Bass capos - does anyone use one?

[rushbo]

I used a capo on a tune which had a repeating octave/disco bassline in F, so the stretch became a little uncomfortable after a few bars. The capo worked really well, but now I've decided that it sounds better playing it in the octave above, with the root shifted to the 8th fret of the 'A' string, so I can do a "disco-octave-walk" up to it.

 

Of course, a five string would have been the solution, but any instrument with more than four strings makes me agitated.

 

 

[upside downer]

8 hours ago, pineweasel said:

Good enough for this guy

 

That's not a capo, that's a jazz woodbine and he's too stoned to realise he hasn't wedged it up at the headstock.

[Waddo Soqable]

I wonder what's the best capo for metal....? 

[miles'tone]

56 minutes ago, Waddo Soqable said:

I wonder what's the best capo for metal....? 

 

[tvickey]

I use one when setting up my bass...

[SamIAm]

I use one when setting up a bass and also to "convert" a long scale to a short scale (After fitting the capo I tune to standard BEADG) so my fretting hand can comfortably cope.

S'manth x

[tauzero]

12 hours ago, asingardenof said:

I only use one to check my neck relief. Other than that I haven't had the need to, but I'm not against the idea.

 

Same here.

[LeftyJ]

I sometimes use a capo when I'm playing alone at home, sometimes with a little reverb and delay on. I have two G7th capo's (the first model G7th Performance capo and the G7th Performance II) that I originally bought for guitar, I think they're brilliant. They're not spring-loaded, the amount of tension you clamp it down with is the amount of tension it stays at and it works brilliantly - especially if you use it on a guitar with tall frets, where other capo's might clamp your guitar out of tune. 

 

 

[bartelby]

Alex Griffin in Ned's Atomic Dustbin uses a capo a lot. For me he's a massively underrated bassist.

[Nail Soup]

49 minutes ago, bartelby said:

Alex Griffin in Ned's Atomic Dustbin uses a capo a lot. For me he's a massively underrated bassist.

Is he Ned's 'lead' bassist or the the 'bassy' bassist?

[bartelby]

19 minutes ago, Nail Soup said:

Is he Ned's 'lead' bassist or the the 'bassy' bassist?

 

Lead bassist

[krispn]

I was asked years ago at a rehearsal for a new band if I wanted to grab a capo for the next song. I reminded them I was a bass player and they said the previous guy used one. I still all these years later don’t know why he needed a capo to play that song. 
 

I get some folk use them on certain strings for solo work but I’ve never felt the need on a regular gig. 

[nige1968]

20 hours ago, Waddo Soqable said:

Pencil and a thick elastic band.. 

 

Got pics?

[Waddo Soqable]

1 hour ago, nige1968 said:

 

Got pics?

 

[Al Krow]

3 hours ago, krispn said:

I was asked years ago at a rehearsal for a new band if I wanted to grab a capo for the next song. I reminded them I was a bass player and they said the previous guy used one. I still all these years later don’t know why he needed a capo to play that song. 
 

I get some folk use them on certain strings for solo work but I’ve never felt the need on a regular gig. 

 

For non solo work, I guess for the same reason some folk use pitch-shift pedals on gigs, maybe particularly in terms of having learned a bass line involving open strings and then needing to play it in a different key for another band you're depping for. Will also avoid any of the glitching / digital warbling that can result from pitch-shift pedals, but perhaps end up needing to tune the strings more often during a gig, which is actually not a bad trade-off.

[krispn]

We have two singers to choose from depending on availability etc. and they do a few songs in different keys to each other. I just play the songs in their respective keys. 
 

Playing a 5 string was handy for changing keys as it just meant moving the root about but maybe not for tunes with a heap of open strings in the original key before needing transposed but in all my years gigging I’ve never considered using a capo live and I’d imagine few of us have. 
 

As for tuning more often as a positive trade off for using a capo I think that’s a bit of a stretch 😀

[Dan Dare]

I've never used a capo, but I've started taking out a bass tuned a semitone flat as well as my regular one recently. Our new singer likes Eb and it's useful and even vital to be able to play the low fundamental in numbers like Chic's "Good Times".

[Waddo Soqable]

I tune them all a semitone flat as my "standard" tuning

[Al Krow]

3 hours ago, krispn said:

We have two singers to choose from depending on availability etc. and they do a few songs in different keys to each other. I just play the songs in their respective keys. 
 

Playing a 5 string was handy for changing keys as it just meant moving the root about but maybe not for tunes with a heap of open strings in the original key before needing transposed but in all my years gigging I’ve never considered using a capo live and I’d imagine few of us have. 
 

As for tuning more often as a positive trade off for using a capo I think that’s a bit of a stretch 😀

 

Nah - the positive trade off was swapping digital warble / glitching using a pitch-shift pedal vs likely having to retune more often using a capo

[krispn]

 

 

7 hours ago, Al Krow said:

 

Nah - the positive trade off was swapping digital warble / glitching using a pitch-shift pedal vs likely having to retune more often using a capo

My bad it read differently but I’d say it’s a moot point either way as neither of us use a capo live and I don’t think we’re likely to start now?
 

Plus from experience with a 5 string and playing BEAD tuning the efficiency of movement you can get often means you can remain in the one neck position for some songs - the three chord tricks etc-  and unless you’re coping a specific riff changing root position on a BEAD bass or 5er goes a long way to accommodating key changes. I had to do it for years in my choir gig and it’s why I played the 5er. I still use drop d now and again for some tunes just because it’s fun. 
 

Not sure if this constitutes a derail but I’ll let you get back to the topic in hand. 

 

 

[Al Krow]

I totally agree that 5 string basses make life a lot easier for kry changes - one of several advantages they have over 4 strings. However there are just a few of the more complex bass lines in our sets that take (me) a much longer time to nail and muscle memory is undoubtedly helping live performance, where either a pitch shift or a capo could prove handy should I be asked to play in a different key eg Shut up and Dance by Walk the Moon. 

 

To put a couple of well known examples of more complex bass lines out there (not ones we currently do) if you had learned Rhythm Stick or Rio in one key, how easy would it be to play in a different key? 

[krispn]

I think the foundation of Rio is octave and chromatic lines so I couldn’t imagine it would be that hard. I was having a learn along/play along with it the other night as it came on the house pa and I was trying to quickly learn it to kill time as the drummer set up (thankfully for the punters it was all in the iems).
Rhythm Stick will never make our set as I still can’t play it with any level of proficiency and doubt I ever will 😀 but again it feels like a song which is all fretted notes rather than using a lot of open strings but I’ve never paid that much attention after clumsily looking at it years ago. We did Shut Up and Dance and I recall it all being fretted notes too so should be easy to change key on especially if the muscle memory is there from before. I say all this having learned songs in the original key only to be told the following rehearsal they were getting changed to suit the choir’s range etc and having to quickly change them at short notice.
 

I have no real practicable theory knowledge or formal training so can’t just switch in my head the way some of my proper music theory trained musician mates can. 
 

Sounds like you’re considering a capo as an option for future gigs? If that were the case what other benefits do you think it offers? 

 

 

[Al Krow]

Only benefit for me is ease of key change on complex bass lines, avoiding the tracking / warble issues on a pitch shift pedal. 

 

It's kinda a variation of the drop D tuners that some bassists use on their 4 strings?

[krispn]

I wouldn’t equate a capo to drop d. Drop d is more about playing unison guitar lines/riffs written in drop d but then I came up playing in the grunge era when drop d was a big thing. Also handy if you wanna hit the low d on the big power ballads whereas I definitely saw the 5er as a tool

to easily manage transposing etc. 

[krispn]

I’d be interested to know what songs you’re currently depping and how different the keys are between the to two bands. I’m maybe lucky that we don’t have more than a tone or semi tone between our songs that it’s not that I’m moving them up or down a fret or two.