Capo On Guitar Chart

If you’d like to see what effect a capo has on your guitar chords then try out this widget below. Use either your computer keyboard or mouse to click around on the chart and buttons. From there it’s easy to get an idea of where your fingers go and you’ll be able to hear pitch change as if you had a capo on your guitar. This is perfect if you want to stay in familiar chord shapes but need to match key of a song.

The first thing you do is choose a chord shape (the ones in the top row are common open shapes: C major, G major, E minor etc.). The orange dots indicates which notes you need to play on fretboard, these come up as an interactive neck diagram. The silver bar shows the location of the capo. If the chosen chord need one or more muted strings, there’s an X marker for that too. It all helps make sense off how a particular fingering matches what comes out.

How to Use the Capo Widget

Below the chord selector are button that let you select a capo fret. Each time you move it up a fret, the pitch go up a semitone. The actual chord you play is shown in big letters beneath. It changes immediately when you slide the capo up or down the fretboard. So if you have a capo on fret 2 then your A shape plays like a B major chord. You will not of have to guess when it comes to transposing.

To strum the chord press the Play chord button. The play button has a slider on its right for adjusting master volume. When you select a note it is played as if plucked on an instrument. This gives an acoustic response of string sound when it is fretted. This can be used to check if you have made the right shape to get the key you want to sing/ play in.

With the computer keyboard, the Tab key toggles between controls. Buttons are selected by pressing Space (or Enter) after they’re in focus. So you can move between capo position and chords easy without using the mouse. Active elements is highlighted as you make changes so you’ll never be wondering what’s currently set.

The widget also has a handy little switch. When toggled on, it shows you a quick reference guide, which is a sort of cheat sheet for basics of capo transposition. If you’ve forgotten your open shape mapping to higher keys, this might help. Just click it once more to close out the guide and regain full workspace view.

The button in the header expands the interface to full screen mode, eliminating the clutter around the page and maximizing space in the neck diagram area. This gives you more space for better visibility of string labels and fret numbers. Click on the button again or press Escape to revert back to normal size.

Explore alternative chord shapes and what feels comfortabley in higher keys. If a song sits too high for open chords, move the capo up and switch to simpler fingerings. It’s amazing how a single two-fret jump can turn that G shape into a lovely-sounding A major. It expands your tonal reach but saves your muscle memory.

Before you start strumming a series of different chord, pull the volume slider down first. Then if you want to try out various options, the jump in volume won’t be too jarring. You’ll also need to keep the volumes level as you compare the sound of your transposed chord accuratly. As you modify things it instant reacts.

As an aside for anyone writing songs or just looking up a tune in practice, this is a handy widget for you too. It acts as a kind of bridge from theory into actualy playing on the board. When arranging, there’s no more head scratching about how many notes to shift; simply choose your shape, enter your chosen fret and listen away. To start listening, just click both the default G shape and capo position. This will give you an A major chord. Listen to it and pay attention to how it changes the sound, making it bright. Try moving the capo around to find where it works for you as a singer. Experiment with new sounds using familiar finger patterns.