Anybody else tried out partial capos?
What they are are capos that do not push down on all 6 strings. Originally the guys who were into these devices used to make their own by cutting bits away from a regular capo. These days Shubb and maybe other companies make them "pre cut".
I have two different partials, but I can't get my head around the one. The one I use quite often hits 5 strings. It's usually used for a sort of drop-D effect.
Consider a guitar in regular tuning E A D G B E low to high
The capo covers the first 5 strings. So if I put it on the 2nd fret then the open strings are now
E B E A C# F#. This is very similar to drop D tuning because I have the 4th string an octave apart from the 6th string.
So now if I play a D fingering I get E B E B E G# which is like an E major, but I have those two Es in the low register. Still like a D chord in dropped D tuning, but an octave higher.
Really it is this....
E A D G B E
0
2 2
4 4
5
Because the capo is acting like a barre across the first 5 strings at the 2nd fret.
So now I'm playing in the key of E. The difference between this partial capo tuning and regular drop D comes in when I go to the 4 chord - G fingering, which gives me an A. Because the 6 string is a different length from the others. It gives me an E when played open, but the moment I start fingering it things change. So I can play a regular G shape and get an A chord. Because when I fret a G shape what I REALLY have is this....
E A D G B E
2 2 2
4
5 5
Because the capo is still serving as a barre at the 2nd fret.
So now it's different from drop-D because I don't have to change the fingering for the 4 chord (in this case) and I can play barre chords as usual.
What I CAN'T do know is play the Em shape.
In drop D I would play that chord (the 2 chord in the key of D like this)
D A D G B E
0 0 0
2 2 2
But that fingering with the partial capo is going to give me an F# on the 6th string.
So whilst partial capos can do interesting things for you, they generally confine you to certain keys. But there are approaches to this problem as well. What I sometimes do is use a regular capo at the 2nd fret and the "drop D" capo at 4th fret. This makes it easy to play songs in F# but using a D fingering and, when I play the root chord, I have a nice pair of F# notes an octave apart on the 6 and 4 strings.
It also means that I don't have to spend time switching between drop-D and regular tuning. Fitting capos is quicker. Doesn't work for EVERY song I play, but often saves me some time.
Shubb currently provide 2 partial capos
http://www.shubb.com/partial/index.htm
There are other options. Including the Third Hand Capo which can do all sorts of things for you.
http://www.thirdhandcapo.com/index.html
Some thoughts and explanations of partial capoing
http://www.theoreticallycorrect.com/partial-capo/index.html
