Why are so many songs Capo'd at Fret 1?

[LiveMusic]

Why are so many country songs using capo at 1st fret? Man, it's a ton of 'em. Is it because they are playing detuned guitars or is to fit their voices?

[Tedster]

Could be the arrangement calls for keys or other instruments that like to play in, say, Bb, which isn't exactly an uncapoed guitar friendly key.

[josephandrews.edu]

mbe their hands get tired from barring on the first fret. I noe i do.

but thats cuz i have little girly fingers.

 

late

[LiveMusic]

There's gotta be a "valid" reason. LOTS of country songs are capo'd there. I figure it's detuned geetars. Is "detuned" a word?

[Dan Richards]

I believe it would be to give the song a "lift". To move up 1/2 step would make the song sound a bit "brighter" compared to many other songs that were recorded same effect you'd get with a key change.

Could be they've found that it gives it that little extra "something".

[Guest]

Actually, the valid reason has been stated. A lot of country music is starting to pull in a wider variety of instrumentation and performers who have just as strong an affinity for the key of Bb as we six-string-slingers have for E. By placing a capo at the first fret, a guitarist can keep to standard tuning and play the open chords they love (pretending to be in the key of A). Now the automatic question might be: Why not just retune up a half step? Two possible answers: 1) some songs in the set use a different key so retuning alone is not a solution; or 2) even if all the songs are in that key, the guitarist just does not like the idea of putting the extra tension on his/her instrument (most likely an acoustic point of view).

 

Hope this helps.