Thanks for bringing this one back, Brian!

As far as capos...use them when I need to. have no problems with it. However, tis my opinion that the strings on the guitar do not resonate quite as fully when capoed. or, maybe it's just my tired old ears. Thirty years in front of a Peavey Session 400 and 23 years playing bang-bang-shoot-em-up in the Army may have something to do with that. Those grenades, rockets and bazookas in Vietnam probably didn't help a lot, either.

As far as keys, I think most singers have certain keys that suit their voices better than other keys. I have an extremely limited vocal range, so keys are VERY important to me for vocal purposes. Almost all of my slow songs are in D, E-Flat or F, and most fast songs are either in E or A.

As far as keys on the guitar, with rare exceptions, keys just don't make a rip to me. I can play it in any key you can sing it in. The songs "Honky Tonk" and "Foggy Mountain Breakdown", I always play in E and G, respectively because of the open strings and the resonance I get from the uncapoed strings.

Like Bob Not-So-Young, I learned to play every song from three different positions: (1) F, on the first fret...that'll make ya work! (2) A on the 5th fret (3) G, on the 8th fret. So, with the very rarest of exceptions, keys just don't matter to me.

A good example of how that really helps: The lead singer in the band I played with for many years in Germany sang "Behind Close Doors" in B-Flat. A guy who used to sit in with us at times sang it in the key of F. I thanked myself for all those hours of sitting aroubnd learning to play from those three different positions!

Interesting topic.

Al