What’s The Best Guitar Capo In 2022?
The Best Capo To Buy Is...
I have been using a capo more and more recently, mainly when playing acoustic guitar, but a guitar capo has also been required when playing electric guitar. I own a few different types of capo, but recently I have a new favourite.
My recent YouTube video goes into detail and compares capos so if you would rather watch than reading, check out the video.
Guitar Capo Video Transcript
Hello! In this video, I will be comparing three capos – a cheap capo which is pretty rubbish, an industry-standard capo that I have used for many years and my latest expensive capo. Hopefully, this information will help you in your capo purchasing research. Let me know in the comments if you have a favourite capo as I love to try new products.
I am not a fan of the great big, clunky clothes pegs for the Incredible Hulk style capos, of which there are so many, so the three capos in this video are smaller, less intrusive designs.
For many years, I did not own a capo. I would always find a way to try and play pieces that require capos without using one. This would sometimes result in ridiculous hand contortions.
I then realised that this was a stupid approach and that a capo was indeed a valuable tool and not a device just to make things easier to play, and basically cheat.
Cheap Guitar Capos
This capo has been in my school's teaching bag for many years. It is cheap, attaches to the guitar very easily, but doesn’t really work very well. It doesn’t do a bad job on some guitars, although depending on the neck radius, it doesn’t hold all the strings down fully on many guitars. If I use this capo with my Strat, for example, some strings will buzz and it sounds horrible.
I would definitely not recommend cheap capos such as this one as they will cause much frustration, make your playing sound bad and probably make you think that capos are a bad tool in general.
Shubb Capo
This is an industry-standard, quality capo and works extremely well. I have used this capo on many acoustic guitar gigs and it does a great job.
The mechanism allows the capo to be attached relatively easily and quickly. It sounds great as the strings are all held down firmly. The screw at the back provides an easy way to adjust the capo so it can fit on a range of neck sizes.
Electric guitar and steel string acoustic guitars have curved fingerboards, and this capo is curved to fit. If you are a classical guitarist, you will need a capo for flat fingerboards as a capo designed for radiused fingerboards will not work.
G7th Performance 3 Capo
I recently spent some time researching capos to see if there have been any major advancements in capo technology and I kept seeing the G7th Performance 3 guitar capo. The cost of this capo is much higher than my Shubb capo, but I was intrigued to see if it was better. I have been using a capo more and more, so I decided to purchase the G7th capo and hopefully have an upgrade to my guitar tool kit.
After using this capo on quite a few gigs, I can confidently say that this capo is awesome. It is engineered extremely well and it certainly does live up to the hype.
The clever engineering allows the capo to adjust to different fingerboard radius measurements, so strings are always held down equally. This capo even works on a classical guitar with a flat fingerboard, so this is a big bonus.
The G7th Capo can be attached to my guitar with one hand very easily, and I can be ready to play sooner than when using my Shubb capo. You can even quickly attach it to your guitar headstock so it is easily reachable.
I mainly use a capo when playing acoustic guitar, although I recently needed to use a capo on a gig with my electric guitar. It is easier to bend strings with the G7th capo compared to the Shubb capo, so it felt more natural when I played bluesy-type licks on the song that required the capo.
Summary
So which capo is the best purchase?
You can’t go wrong with the Shubb capo as it works extremely well and should last for years. Is the G7th Performance 3 capo worth the extra expense? After using the capo many times, I would say yes, it is definitely worth the money and is a quality product.
Either the Shubb capo or the G7th capo will serve you well, so it all depends on how much you are willing to spend. If I lost my capos and needed to buy another, I would definitely buy the G7th capo.
Would You Like Free Guitar Learning Tools?
My weekly newsletter features an analysis of all the guitar licks uploaded to my Youtube channel. Understanding what you are playing as well as being able to play licks is essential, so my newsletter is like having free guitar lessons sent to your inbox each week.
You will also receive my free guitar lesson study packs, which are also a great learning resource.
Share this Post