CAPO GUITAR
20 YEARS OF THE SHORT-CUT CAPO | Mitch Bohannon
The year was 1999 . I attended the Maranatha Worship Leader Workshop in Montgomery , Alabama with Gary Sadler leading . I got to sit in a class with Glenn Pearce where he pulled out a bag of capos and briefly mentioned a “ cutoff ” capo . The next year I attended Worship Together 2000 in San Jose , CA where I first met Chris Tomlin . ( We actually flew home on the same flight from San Jose to Houston .) At the conference , Chris was leading worship with the “ cut-capo ” and I was intrigued .
In the airport , we visited for a while and I picked Chris ’ brain about this little capo . Chris was really playing it more by ear and back then and could not explain what he was doing with it . I got home , bought a Kyser capo , took a hacksaw and file to it , and then was utterly lost and confused . I emailed Chris a few times and we even drove over to The Woodlands FUMC where he was leading to see him . Through our conversations , I learned that the capo placed on the second fret with a finger place on the 3 rd string , second fret above the capo formed an “ E ” chord .
When he told me this , the lightbulb came on inside my head and I drew up a diagram where I could plot out all of the fingerings I needed and then I kept going as far as I could . You may have seen my red-white-and-blue chord diagrams . I drew those up back in 2000 . ( I have actually seen companies posting my colored chart as if it were their own !) BTW , I picked red and blue for Louisiana Tech .
After I had developed my own style of leading worship with the cut capo , I began teaching students around me and then one day I got the nerve to call up the Kyser company and pitch my idea . Within a few hours , I had Milton Kyser on the phone and he asked us to meet him at the Cracker Barrel in Shreveport , LA . We ate , visited , laughed and learned and afterward I played for him in the parking lot . He thanked me and we went back home .
In not too long , Milton found himself at Summer NAMM being questioned about partial capos by several folks . Upon returning home , Milton called me and told me we were going to pursue it together . I received another call after September 11 where Milton told me all was on hold as he did not know what would happen to the economy . January NAMM 2002 came , and he called again telling me there were so many questions , he had to get this product made .
So , we went back and forth with some dimensions until we landed on what we still have today . Sitting in a burger joint in Canton , TX , about five of us were hashing out what would end up being the name of this capo . Kyser Jr . was an option and I really felt like it needed the word “ cut ” in it because so many of the church guitar players and worship leaders were calling it the “ cut capo .” I think the “ Kyser Short-Cut Capo ” was a brilliant idea that Milton ’ s grandson came up with and at the 2002 Summer NAMM Show in Nashville , we brought the first seven ( yes seven ) Short-Cut Capos to demonstrate . I played till my fingers bled !
The Lord opened up so many opportunities and connections over those first couple of years , friends I have to this day . It was at that first NAMM show that I had a meeting with Rick Cua , who was with Worship Together at the time doing the New Song Café Webisodes . Rick offered me the opportunity to fly to Buffalo , NY and film a webisode for Worship Together and that started a great , long-lasting partnership .
It was at Summer NAMM 2003 that I connected with the one and only Bruce Adolph ! Bruce soon gave me the opportunity to start writing charts for [ WM ] Worship Musician Magazine as he had a goal in those first years to include a “ cut capo ” chart in every issue . Then , in 2004 , Mr . Kyser gave me more support and helped me get to Seattle to teach at the Christian Musician Summit . Oh , those early years were so special !
God has done many incredible works with this little capo and the fact that he allowed me to be a part of the story is mind-blowing . What a good God ! I ’ ve been able to teach at worship conferences across the country and connect with worship musicians from all over the world .
I ’ ve heard stories … like a worship leader who had injuries that took away the ability to play and the Short-Cut Capo gave him that ability back . I ’ ve heard story after story of how God has used this technique in ministry . I ’ ve been told by songwriters who are writing songs many of us are leading in our churches , that they learned to play guitar with the Short-Cut Capo . I ’ d love to hear your story ! Email me at
cutcapo @ gmail . com
Check out the video … I ’ ll show you some of the songs I was using to teach the cut capo technique with .
Mitch Bohannon Mitch Bohannon and his wife , Noelle have been married for 30 years with three adult kids and two granddaughters . Mitch developed the Short- Cut Capo for Kyser and is the Director of Live Production at Trinity Baptist Church in Lake Charles , Louisiana .
68 September 2022
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