If you are not sure what a capo is here is a picture of one in position on the second fret.

It’s simply a spring loaded clamp that effectively becomes the nut of the guitar wherever you place it on the fretboard. It does exactly the same job as your forefinger when you form a ‘barre’ chord. Which means it changes the tuning of your guitar without you having to do more than choose a fret to place it behind.

What does this mean to you? It means that, as a beginner, you can play just about any song you like using only the chords you have learned so far, simply by changing the key you are playing in.

Here’s how it works. Your guitar is in the key of E, if you are using standard tuning. Placing a capo behind the first fret will move the tuning up one half step, which means you will now be playing in the key of F. One more fret and you will be in F#, then G and so on. Which means that all your chord shapes (the way you place your fingers on the strings), will also change key by one half step.

Can you see how exciting this is? It means that with the capo on the first fret, for example, the A chord (which you can play) has become an A#, which you thought you could not. Similarly the E, which you are pretty flash with, has become the feared barre chord F, with no effort on your part.

All your chord shapes have stayed exactly the same and are in exactly the same place relative to your ‘new’ nut, the capo. And that means that you can now choose which key you want to play any particular song in. It’s a Simon and Garfunkel standard written in Bb? No problem, stick your capo on the third fret and play it in G. How’s that for progress?

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