Scissor Sisters - Capo 3rd Fret...Why?

MatthewShreddery

So I'm learning "I Don't Feel Like Dancing" by Scissor Sisters.
Check out live videos of them playing it and the Electric guitarist has a capo at the 3rd fret.
The song is in D.
Why on earth does he do this?

darthed1981

If there are two guitarists basically playing rhythm he probably does it to allow him to play different shapes and different open strings ringing out, bit of tonal variation, or you wouldn't hear him in the mix...?

smigeon

Possibly because he likes the sound or feel of it this way?? I think that differences in sound or feel arising from different ways of playing the same notes/chords that seem small for the listener, may sometimes be significant for the player.

MatthewShreddery

But 3rd fret though...that's just weird! Puts it into "B Major" relative to the capo...

stickyfiddle

Is the guitar definitely in standard tuning pre-capo?

MatthewShreddery

I'm wondering if maybe he tunes 1/2 sep down?

MatthewShreddery

When you watch him play live, he's only playing regular chord fragments high up the neck, as you'd expect when playing with acoustic guitarist providing the low down open chords...

MatthewShreddery

stickyfiddle said:

Is the guitar definitely in standard tuning pre-capo?

Good point. Maybe he's down 1/2 step

KKJale

Is it because of the very last line of the chorus, the C to D move?

With a capo, going from an open A to a barre-A B chord can be made to sound much harder and sharper than – if he had no capo – sliding a barre-A chord from the 3rd to the 5th fret. 

thecolourbox

Also the into bit as I remember it would sound better and be easier without open strings

guitarmangler

Acoustic guitar plays standard, electric with capo at 3rd. He plays pretty much all barres/funky , maybe a few open strings during solo and at the end? He didn't take advantage of the G chord using the E shape. Not enough to warrant a capo, anyway.
I assume the song runs into, or from another in the set which utilises the capo there.

HAL9000

^ The positioning of his hand would suggest that the electric guitarist is indeed tuned half a tone down.

viz

I think he’s just capoing on G and playing the song in D major with normal tuning, like Matthewshrubbery said in his first post. Basically like playing in B major. Here’s his D chord:

http://i.imgur.com/2sPHwhJ.jpg

Probably so he can make use of the “open” bottom G when he’s playing the IV chord high on the neck, or for a neighbouring song. 

EricTheWeary

http://www.epiphone.com/news-features/news/2005/an-interview-with-del-marquis-of-scissor-sisters.aspx

Interview with who I think that is, talks about the capo.