Hi Everybody. I am still looking for Capo Chords (transposing Chords) for Guitar. Meaning I want to show different chords in the guitar staff compared to the rest of the score. Like it does for trumpet or saxophone.
Is there any solution? How can I make a custom transposing instrument?
Best Regards
I’ll follow this thread as I too have an interest - @ingosand - question - do you generally write capo chord shapes and spell as root? For example - many guitarists I know wouldn’t be comfortable playing a sequence of chords in Cm - with the capo at 3rd fret - unless spelt as Am C etc rather than Cm Eb.
There are two main reasons for capo for my purposes. Firstly the sonority of particular chord shapes, but needed in particular key, and secondly for changing key to suit a particular singers. Lots of guitarists would struggle to read Eb as a C shape chord with a capo (sorry to any guitarists out there! - I’m one who learnt to read later in life and still find it easier to read the chord as a root shape when working live on the fly).
Dr Scardo, your approach is correct. Technically, when you capo a guitar, you are changing the key of the guitar - not the music. So if you capo fret 3, the A minor “grip” is still an A minor. The guitar, now in Eb, transposes down a major sixth instead of down an octave. In your example, label the chord A minor. Hope this makes sense.
@dandaiuto - thanks! Good to know this is standard practice.
Re the chord diagrams - do you also use these at root position? ie Cm diagram as per open Am, or create that shape with a bar on fret 3 to signify capo (I don’t think Dorico has capo marks yet)
Thanks
I think either way as long as it is clear. My personal preference is to use a diagram for the chord name and add text saying “capo 3” or something like that.
I wouldn’t even need the chord grids. I would be happy, with just the chords.