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Partial
Capos
Q
Is
it possible to create an alternate tuning using two capos?
Jason
Tuttle Charlotte,
North Carolina
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A
What you
need is one or more partial capos, capos designed to cover
only some of the strings. Check out www.thirdhandcapo.com
to get an idea of what I'm talking about. Shubb and Kyser
also make partial capos, and most players who get into this
technique end up chopping some capos on their own. The idea
is to clamp only a few strings, just as if you were fingering
a chord. Esus4 is a common partial-capo tuning, achieved by
using a capo that frets the third, fourth, and fifth strings
at the second fret. This configuration gives you a similar
sound to D A D G A D (which is Dsus4), but with the added
benefit that all your standard-tuning chords, scales, and
licks still work up the neck, since you didn't actually retune
the guitar. You can use more than one capo to create different
combinations (David Wilcox does a lot of this), and there
really aren't any rules about how to go about it. Experimentation
is key in this department, so have at it!
—Teja Gerken
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Three
partial capos: a modified Shubb, Kyser's Drop-D, and the adjustable
Third Hand.
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Schmidt
and Maul
Q
I
recently purchased a Schmidt and Maul guitar dated May 30, 1857.
I have heard that these guitars are similar to early Martins. What
can you tell me about them?
Brian
Keefer
Beaverton, Oregon
A
The American guitar
industry dates back to the 1830s, when music publishers began to
augment popular sheet music with instruments. Schmidt and Maul was
founded by Louis Schmidt and George Maul in New York in 1839, six
years after C.F. Martin and Co. Little is known about the founders
of the company, but they apparently were successful early on, since
their rosewood parlor guitars won prizes at the American Industry
Fair in 1841 and '42, according to George Gruhn's contribution to
Vintage Guitars (String Letter Publishing, 2001). They probably
produced a range of grades based on materials and trim. Schmidt
and Maul guitars, like Martins and some German guitars, are notable
for employing a type of X-bracing, unusual on gut-string guitars,
which usually had simple transverse ladder bracing. Schmidt and
Maul built guitars until 1858. Whether the partnership broke up
or Schmidt died is unknown. George Maul continued to build guitars
through the Civil War until at least 1869, if not later, signing
his guitars "late of Schmidt and Maul."
—Michael
Wright
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X
Marks the Spot
Q The
tablature for your transcription of "Man of Constant Sorrow" (September
2002) has small X's on the tab lines. What do they mean?
Randall
C. Davis
Lanexa, Virginia
A In
tab, X's can indicate a few different things. Sometimes a player
will not sound a solid note or chord—either by accident
or intention—and a transcriber will use an X to notate
that, as we did in "Man of Constant Sorrow." Most of the time, these
types of strums happen in the transitions between chords, where
the open strings are often hit but usually dampened with the left-hand
fingers or right-hand palm. This technique creates more of a percussive
sound than a note or chord. When I transcribe a piece, I usually
place the X's on the notes that would have sounded if the
player had articulated them clearly. X's are also used to
notate a section of scratch rhythm, a technique that involves
damping the strings with your right-hand fingers so that your strumming
produces a rhythmic chucka-chucka-type sound.
—Andrew
DuBrock
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Excerpted from
Acoustic Guitar magazine,
January
2003, No. 121.
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