The Capo, Keys and Harmonics

Clamp a capo across the strings just behind a fret and every open string goes up by that many half steps. The chord shapes stay the same; the sound moves up.

How the capo changes the key

A G shape with the capo at the 2nd fret sounds as A. Each fret is one half step: count up from the shape’s name.

Songbooks write “capo 2” at the top and then the shapes you play (G, C, D), not the sounding chords. Our song pages and the chord finder do the same: fret numbers in tab are counted from the capo.

Why use one?

• To fit a voice. If a song in G is too low for you to sing, try capo 2 or 3 with the same shapes until it feels right.
• To avoid hard chords. A song in E♭ uses E♭, A♭ and B♭, all barre chords. With the capo at the 1st fret you can play it with the open D, G and A shapes.
• For a brighter sound. Open strings higher up the neck ring with a lighter, sparkly tone.

Here is the G chord drawn with a capo at the 2nd fret. Press it to hear the A chord it makes.

Natural harmonics

Touch a string lightly, without pressing, right over the 12th fret wire, pluck it, and lift the finger: a clear, bell-like note an octave above the open string. Over the 7th fret you get a note an octave and a fifth up; over the 5th fret, two octaves up. Carcassi’s Prelude in E Minor ends on a 12th-fret harmonic. Harmonics are also a handy way to check tuning: the 5th-fret harmonic of one string matches the 7th-fret harmonic of the next (except between G and B).