That's a great method and allows you to stay in the original key of the song which i often necessary and preferable, especially in band situations.

That's correct. In many cases, you would but you don't have to. You may put the capo up but then use different types of chords, actually putting the song in a different key. Say, for example, that I'm singing a song in the key of C where the highest note is a G (a note I might find tricky to hit) I could put the capo up to the 5th fret, thereby making the highest note in the song a C. Instead of singing the song 5 steps higher, I'm actually going to sing it 7 steps lower (which is exactly the same as 5 steps higher - it's just that it's now an octave lower...if you follow me).

@@GaryLucasMusic tjanks for the answer ! 😄to be honest, i dont know anything about music theory, the only thing i know is that the way in singing my songs doesnt satisfy me at all. I feel like im not even singing and so they have no "hype". But If i try to lower the tuning of the guitar to sing higher it becomes too high to sing so im going crazy!! Do you think a capo could help me on this? Thanks man!

@@cretaceostrapulazza5918 Absolutely! Feel free to drop by my live Twitch stream sometime and ask me questions in chat - I'd be happy to answer them there. www.twitch.tv/GaryBLucas

Even a combination of manually changing the key and maybe using the capo as sometimes playing too far up the fret board won't sound quite right. As a Bari-tenor (or lazy tenor) this video speaks to me as I also sing songs by female altos, and half the time feel like I'm singing in the basement and singing the exact octave can often times be too high

Really glad it helped, Laura!

Becoming familiar with all the keys and which chords work well with other chords is important. Give yourself little tasks like - say for example you had written a song where the chord progression was Em C G D - and then you wanted to try it on Am - what would the chords be? It would be Am, F, C, G. And then try it starting on Bm- this would be Bm, G, D A. And try it with every key there is. For example, C#m would be...

Yes that's right! In a way, it's like relative pitch.

Its a circle, go up

Better answer is learn transposition

I've just posted a new video that deals with this exact question. Thanks for your comment!

It is song dependent. Yeah, The Offspring is a great example of a male vocalist whose style is singing high in his chest voice.

Hello, sorry for the very late reply! From my understanding, you don't need to stick to the key of Bb. What you might be experiencing is feeling comfortable in the scale that the Bb harmonica allows you access to. But you could sing many of those notes in other keys and those notes would have a different 'flavour' to them. The note Bb is the root note when you're in the key of Bb and so sounds very resolved and like 'home. However, if you were singing a song in the key of F, that Bb note is the 4th and sounds unresolved, creating some lovely tension.

@@GaryLucasMusic I see, that is interesting! I got so much to learn when it comes to singing a capella.. is all new to me, just memorrizing melodies I find really challanging.. while singing with someone who knows a song I find really easy.. not sure why I find it so easy to follow along pretty quickly over and over but as soon someone asks me to start the song myself I cannot even find the first tone or tones... maybe I am not so smart or something to remember it..

Do you need for the guitar to sound that high pitched, or are you just trying to get to the right key? Because if it is the latter, remember that the 12th fret is the same as no capo at all, and the 13th fret would be capo 1st fret - if that makes sense?

Ill try to explain ... english is not my mothertongue. If i play it without a capo my voice cannot cope with the highest part of the song. So if i put a capo on the 1e fret it gets worse. I need a capo on the minus 1th fret so to say.

So i probably would have to put it on the 11th fret. But thats impossible. Maybe i need to use another tuning ?

This is the song i am wrestling with btw. You wont understand the text because it is dutch dialect. m.kzfaq.info/get/bejne/bc2TicmirduXpIU.html

The chords and lyrics tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab/katastroof/afscheid-chords-1153468

It depends on what you have in your song so far. Do you already have a melody? If so, look at what notes you have - you are most likely already singing in a key of music. Once you have that key, you can look up what chords work well in that key.

Then you can try using different chords from the standard version of the song. For example, if I go to sing "I Write Sins Not Tragedies" by Panic! At The Disco which is in the key of Am and I find that the song is too high for me, then like you, I'll want to lower it down by a few steps. I might find a chord chart on a website like Ultimate Guitar that says "no capo" and shows the chord progression starting on A minor and continuing in this key. In this case, I would think of what key might work for me. What is a few steps lower than Am? Could be Gm or Fm. Then think to yourself - "how can I get to Gm or Fm?" If these keys are too tricky to play using barre chords, you could try changing the chord progression so that, relative to the capo, you're now thinking in terms of Em. Put the capo on the first fret, and Em becomes Fm. Put the capo on the 3rd fret and Em becomes Gm. Ultimate Guitar has a very handy tool where you can Transpose the song by pressing the + or - button. Keep pressing it until the Am becomes Em and then try the capo in different positions. Hope that helps! I might make a video on this in the future.

I just posted a video about this - thank you for the inspiration!

@@GaryLucasMusic sweet! Going to watch now. Thanks 😃

If there's a song by a male singer you like, try singing in the original key of that song or taking it up by a couple of steps and see how that feels. With a sing by a female singer, experiment with trying the song 8 steps lower (or 4 higher - it'll be the same result for your voice) and see how that feels.