Capo calculator
A capo clamps the strings at a fret, which raises every string by that many semitones. Everything on this page follows from that one relation: the chord that sounds is the chord you play, moved up by the fret the capo sits on. Ask it either way round — where the capo goes so a progression sounds as written, or what a capo makes of the chords you play — and the answer is worked out by the engine the rest of the toolkit uses.
Work out a capo position
Capo at fret 7: play C G Am F
A capo raises every string by the fret it sits on, and results use the toolkit's sharp spelling: a note one fret up from F reads F#.
What a capo does to the chords
The shapes are what your fingers do and the capo is what turns them into the chords that are heard. Asking where the capo goes starts from the chords that have to be heard and the key you want to play in: the engine moves the whole progression down until its first chord's root is that key, and the number of semitones it moved is the fret the capo sits on. Only the root moves onto the key — a minor chord stays minor, and a seventh stays a seventh. Asking what a capo sounds like starts from the same place the other way round, and shifts the chords you play up by the fret.
This page's example, worked through
The progression that has to be heard is G D Em C, and C is the key to play it in. The engine puts the capo at fret 7 and writes the shapes to play as C G Am F; playing those shapes with the capo there sounds G D Em C again.
Every key, and the capo it calls for
The engine's answer for G D Em C in each of the twelve keys the control offers, with no key singled out:
| Key to play in | Capo at fret | Shapes to play |
|---|---|---|
| C | 7 | C G Am F |
| C# | 6 | C# G# A#m F# |
| D | 5 | D A Bm G |
| D# | 4 | D# A# Cm G# |
| E | 3 | E B C#m A |
| F | 2 | F C Dm A# |
| F# | 1 | F# C# D#m B |
| G | 0 | G D Em C |
| G# | 11 | G# D# Fm C# |
| A | 10 | A E F#m D |
| A# | 9 | A# F Gm D# |
| B | 8 | B F# G#m E |
Every capo position, and what it sounds like
The shapes the engine writes for C, played under each of the 12 capo positions the calculator offers. The fret named in the table above is the row that gives G D Em C back:
| Capo fret | Sounds like |
|---|---|
| 0 | C G Am F |
| 1 | C# G# A#m F# |
| 2 | D A Bm G |
| 3 | D# A# Cm G# |
| 4 | E B C#m A |
| 5 | F C Dm A# |
| 6 | F# C# D#m B |
| 7 | G D Em C |
| 8 | G# D# Fm C# |
| 9 | A E F#m D |
| 10 | A# F Gm D# |
| 11 | B F# G#m E |
How far a capo goes
The calculator answers for frets 0 to 11, which is every position that shifts the chords to a distinct set of notes. A capo at fret 12 raises the strings by a whole octave and would sound exactly as fret 0 does, so it is not offered as a second position for the same answer. Shifts are counted in note names: the calculator says which chords are heard, not which octave each string rings in.
Tokens that are not chords
A token the engine cannot read as a chord — N.C., a bar-repeat %, a barline — is returned unchanged rather than guessed at, and the tool above lists the tokens it kept that way as soon as one appears. A capo position is worked out from the root of the first chord, so a progression that does not start on one is reported instead of being given a position that would have been invented.
Sharp spelling
A capo raises every string by the fret it sits on, and results use the toolkit's sharp spelling: a note one fret up from F reads F#.