by Chuck and Sandi Millar - Lesson Pros
How to Choose A Capo?
Choosing a capo is hard when there are so many to choose from. How do you pick? Well, here is a short list to help you narrow down your search.
Kyser Capo
We love these capos they are affordable at right around $20, which is a great value. It clips right on the end of your guitar neck, which is a huge plus. This capo comes in many different colors: Red, Blue, Gold, Silver, White, Black, Purple, Pink, Yellow etc.
One tip: do NOT buy the Red, White, and Blue one with the red rubber part. This rubber must be made from different materials, and it doesn’t work as well as the others with the black rubber part. We highly recommend these capos to our students. One small drawback is that our younger students' hands aren’t strong enough to use them. They are fine for most teens and adults, but for our younger students, we recommend the Shubb Capo. Kyser Capos
Shubb Capo
This capo is great! Another great value is right around $20. As we said above this is the capo we recommend for all our young students because they can actually work them. It is adjustable, so if you have a wider guitar neck, it will most likely work. We both used to have Shubb capos. However, they were always getting lost when we would play shows. We had to keep them in our pocket or on a mic stand; still a great capo, but it is something to keep in mind when buying this capo. Shubb Capos
Jim Dunlop Capo
Another pretty good capo. It is comparable to the Shubb or Kyser and is a Good value around $18. If we were to choose between the Dunlop and the Kyser, we would pick the Kyser. It is a little smaller and works just a little bit better with tonality. Jim Dunlop Capos
D’Addario Planet Waves Capo
Starting at around $12, this capo looks very similar to the Thalia Capo. It is shaped like it, but the cool thing about the capo is that it has an adjustable wheel on it. We have not personally tried this capo, so we can’t really give a recommendation either way, but it might be a capo worth trying for a much lower pick than the Thalia. D'Addario Planet Waves CapoG7th Heritage Capo
Tradition: A traditional guitar capo in the yoke type that you may tuck away beneath your instrument's nut in between songs. It is popular because of the low profile and the force being applied from the center of the neck. G7th Heritage Capo
Innovation: The string pad with adaptive radius technology matches the curvature of the strings mechanically in any position on any guitar neck, whether it is steel string acoustic, electric, or hybrid nylon, giving you the best tuning stability possible.
Protects your neck by preventing metal on wood contact on your guitar neck with an inert silicone rubber neck cushion and extensive side protection.
Thalia Capo
We support their huge Kickstarter campaign and thought this was such a great concept. However, when we got the three capos we ordered, we couldn’t even use them. They were cheap, either. When you squeezed the capo to move it to another fret, it was too hard to use. They are pretty expensive too. Now about $65 to $200 Hopefully, they have redesigned this capo to make it more usable. We love how it is U-shaped and how you can choose from so many different styles, but again, they just didn’t work. until they fix the problems with the capos and start getting better reviews, consider waiting. Thalia Capo
OUR PICK FOR PRICE AND BUDGET
Kyser wins! Unless you can afford the G7th Heritage Capo
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