Hard to believe that I've been playing guitar for 30 years but I'd never used a capo. But then again, I guess us guitar players tend to write music for guitar - especially when you come from a riff-oriented genre.
 
I always objected to using a capo - for whatever reason, I felt it was like cheating.
 
But working with my wife, I do find that some those cool awesome riff-based song that also make constant use of open strings and work so great in E aren't too easily transposed to G#. Things accidentally get muted that shouldn't be.
 
So I suppose a capo is the best option, but the purist in me still frowns upon it...

Rain,

Define cheating......like maybe....double tracking ......or punching in......or .......Melodyne .......or.....

MakeShift
Rain,

Define cheating......like maybe....double tracking ......or punching in......or .......Melodyne .......or.....

Using BitTorrent.  

MakeShift
Rain,

Define cheating......like maybe....double tracking ......or punching in......or .......Melodyne .......or.....

Would you believe that I've never punched in, except when I first started working with Cakewalk Guitar Studio, my very first DAW software. I wanted to test the feature.
 
Maybe because I feel that I have to make up somehow for all the MIDI instrumentation. In the most complex situation, at worst, I'll break down the song into sections - verse, bridge, chorus. But these all have to be recorded in a single take - no comping. I'd rather re-record the same passage 200 hundred times - seriously.
 
The producer of the recordings I'd made with my band had once insisted on punching in in a solo and I couldn't bear to listen to that track w/o cringing. He was just rushing me and even had me plug into the other guitar player's amp - a Mesa Boogie - instead of letting me work on my tone. Never again.
 
 

craigb

MakeShift
Rain,

Define cheating......like maybe....double tracking ......or punching in......or .......Melodyne .......or.....

Using BitTorrent.  

Am

....turkey becan.

Or digital recording or synths that sound like a piano........ cheating?
 
I hope this conversation doesn't get started again because someone will bring up the topic of.... uhhhhh... yeah...lets not go there...
 
Forget that...lets talk about the CAPO.... and it's use on a guitar.
 
Yeah, lots of beginners use it to "Cheat" until (hopefully) they can learn the REAL CHORDS.....   It does serve that purpose and speaking as someone who was, and could in some ways still be considered a beginner, yep...I used it for that very purpose.  
 
As I learned some stuff, I no longer needed to use the CAPO to cheat since I had learned the Eb and Ab and all those other strange chords.  I'm still working to master AM..... in the way BAPU has...... CAPO or not....
 
For a long time there in the middle,  I didn't own a CAPO. I think I gave it to another beginner.  
 
I forget the actual reason that I bought one again....perhaps I didn't buy it, it may have been given to me by someone thinking I was a beginner ...I don't remember.
 
Anyway, I am now the owner of another CAPO.... and I do find it useful to change the timbre of the guitar.  Slap it on and play and the guitar takes on a totally different sound quality that can be extremely useful to achieve a color to the sound that is unachievable in other ways.  So while I don't need it to play those "other" chords or in horn-like-keys..... I do use it for specific reasons related to tone and timbre.

Yeah , lets talk about capos ..
 
here's a little something I did while using a capo in standard tuning 
 

 
also they are really great when you tune your guitar to altered and open tunnings 
I've used some of these tunings and variants w a capo ..
DADGAD
DADGBD
DGDGBD
EAEAC#E
EBEG#BE
 
and let us not forget Johnny Winter has recorded some mean slide guitar while using a capo in open G 
 
Kenny

 
Without the Capo, we wouldn't have Here Comes The Sun.
 
What Herb said about different timbre's and tones is what the Capo is great for.  I think Songwriters probably use the Capo more than guys who consider themselves guitar players.  Sometimes, just slipping a songs chord structure up a couple of frets can totally change the song you where trying to write, that wasn't coming together.  Or, create inpiration that wasn't happening in the original key.  Or, make you realise that if you sing a song in a different key, it works better for your voice. 
 
I guess I have never really worried about it, I can chord pretty much anything on the neck.  It has always been just another tool in the tool bag for me.
 

take your capo put it on the 5 th fret ….
now if you play only the top 4 strings you have the same exact tuning as a tenor uke w the low g 
from High to Low A , E , C , G 
 
this happens to be one of the most popular Uke tunings as evidenced by some of the top Hawaiian Uke players  
 
now if you happen to decide to include the  2 lower strings w the capo on the 5 th fret ,
you will have the exact tuning of an instrument called The Guitalele ( I have one and I love playing it )
 
The Guitalele is tuned from high to  low A, E, C, G, D, A 
 
Kenny