CAPO GUITAR
JAMIE MACDONALD“ DESPERATE” | Mitch Bohannon
I’ ll tell you what’ s frustrating … I don’ t know, maybe you have a newer car than I do, and you don’ t have this problem. When I hear a song on the radio that catches my attention, I can’ t just simply ask my phone what song it is because Siri will take over the radio when responding to me and there will be no song to listen to. If the DJs don’ t tell me, I must remember a string of lyrics and search them to find what song I was listening to.
That’ s what happened the first time I heard Jamie MacDonald’ s song“ Desperate.” And I really try to not use my phone when I’ m driving, so I had to pull over into a parking lot to find out! What a song! Such powerful lyrics and a fantastic groove with a chord progression that limits me a bit with the Short-Cut Capo. Let me explain.
I explain all of this for those of you who are playing guitar alone or where your guitar is the main instrument. If I were playing with a full band and had a couple of extra guitars behind me, I could be down at frets 1 and 3 playing“ A” shapes and skipping a chord or two.
Once you figure out where you want to play it, the song is simple with a nice, repeating chord progression. Fingerstyle on verse 1 and the bridge, strumming a nice open chorus to the punchy“ post-chorus,” this song has plenty of dynamics to grab the attention of the room. I’ m
leading this song for our Celebrate Recovery group and I’ m confident they will totally dig it. Personally, I find myself preferring to play a“ Bm7” over the“ Bm” as it flows nicely with the“ D2” shape and I use the note I’ m holding with my # 2 finger on the fourth string as a hammeron in the“ D2” shape. I went ahead and added that chord shape in the lineup so you can try it!
Mitch Bohannon Mitch developed the Short-Cut Capo for Kyser and is the Director of Live Production at Trinity Baptist Church in Lake Charles, Louisiana.
E Bm( Bm7) D2 A F # m7
The song goes from the 1 to the 5m and then a b7 chord. That b7 chord is the problem because I really don’ t want to play a barre chord as it would totally break up the open, droning-chord sound. In the key of“ E,” that goes“ E | Bm | D | A” which is fine for normal Short-Cut Capo chords. In the key of“ A” it’ s“ A | Em | G | D”… The“ Em” and the“ G” would be the issues. Jamie recorded this song in the key of“ F,” so use the chart and play with full capo on 1 and Short-Cut Capo on 3 to play with the recording. For my voice, I need the song to be in the key of“ Bb.” So, in order for me to play and sing, I’ ll need to capo high up the neck so I can use the“ E” chord shapes. I’ ve got my capos at frets 6 and 8 for the key of“ Bb.” One more issue … if you have a wide or thick guitar neck, your Short-Cut may have difficulty fretting the 8 th fret. I have a few capos that I’ ve cut specifically to fit a couple of my guitars that high up the neck. A standard Short-Cut fits fine on most of my guitars. 68 May 2025 Subscribe for Free...