cash is a basic verse, chorus, verse, chorus song with a short extension of the chorus tacked on to the end. The verses consist of two measures, which are repeated almost like a loop.

When all of these tracks can be played with confidence, the beginner guitarist can look forward to taking on ever more complex and difficult songs. Every beginner guitarist experiences frustration and problems with their play, at some time or the other. The most important thing to remember is that practice makes perfect.

Music Decoded-The Science Behind The Art.

Music decoded

The science behind the art.

Music has always been regarded as the most philosophical of all art forms, perhaps due to its exciting and invigorating blend of Arts and Science. This might be the reason why Indian Classical Music was referred to as ‘Shastriya Sangeetham’ until the term ‘Classical’ was borrowed from the West. ‘Shastriya Sangeetham’, if loosely translated, means ‘scientific music’. The reason behind this can be understood by the stress which the science of music (Musicology) gives on discipline, conformity and acoustic accuracy.

However, the beauty of Indian Classical Music is the immense freedom that allows the performer to practice the freedom of improvisation.

We can probe deeper into the science of music by getting the knowledge of certain technical aspects.

The basic requirement for creating music is sound. A sound is created by the vibratory motion of a body. These vibrations are transmitted into the air, producing acoustic waves, which causes vibrations in the tympanic membrane (eardrum).The auditory nerves being stimulated by these vibrations, carry the impulse to the brain, and the sound is heard.

These vibrations are sound waves. Basically, waves are distortions in a material that may be transverse, compression or a combination of these movements. Light, SOUND and AC electric waves are important waveforms. The characteristics of a waveform are wavelength, amplitude, velocity and frequency.

Explaining further, sound can be differentiated between two kinds:

1) Aahat 2) Anaahat

The Naad or musical sound has 3 characteristics:

1) Loudness

2) Pitch

3) Timber

A human voice has 3 Sthanas (positions):

1) Mandra (Lowest)

2) Madhya (Medium)

3) Tar (Highest)

Furthermore music can be divided into different octaves (Saptaks). In Indian music there are 3 Saptaks:

1) Mandra Saptak

2) Madhya Saptak

3) Tar Saptak

In each Saptak there are 12 notes or Swaras:

1) Sa or Sadja

2) Re or Rishab

3) Ga or Gandhar

4) Ma or Madhyam

5) Pa or Pancham

6) Dha or Dhaivat

7) Ni or Nishaad

There are 4 flat or Komal notes: Re, Ga, Dha, Ni

There is 1 sharp or Tivra note: Ma

Sa and Pa are fixed or constant notes. They do not have a Semitone.

These are a few technical pointers of this form of music (Indian Classical).

Some of the other forms of music also follow few of the above mentioned rules.

I’ll continue to present you with more information in my upcoming blogs.