Great article, but you have me confused – really confused! The capo acts exactly like the finger I use to bar a chord, right? So let’s take the open chord A. If I bar that shape up the neck one fret I am playing B flat. Bar it on the second fret B. Third fret and it’s C, and so on up the neck. So how can it be possible that what you said in the article is correct? Going up the neck raises the tonality of the open chord in half steps, not lowers it. Open D shape, with capo on 1st fret, becomes D#, not Db as you say below from the article.

“Keep in mind: Each time you move your capo up a half-step (1 fret) on the fretboard you need to move a half step down the musical alphabet. So if you would put your capo on the 1st fret you need to move each chord of the chord progression a half step down the musical alphabet (move from right to left on the image above), so G# becomes G, C# becomes C and D# becomes D.”

Help!

Best,

Dirk (intermediate guitarist)

Hi Prasana,

A capo is not a necessity, but it sure expands your possibilities and creativity.

Best regards,
Klaus Crow