Why do all acoustics sound better with a capo?

guitarjack66 · June 2023

crunchman said:

bertie said:

ICBM said:

guitarjack66 said:

I find barres a heck of a lot easier on electrics. I am guessing this is why a fair few players begin with electrics rather than acoustics? It does seem more practical if you are a youngster or have some restrictions physically. I started on acoustic because I felt that if I could get to grips with an acoustic then I could play any conventional guitar. In hindsight I think I was correct but I can see why many impatient youngsters and people in general would not. I think a capo is a good way of bridging that 'an acoustic is too hard' gap.

Agreed.

I struggle with "E" barre chords even on electrics, my index finger just doesn't "work" right, never had - so I 99% of the time use a thumb over "F" barre, which makes playing status quo stuff "challenging"

My fingers are too short to do the thumb over thing. It's really frustrating at times. I'd love to be able to put an F# bass in a D chord.

Mine too,but it makes no odds if you understand the caged system and use partial chords. It also aids string targeting,which I think is a very handy skill.

bertie · June 2023

crunchman said:
My fingers are too short to do the thumb over thing. It's really frustrating at times. I'd love to be able to put an F# bass in a D chord.

mine are far from large, and me fingers are shorter than my "hand", I can only stretch 3 frets - from the 1st on anything but the top E string, and even that is a struggle to get to the 5th

my index finger isnt "fleshy" enough to always successfully press E B and E for a barre, so got used to using the F shape with thumb since I started. I probably have bad "positioning" which helps

digitalkettle · June 2023

crunchman said:
My fingers are too short to do the thumb over thing. It's really frustrating at times. I'd love to be able to put an F# bass in a D chord.

I always struggled with throwing a thumb over the top...so had to go for a voicing of 2-x-0-2-3-2 (with fingers 1-x-0-2-4-3)

That quickly became a voicing without the top major third which is a nice moveable shape, for example...
E/G# voicing of 4-x-2-4-5-x (with fingers 2-x-1-3-4-x)

hollywoodrox · June 2023

Probably as they’re easier to play as the action is lower

Soupman · June 2023

Back in the 70s I remember seeing Richie Havens on Old Grey Whistle Test, using his long prehensile thumb over the bass strings. I was very impressed.
Never been able to manage it myself.

When starting out I reckoned if I could play the full barre chord it didn't matter which strings I clouted with the pick!
Found as a consequence barre E & A shapes are not a bother.
Only more recently found that chord inversions and power chords are useful, especially when fingerpicking.

JMS96 · June 2023

We’re four pages in and I think there’s been a bit of drift on this subject. But to go back to the OP point - I play mostly fingerpicking and on both my Martin and Gibson acoustics (and others I have played) I prefer the sound of the guitar with a capo on (irrespective of the utility of the capo which is another point). Not so much if I am strumming them, and I don’t get this on electrics.

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Why do all acoustics sound better with a capo?

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