Where to capo for Ab Aeolian
Put the capo at fret 4 and play Ab Aeolian using Fb Aeolian shapes. That is the easiest of the eight positions ranked below, and it is what most players reach for. Against playing Ab Aeolian open, it drops the mean difficulty of the key's seven chords from 5.2 to 3.4 and gains 11 ringing open strings.
You want Ab. Capo 4 and play in Fb.
All eight positions, ranked
Each row transposes Ab Aeolian down by that many frets to find the shapes your hand would actually make, then scores the best voicing of all seven chords — fewer fingers, less stretch, closer to the nut, fewer muted strings. Lower is easier. Standard tuning (E2 A2 D3 G3 B3 E4).
| Capo | Shapes you play | Open strings | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | Fb Aeolian | 19 | 3.4 |
| 2 | Gb Aeolian | 14 | 4.3 |
| 7 | Db Aeolian | 10 | 4.4 |
| 6 | D Aeolian | 15 | 4.7 |
| None | Ab Aeolian | 8 | 5.2 |
| 5 | Eb Aeolian | 3 | 5.6 |
| 1 | G Aeolian | 6 | 5.6 |
| 3 | F Aeolian | 2 | 6.2 |
What you are playing
The seven chords of Ab Aeolian are Abm, Bbdim, Cb, Dbm, Ebm, Fb, Gb — the ones the ranking above is scored against. Their diagrams are on the Ab Aeolian key page.