Singing lower when the capo moves up

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This follows on from an AVOYP upload by @lewis2025 of Elliott Smith’s Say Yes here.
The song uses a guitar down-tuned one whole step and is in the key of F major.
Lewis asked for critique on his singing and several people mentioned trying a different key and especially using a capo to be able to sing it lower and make the high notes easier to reach. This seemed counter intuitive to Lewis and it probably does to many people. I wrote an explanatory comment here.

I thought I would take it a step further and provide audio references which enable this concept to be heard in this specific song context but also taken as the germ of an idea which people can use and apply more generally if they are searching for a key to suit their voice.

I am going to post various mp3 audio clips of the first eight bars of the melody part.

Here are those eight bars in the original key of F major. With a de-tuned guitar these are played over open position chords, no capo as per Justin’s lesson here.
Melody in F major here.

Imagine placing a capo on fret 2 - or with an exactly equivalent effect, re-tuning the guitar to standard tuning - the same chord shapes would now have the song being played in G major. If the melody line was moved up two semitones to match it would sound like this.
Melody in G major here.

That means singing even higher, not lower. Which, if the high notes are already out of reach makes it impossible to sing. But, what if the whole melody was sung an octave lower. Still in G major but in a lower register. It would sound like this.
Melody in G major (lower) here.

That is quite a substantial drop in vocal register, perhaps too much. Let us then begin thinking of taking that lowered melody and raising it incrementally until it is suitable.
The guitar started off in a lower tuning then two options were considered - a capo at fret 2 or standard tuning - to put the song in the key of G. Let us proceed with the guitar now in standard tuning. From that basis we will capo upwards and move the lowered G major melody up with it also.

If we put the capo at fret 2 and play the same chord shapes the song will shift up to the key of A major. The melody line will now sound like this.
Melody in A major (lower) here.

If we put the capo at fret 4 and play the same chord shapes the song will shift up to the key of B major. The melody line will now sound like this.
Melody in B major (lower) here.

If we put the capo at fret 5 and play the same chord shapes the song will shift up to the key of C major. The melody line will now sound like this.
Melody in C major (lower) here.

Beyond fret 5 the same process will continue - and of course with the fret spacing narrowing it may be getting more difficult to physically play which would prompt the search for other chord shapes if any further raising of the key was necessary for vocal reasons.

I hope this illustrates how the placement of a capo at higher frets on a guitar neck can allow a singer to actually pitch their vocal in a lower register for songs where the high notes are just too high.

Cheers :smiley:
| Richard_close2u | JustinGuitar Official Guide

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It is worth taking the first and last of those audio samples and comparing them.
Remember, the challenge was to be able to sing in a lower register so the high notes were in reach.
The guitar was re-tuned from a whole step down back to standard and the capo placed at fret 5. This is equivalent to leaving the guitar tuned down and putting the capo at fret 7.
The capo has gone up but the melody has gone down.

F major - no capo, guitar tuned down a whole step: here.

C major - capo at fret 5 in standard tuning: here.

Now placed consecutively, the two melodies in F major then C major on one audio track: here.

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An excellent explanation as always Richard.

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Just coming back to the comparison of F major and C major. The melodies sit without context. So here is the combined track now with chords also. You can hear the guitar chords sound higher and the melody line sounds lower.
Chords and melody for F major and C major here.

:slight_smile:

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Great stuff. I do this all the time. Had one song recently where it didn’t work for me so in that case I transposed it to a different key and still used a capo to get it to suit my vocal range.