Originally Posted By: Pat Marr
So I switched to a capo approach


As stupid as this is going to sound for someone who started playing guitar at age 11, I CAN'T use a capo. It makes me think WAY too much. Couple that with perfect pitch (That has receded back into near perfect pitch over time) and when my ear hears a chord, I go right to that fingering relative to the fret markers. Those fret markers are BURNED into my brain. If I know a song in C and the singer wants to do it in E flat, it would be easy enough to put a capo on the 3rd fret and play the same fingerings using the capo as the nut, right?

Nope. I suddenly start to think too much about fret markers and "Well, when I played this in C, the 6 minor was A minor, and that fingers here, so what do I do now when the 6 minor is suddenly C minor and the way I know to play C minor is to barre the 3rd fret but this metal clip on thingy is on that fret and in my way so what do I do", rather than be able to "think C" and finger it the same way, like an A minor, but viewing the capo as the nut. Believe me, I tried many times. If I have to think and not just play instinctively, it's really awful.

So with you being able to use a capo, you are a solid one up on me.