Bass Capo

Sterner TM

 

I almost didn't believe this guy when he told me he had made a capo for the upright bass! It turned out to be true and I'm very proud to present this truely unique item:

Blue Dew Capo

Made in 1993 by John Beumer, Netherlands.

"The story with it is that some years ago I had problems using my left arm so I couldn't play with my folkband Blue Dew. That changed when I made the capo. It made playing open strings possible at different positions. In bluegrass that's enough to play basic. I made the capo of the following ingredients:

  • a tie wrap from my racebike,
  • a gastube,
  • a part of an old mirror from my motorbike."

[Donated by John Beumer. His arm is allright now.]

Bass capo in use.

Blue Dew Bass Capo

Paul McCartney - capo user.Paul McCartney - capo user.

What is George Martin staring at during the Rubber Soul sessions? Oh yes, it is a Hamilton capo on Paul McCartney's Rickenbacker bass!

"What am I doing there? Well, the thing with the bass on a lot of this stuff was that I'd try anything once.
So I'll try a capo. I often do that when I'm writing a song - stick a capo on just so it's a different instrument
than the one I normally play. Everything goes up a little bit and goes more tingly, and you get a song that
reflects that. So it may well have been that we'd written a song on guitars: a certain key, so I only knew it
in that key. Or maybe it was to get a higher sound. I often used to tune the strings down a tone, too, so
      
 the E would become a D.  I would just mess around with any experimental effects. I'd try anything!"
             

                                                        [Source: Bass Player magazine 1995, Tony Bacon interviewing Paul McCartney.]

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