As much as I have no need for a capo for the kind of music I find myself playing, I certainly don't consider them cheating.

In music, what hits the ear is important, not how it was done.

I remember back when I bought my first Atari/ST computer and started making Band-in-a-Box aftermarket styles, other musicians considered computers cheating. Now some of them buy my software.

Perceptions change.

I enlarged the fret markers on the top of the guitars I bring on stage. Sometimes the stage is dark, or with bright lights the neck is in shadow, I sing so my mouth is sometimes glued to the microphone, so it is very difficult to see the fret markers.

I can do one or two fret jumps without looking, but if it gets much more than that, I want to look out of the corner of my eye and get it right.

When I play, I choose the fret position for how the music sounds, which is sometimes not the easiest or most convenient position. I may want certain inversions of a chord, or play notes on certain strings for the tone, and if it isn't the closest position to the one I'm currently playing, if I can do it, I'll make the jump.

Of course that is according to my 'artistic' interpretation (for better or for worse).

Auto-tune - now that's cheating (oops, to respond to that, please start a new thread).

But capos like pedals, whammy bars, alternate tunings, slides, fret markers, and anything else you can think of aren't cheating, just tools that enable you to get a certain sound. If it works for you, use it and don't worry about what anyone else thinks.

I read where some rock star (forget who) wrote note names on the back of his bass neck. Cheating? Nah. Whatever gets you by.

In my duo I play with backing tracks that I make myself. A good friend of mine is a keyboard wizard and in his duo he does everything live. Does he think I'm cheating? I don't care. Other duos buy karaoke tracks and sing or sing and play over the top. Are they cheating? Not as far as I'm concerned. I'd take that short cut if I thought it would make me sound better, but I really like making the tracks sound like I want them to sound, in my key, and with my arrangement.

Cheating is copying someone's test paper in school, playing music is using whatever you have to make the best music you can make.

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Bob "Notes" Norton smile Norton Music
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