Erstwhile Dream Syndicate man Steve Wynn told us about his love for his Schubb capo...
Steve Wynn: I do have favorite guitars and amps and stomp boxes but I swap ‘em out regularly just to keep an element of surprise, avoid boredom and, of course, to match the sound and style of whoever I’m playing with at the time. But the one bit of gear that travels with me on every tour and to every recording session is my Schubb capo. I have about 5 of them and keep them in various bags and cases to make sure I never have to find myself without one. So, why is this my “Can’t Do Without” bit of gear (and a cheap one at that, at about 20 bucks)?
Well, I’ve written a bunch of my songs using my capo which means I need to have it if I’m going to play one of those songs on tour (often driving bandmates to distraction when they need to watch my hands and transpose on the fly). But sometimes I’ll put the capo on a different fret just to make the song sound different and throw me for a loop as well. The song sounds new and makes me rethink about how I want to sing it or even change my idea of who I am on stage at that moment. It’s fun.
In that same way, the capo is an essential writing tool for me just so that I don’t get bored with the same sound of those same open cowboy chords I’ve been using since I was a pre-teen. The capo is a perfect collaborator, slyly saying to me, “hey, you seem stuck. How about if you play that one in E-flat? Maybe that will wake you up.” “Nice idea,” I reply and then shove him back in my Dopp kit so that he doesn’t ask for a share of the publishing.
My capo. Gotta have it. Can’t do without it.
Steve Wynn is embarking on a West Coast tour in January in support of autobiography I Wouldn’t Say It If It Wasn’t True and solo album Make it Right. He plays McCabes in Los Angeles on January 31.
Photo by Guy Kokken
