Put your guitar in DADGAD, drop D or any number of non-standard tunings in seconds
For many players, if they’ve seen one capo they’ve seen ‘em all. But they likely haven’t seen anything like Kyser’s Quick-Change Short-Cut and Quick-Change Drop D capos.
As Guitar World Tech Editor Paul Riario states in the above demo video, “These are not your ordinary capos.”
Both, he continues, “offer great ways to find creative chord voicings, or if you need to capo alternate variations of similar chords.”
The Quick-Change Short-Cut works with acoustic or electric guitars and is designed to capo three of the six strings on a guitar – the fifth string, the fourth string and the third string.
“When capoed on the second fret, the Quick-Change Short-Cut emulates what is known as DADGAD tuning,” Paul points out. “And when capoed on other frets the Short-Cut turns the guitar into an open-tuned instrument.”
Kyser's Quick-Change Short-Cut Capo (Image credit: Kyser)
And that’s just the beginning.
“You can also take the capo and invert it, and leave the two bass strings open as well as the open E string,” he demonstrates. “With that you can get a different type of color.”
The Quick-Change Drop D capo, meanwhile, works with acoustic and electric guitars as well, and is designed to capo five of the six strings on the fretboard – only the sixth string, the E string, remains open.
“This allows you to emulate a drop D tuning on the second fret,” Paul explains. “You can do the familiar cowboy chords or create experimental shapes, and similar to the Short-Cut capo, I do some variations on chords and keep that low E open.”
His verdict?
“Both the Kyser Quick-Change Short Cut and Quick-Change Drop D capos are avant-garde capos that open up a world of creative possibilities,” Paul says.
“These capos work on any fret, in standard or inverted positions and alternate tunings. The only thing you need to bring with you besides these Kyser capos is your imagination.”
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