A capo at one must suit his vocal range. I see capo at one and capo at three a lot in sessions. It used to mean an awkward key for me to follow but after a while the patterns get easier to follow. And I just simplify any solo breaks. It’s good for your brain to get used to playing in different keys.

I screwed up. He said, one violin was Half a step down. Not a full step.
A capo on one would be (possibly) half a step up.
Maybe the guitar was tuned a half step down, and capo on the one would then be standard? Huh?

Half a step up on the spare violin makes more sense to me. I had a friend that had an accordion tuned C&C# but he actually learnt to play B&C so when he joined a band every player had to tune up a semi-tone and the singer had to sing higher. Lots of broken strings later he bought himself a B&C and everyone lived happily ever after.

What actual chord shapes was the guitarist playing? You don't say what style of music they were playing, but I can think of several reasons for this. As martyjoe said, it might just suit his vocal range - people don't realize how much difference a half step can make to a good singer. Maybe he wanted to sing in F, but play E chord shapes, or sing in Ab and play in G (the tuned down violin played in A would work for that case). If they wanted to play fiddle tunes in D or A, and the guitarist wasn't comfortable with those chords, he could play in C and G with the capo, and using a violin tuned down a half step, the fddler could play in D and A, and they'd be together in Db and Ab.
Some solo guitarists sometimes capo up one fret to make the action a little lower, and the scale length a little shorter, but that doesn't sound like the reason here .

problem at the nut? buzzing maybe?

Maybe another Guitar "E" player . But F/Dm is nice on the fiddle?

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Originally posted by DougD

, , , ,, , or sing in Ab and play in G (the tuned down violin played in A would work for that case). If they wanted to play fiddle tunes in D or A, and the guitarist wasn't comfortable with those chords, he could play in C and G with the capo, and using a violin tuned down a half step, the fddler could play in D and A, and they'd be together in Db and Ab.

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Shucks, I wasn't doing anything anyway, 

so i went down 'n put his videos on the blutooth, and picked up the fiddle. Most songs were in pretty regular keys, G, and E. There's a mash-up of Niel Diamond's Cherry, R.O.C.K. in the USA, and some other tune that was all E, A, D, A, etc. 

Except for one original song in G#/Ab. Obvious or not, there is no capo in the video. One can do that if all one is playing is one song. (See Doug's comment)

That sounds right. Why not?

Guessing again, together with not wanting to mess around, or have the fiddle kid switching back and forth, he simply left the clamp on one. 

Alex Legg used to tune his guitar down a semi-tone and capo 1st fret, I thought it was because he liked the slacker strings. He never took it off and never moved it to other frets.

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Originally posted by buckhenry

Alex Legg used to tune his guitar down a semi-tone and capo 1st fret, I thought it was because he liked the slacker strings. He never took it off and never moved it to other frets.

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In other words he favored a shorter scale length, but probably liked his guitar.

Heard an interview with Roger McGuinn who was asked how he was able to sing the same songs in his (dare I say) 'old age' and play them the same as he had when he was young. He said he played all the same chords but tuned down his guitar either a half step or whole step (can't remember exactly) so it worked with his vocal range now. Heard him in a concert last year and his voice and guitar playing all sounded fine.

In my experience changing the chord forms used can really change the arrangement of a song once you've worked it out using specific chords. The question isn't simply that you need to sing the song a half step higher and the guitar part you've worked out follows up. For instance playing a song on guitar in Eb is hugely different than playing it in D. When the chord form on the guitar neck changes then the arrangement becomes completely different. Though perhaps this applies more to fingerpicking arrangements on guitar than strumming.

I regularly play with a guitarist who always capos on the first fret. His guitar is tuned down a half step so when he plays a G shape with the capo on it is in fact a G. He's a really good guitarist, just says he likes it tuned that way...

Strange...I just played my first show this past Saturday tuned a half step down due to it suiting his vocal range. I'll be honest...I was skeptical and by the end I really liked it. I'm going to leave it there until I play with someone again.

Funny thing. I was playing at a jam (non trad) in town and one of the main singers was playing with capo on 1 and occasionally capo on 3. When somebody else picked up his guitar, took the capo off and started playing out of tune I realised why I was confused whenever I glanced at it. It’s obviously more prevalent than I thought.

Nut too high. Tuned his guitar down. Capo lowered the action.

I’ve seen a capo on the first fret on a number of guitars at sessions.

IMHO, and I know lots will hate this, capos are for lazy/poor guitarists. Most BG jams etc, the guitarist couldn't play in Bb, etc to save their lives with out one. I only know 2 guitarists personally that NEVER ever use a capo and they are wonderful players. At jams where there are like 12 guitars, one will ask the others to play different voicings on chords, and he is met with blank stares. I've only used that retuning the fiddle thing one time, with a band where the lead singer HAD to sing stuff in weird keys ( ie C#). I too brought 2 fiddles to gigs with them. Shame on me for not being facile in those keys.

Nothing wrong with using a capo or retuning or having a second instrument tuned differently or simply as a back-up in case you break a string; all that matters is the music that comes out at the end. To me, anyway.

I think there are a few reasons why there might be a capo there. I wouldn’t say that the players I saw using a capo were lazy. I’ve asked a couple players about the capo (after reading on this forum that it was considered cheating). I recall one saying that his reason was simply that he liked the sound he got that way. Another said it was for accommodating singers or other players. One demonstrated different voicings to me of some chords and explained that, while he could choose to voice differently and do without a capo, he didn’t like the alternate voicings as much tonally and wanted the character he got with the capo and the voicings in lower positions.

I could imagine a capo being a bandaid fix for a nut issue, but I haven’t heard anyone use that explanation so far.

I do think it’s good for a player to know how to do multiple chord voicings for keys, but it can be limiting for a player to have to jump around the neck constantly, and in many fiddle genres it can even be distracting for a rhythm player to get too fancy in chord voicings.

Violin players are often expected to be able to play in any key using standard tuning. Some consider retuning the violin to be a form of cheating, but I think that argument also misses some of the nuance behind the reasoning for scordatura in many settings.

Maybe a bad action at the nut. So using fret one as a "zero fret" like the old Hofner guitars used to have. i used to like capo fret 2 for finger picking. closer frets and a closer action, i think that is fairly common.

Edit: i see Rich has covered that one 

Brings to mind a funny anecdote when a lass who was accompanying me, asked her sister to pass her the tuning fork. her sister passed her a normal table fork which she used to turn the tuner as it was missing the button on the end of the little shaft.

I'm not quite sure here as to the topic (I can't believe we could be talking about capo-ing a fiddle), but as far as this longtime acoustic guitarist is concerned, using a capo is just fine. The vocalist always has first choice for the key, as you always want him/her to sing well. Meantime, not only do you need your guitar to properly ring out...something that demands chords with several open strings...it is also truly wonderful to be able to do the chord changes your fingers are comfortable with.

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Originally posted by wrench13

IMHO, and I know lots will hate this, capos are for lazy/poor guitarists. Most BG jams etc, the guitarist couldn't play in Bb, etc to save their lives with out one. I only know 2 guitarists personally that NEVER ever use a capo and they are wonderful players.

Bluegrass players use capos rather than open voicings because that creates the sound they are looking for; the sound of bluegrass music.  True, most of them haven't learned "advanced" chords or whatever, but they haven't needed those chords to play the music they choose to play.  Tony Rice, Brian Sutton, Julian Lage, David Grier, Russ Barenburg, Billy Strings, and so many others are hardly "poor guitarists" because they play bluegrass with capos.  A guitarist trying to play bluegrass in open Bb sound as out-of-place as playing with a capo in jazz combo.

Controversial fiddle content:  BG guitarists don't need bar chords anymore than OT fiddlers need 4th position technique.

I played with a guy who tuned a half step down and used a Capo on the 1st Fret. Keeping it in Standard in the end. However, the strings had less tension. Then, he'd use a second capo like you'd normally use.

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Originally posted by Erockin

I played with a guy who tuned a half step down and used a Capo on the 1st Fret. Keeping it in Standard in the end. However, the strings had less tension. Then, he'd use a second capo like you'd normally use.

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Essentially shortening the scale length, as I said before.

Probably since the fiddler was tuned up or down by a half step the guitar guy just didn't wanna fumble around with a bunch of barre chords...capo on one might've made it just easier to get around in the key the fiddler ended up in. I sure would a done that, myself...why not make it easy on yourself.

Being able to play your acoustic guitar with open-stringed chords makes all the difference in the world for a folk or C&W player. The tonal quality you get from open-string chords is light years more open and "country" than the tone you get from bar chords. You want to be able to let those open strings ring out and sustain. You want to sound like a folk singer or C&W artist, not a jazzer or classical guy. As Bob Dylan sings in Mr. Tambourine Man, "In the jingle-jangle morning, I'll come following you."