Transcribing: What about the guitar capo?

We’ve been training your ears to transcribe songs, but how do you know if and where a guitarist was using a capo?

View the full lesson at: Transcribing: What about the guitar capo? | JustinGuitar.com

Just watched this on YT. You’ve forgotten to post the link mods.

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Great lesson. Nothing more frustrating than transcribing a song, getting the basic chord progression right and still wondering why it sounds different from the record.

I can usually spot both the D chord embellishments and C chord hammer-ons pretty easily, as well as a full E chord. For some reason the F chord is a lot trickier. Probably because it can be played as a full F barre chord, the small F or an Fmaj7.

Around 13:00, Justin suggests trying to work out each song ‘without the capo’. Presumably you mean ‘without the tips’?

Feels impossible, i really suck at this :triumph:
At first, it sounds like I got the chords, but then when I watch someone play,
it appears to be completely different.

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That’s my assumption too. @Richard_close2u @DavidP or @LievenDV can one of you confirm please?

Justin literally means try to figure out the songs with no capo on your guitar.
Literally that.
Then, once you know the chords, figure out haw a capo can help.

Cheers :blush:

| Richard_close2u | JustinGuitar Official Guide & Approved Teacher

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This is a fantastic lesson! Not only were we challenged to locate the capo fret and associated chords for each of the 10 songs, I also learned several great songs that I might not have learned otherwise.

This one is extra tricky between your transcribing lessons. I think it might need an answer sheet or more tips about the kind of embellishments used in these songs. Some of them seemingly don’t have any particular embellishments, some mute certain strings. I just tried to find a root note and attempt trial and error.

Moonlight Shadow was not easy at all. I was able to find some notes that were correct, but i never came up with a conclusion. I just settled to transcribing the intro riff at the start to still train my ear. Did anyone else have the same issue with this song?

Does it still count if you get all the chords and notes correct (as in pitch) but the capo isn’t in the right spot upon checking the official tabs/chords for the song?

If you get the chords correct but are using different chord voicing then yes.
For example If the chords are A D and E and you capo 2nd fret and play G C D chord shape then in reality you are playing A D and E.
But if you capo on the second fret and play A D and E chord shapes you’re not playing the right chord in reality you would be playing B E F#.

The capo positions i’m getting are different from the original but i play the same chords (not chord shapes). The chords themselves that sound exactly the same. Like for example, in ed sheeran’s photograph i put the capo on the 4th fret and transcribed chord SHAPES C,Am,G, and F, but the original is played on the 2nd fret with chord SHAPES D, Bm, A, and G. Since all the 8 chords are E, C#m, B, and A, Does this still mean i got it correct?

Yes they are all the same chord just different voicings