Capo chart: which fret and which shapes for every key

Find the capo fret and the chord shapes that sound in the key you need. Pick a key below, or go to the full table.

Find your capo

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How a capo changes the key

A capo raises every string by a semitone for each fret. Put it on fret 3, play a G shape, and you hear Bb. So the rule is: the shape you play plus the capo fret is the key you hear.

Guitarists use it to keep playing easy open chords in a hard key. A song in Bb has awkward barre chords, but with the capo on fret 1 you play it in A shapes.

Capo chart for major keys

Find the key you want to hear in the first column. The number under a shape is the capo fret, and 0 means no capo. An empty cell would need the capo above fret 7.

Capo fret for each key and open major shape
Key you hear	C shapes	A shapes	G shapes	E shapes	D shapes
C	0	3	5	above fret 7	above fret 7
Db (C#)	1	4	6	above fret 7	above fret 7
D	2	5	7	above fret 7	0
Eb (D#)	3	6	above fret 7	above fret 7	1
E	4	7	above fret 7	0	2
F	5	above fret 7	above fret 7	1	3
F# (Gb)	6	above fret 7	above fret 7	2	4
G	7	above fret 7	0	3	5
Ab (G#)	above fret 7	above fret 7	1	4	6
A	above fret 7	0	2	5	7
Bb (A#)	above fret 7	1	3	6	above fret 7
B	above fret 7	2	4	7	above fret 7

Capo chart for minor keys

The same idea with the open minor shapes: Am, Em and Dm.

Capo fret for each minor key and open minor shape
Key you hear	Am shapes	Em shapes	Dm shapes
Cm	3	above fret 7	above fret 7
C#m (Dbm)	4	above fret 7	above fret 7
Dm	5	above fret 7	0
Ebm (D#m)	6	above fret 7	1
Em	7	0	2
Fm	above fret 7	1	3
F#m (Gbm)	above fret 7	2	4
Gm	above fret 7	3	5
G#m (Abm)	above fret 7	4	6
Am	0	5	7
Bbm (A#m)	1	6	above fret 7
Bm	2	7	above fret 7

Choosing between the options

Most keys have two or three options. Bb, for example, is A shapes at fret 1 or G shapes at fret 3. Take the lowest fret that keeps the song comfortable to play. A low capo keeps the full sound of the guitar and a high one thins it. If the song moves around a lot, pick the shapes whose other chords you play best.

In GraceNote

Set the Capo in the editor, or in the Transpose sheet on Stage, which has a Capo stepper next to Semitones. The chart then shows the shapes you play, and the sheet spells it out: Play G shapes, Capo 3, sounds in Bb.

Cards, the Stage header and the rows of a set show the sounding key, the key the audience hears, and Stage adds a Capo hint when there is one. The editor shows the written key and the Capo as two separate pills, and the Transpose control works on the written key.

Change the capo and the sounding key stays: the chart is rewritten for the new shapes. A song in C shapes with the capo on 2 sounds in D. Take the capo off and GraceNote shows D shapes, still sounding D.

Questions

What does a capo on fret 3 do to a G shape?

It sounds as Bb. The shape is G, and three frets up is Bb.

Does the capo change the chords I play?

It changes what they sound like, not what your hand does. The shapes stay the same and the key you hear moves up.

Can a capo make a song lower?

No. A capo only raises the pitch. To go lower, move the capo down or take it off and play lower shapes.

How high can the capo go?

Above fret 7 the guitar sounds thin and the frets get tight, so this chart stops there. An empty cell means the capo would sit higher.

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Keep learning

Transpose chords
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Chords in every key
The chords of all 12 major keys and their relative minors, in one table.

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