guitar in C and F

[tin tin]

Any recommendations from guitar players about tunings/capos/techniques to facilitate accompanying tunes in C, F, and related keys, rather than the usual D, G, etc.?

[LimuHead]

You can capo the 3rd fret and play the chord shapes from the key of D, and they will sound in F. Likewise, you can capo the 5th fret and play the chord shapes from the key of G to sound in the key of C.

Hope that helps!

Aldon

[Darwin]

In standard tuning? Both tunes and songs?

I play all my D tunes out of C position capoed on 2. I also capo on 2 for E Dorian (out of Dm position) and A Mixolydian (out of G position). I don't do any ITM accompaniment, though, since I don't have anyone to accompany.

I capo the same way for Bluegrass tunes and songs. I do play "Cattle in the Cane" without a capo, because it switches between A Mixolydian and A Dorian/Aeolian.

The only F tune I play is "Sweet Georgia Brown", which I play with no capo. That's because it walks right up to the D chord. Another circle-of-fifths song I play in un-capoed F is "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down". For other Bluegrass songs in F, I capo on 5 and play out of C position.

For most other songs and tunes, I play out of either C or G position and capo as needed. I have a good number of songs where I capo on 5 and play out of G position for the key of C, just because I like the way it sounds. My ultimate reason for playing most songs out of C or G position is that Bluegrass improvisation doesn't require much thought--just a bit of a mental adjustment when I head up the neck. I couldn't play a Bb major scale to save my soul, unless I'm capoed on 3.

[Wombat]

Celtic musicians like Dick Gaughan have developed special tunings to deal with keys like this. Off hand, I'm not sure about F but he defintely has C tunings around. Check out his web site for details.

http://www.dickalba.demon.co.uk

[brianholton]

if you use medium-gauge strings (say .13s), you can use fandango tuning in F - that's (low to high) CFCfac, and if you capo on the 5th fret, you'll get C.

Dick Gaughan does indeed use a lot of tunings. Martin Simpson is another - and he often uses F or C tunings.

b

[Wombat]

if you use medium-gauge strings (say .13s), you can use fandango tuning in F - that's (low to high) CFCfac, and if you capo on the 5th fret, you'll get C.

Dick Gaughan does indeed use a lot of tunings. Martin Simpson is another - and he often uses F or C tunings.

b

Right about Martin Simpson of course. He has several books with instructional videos or CDs that introduce you to his style. He is a stunning guitarist.