# Benefits of certain scales on guitar?



## mozilla2004 (Nov 1, 2020)

Hey everyone

As some of you know, I like transcribing melodies of various music genres (video games, movies, songs etc...) for guitar arrangements using chord melodies. Everything I've done so far uses a diatonic scale.

Transcribing any melody that was originally on the C major scale, G major scale or D major scales (or any of its modes) is the most fun and easiest o ln standard guitar tuning. I find it fun because I can play the melody on the high frets of the e string and B string, and use a lot of open strings for the base line.

Right now , for first time, I'm arranging a melody on the mixolydian mode of the B major scale. I don't have as many open strings to work with, so I have to use bar chords all the time, and I feel more limited in my range. 

Hence the following questions come to mind:

why don't I just transpose this to a scale where I can use more open strings. As long as my audience isn't made up of people with perfect pitch, no one will notice right?
why do musicians even pick these other scales? Is it just to make it easier for the singer because of their voice is optimized for various audio frequencies?

Any advice would be great!!


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

There's no reason not to transpose. I do it all the time to make arrangements more accessible to students. I also transpose to more difficult keys for more advanced students (or I assign them the job). Either way, the thing for players to understand is that we increasingly lose the benefit of open strings as we increase the number of sharps and flats. Only the keys of C, G, D, (and their relative minors and modes) allow us to use all the open strings, and none of the flat keys let us use all the open strings. It's perhaps more important to fingerstyle players to have the lower strings open, so A major for example with three sharps still gives us a low E, A, and D; and E major (four sharps) gives us low E, and A. I think most guitar players, consciously or otherwise, think of their instruments as primarily sharp key instruments out of a matter of convenience. Add a capo and there aren't any keys we can't *sound* in, even if we're not fingering that key. (I'd get into partial capos, and open or altered tunings, but that's for another thread, perhaps.)

It won't bother people with perfect pitch, those folks can still hear/play in non-original keys. If they claim otherwise, it's not the key that bothers them it's their anal adherence to what they think is the original. 

Composers and arrangers pick other keys to suit vocal range, and the ranges of other instruments, ease of fingering, to be different, to accommodate modulations, etc. One of my students accused me of picking G minor just to be miserable until I pointed out that their brother who plays the tune on fiddle uses that key and if as planned they were going to play it together, then...well, you get it.


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## mozilla2004 (Nov 1, 2020)

Mooh said:


> There's no reason not to transpose. I do it all the time to make arrangements more accessible to students. I also transpose to more difficult keys for more advanced students (or I assign them the job). Either way, the thing for players to understand is that we increasingly lose the benefit of open strings as we increase the number of sharps and flats. Only the keys of C, G, D, (and their relative minors and modes) allow us to use all the open strings, and none of the flat keys let us use all the open strings. It's perhaps more important to fingerstyle players to have the lower strings open, so A major for example with three sharps still gives us a low E, A, and D; and E major (four sharps) gives us low E, and A. I think most guitar players, consciously or otherwise, think of their instruments as primarily sharp key instruments out of a matter of convenience. Add a capo and there aren't any keys we can't *sound* in, even if we're not fingering that key. (I'd get into partial capos, and open or altered tunings, but that's for another thread, perhaps.)
> 
> It won't bother people with perfect pitch, those folks can still hear/play in non-original keys. If they claim otherwise, it's not the key that bothers them it's their anal adherence to what they think is the original.
> 
> Composers and arrangers pick other keys to suit vocal range, and the ranges of other instruments, ease of fingering, to be different, to accommodate modulations, etc. One of my students accused me of picking G minor just to be miserable until I pointed out that their brother who plays the tune on fiddle uses that key and if as planned they were going to play it together, then...well, you get it.


Thank you!


I haven't used the capo before....but for some unknown reason, I feel guilty of I were to use it....like I'm cheating.... Is that feeling warranted? Or is the capo really a "legitimate tool" for a guitarist to have and use?

Im closing in on 3 years with my casual guitar playing, this is my first musical instrument. So hence my questions may still show I'm missing some fundamental knowledge


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## Grab n Go (May 1, 2013)

mozilla2004 said:


> why do musicians even pick these other scales? Is it just to make it easier for the singer because of their voice is optimized for various audio frequencies?


Sometimes. Playing or writing in other keys is also fun and they all sound different. It's worth making the effort to venture outside of your comfort zone.



mozilla2004 said:


> I haven't used the capo before....but for some unknown reason, I feel guilty of I were to use it....like I'm cheating.... Is that feeling warranted? Or is the capo really a "legitimate tool" for a guitarist to have and use?


It's just another tool. It's not cheating.

If your goal is to make use of open string in your arrangements in other keys, then why not use it?

Just because you use a capo for certain arrangements doesn't mean you can't also learn to be comfortable in other keys without it. It's not an either/or type of thing.


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## bw66 (Dec 17, 2009)

mozilla2004 said:


> I haven't used the capo before....but for some unknown reason, I feel guilty of I were to use it....like I'm cheating.... Is that feeling warranted? Or is the capo really a "legitimate tool" for a guitarist to have and use?


My guitar teacher was insistent that I not use a capo - and for years I felt a certain pride in never "needing" one. I have also known guitarists who would refer to a capo as a "cheater". If you are using a capo to avoid learning how to play a B minor barre chord, then there might be a valid argument that you are "cheating".

Otherwise, a capo is a great tool to have, whether is is to change keys, play a second guitar with different voicings, or make some "stretches" more manageable (I capo "St. Louis Tickle" to make it more playable because Dave VanRonk played a short scale guitar with enormous hands). I have even used capos with beginning guitarists to bring the frets closer together while moving the strings father apart, making it easier to reach notes, play chords cleanly, etc.

Edit: I bear no malice towards my guitar teacher - his concerns about capo use were valid and I appreciate that he expected me to learn the whole fretboard. I suspect that had I progressed further in my lessons, his disdain for capos would have dissipated.


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

Capo anytime you want, it's a tool, and a good tool it is. Google Tony McManus for example.

A capo optimizes action, splays the strings slightly, shortens the scale length, and if you tune down by the same amount that you capo up, you're still at concert pitch. A great beginner trick as @bw66 said, but it's kind of the principle behind my baritone, which btw isn't considered cheating but amounts to capoing down rather than up.


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## Doug Gifford (Jun 8, 2019)

Gatemouth Brown used a capo all the time. Tool, not crutch.


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Doug Gifford said:


> Gatemouth Brown used a capo all the time. Tool, not crutch.


Very interesting technique(s) with both hands!


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## mawmow (Nov 14, 2017)

Nice thread guys ! Many thanks !

And what about capo to easily apply CAGED system…


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

Albert Collins


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## Paul M (Mar 27, 2015)

Mooh said:


> Albert Collins


Thanks for that..... I almost forgot how cool Albert Collibs is. Now I'm trapped in YouTube death spiral.


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## Chito (Feb 17, 2006)

When I was younger I used to think that way about capos. It was cheating etc... LOL These days, I use it a lot more. And that is because of my arthritic fingers. I can't bar as much as I used to. So I find ways and means that I am able to play a few open chords so that my hand doesn't cramp out. I wrote a few songs in Bb and whenever I do that, I put a capo on the first fret just to alleviate the issue of my hand cramping. I call it tricks. Some others call it cheating. LOL


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## Mutant_Guitar (Oct 24, 2021)

it's common in folk music and pop genres, but you won't find capo usage in most jazz.
I don't take to the taboo, but I don't use one in practice. I could see practical reasons singer-songwriters might use one, or guitar players comping a singer.


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## Doug Gifford (Jun 8, 2019)

greco said:


> Very interesting technique(s) with both hands!


No kidding, eh? Kind of an unknown master. I recall exactly where I was when I first heard him (on the CBC) and it blew me away. Then, with youtube, I could watch him. Wow!


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