Capoed Guitar Chord Help, Please!!!!

[golddustwoman77]

I'll start out with an explaination, then you'll understand why I am asking this.

I'm a school teacher as many of you know. Well, eighth grade graduation is coming up, and the students are singing a song, "Count on Me" by Whitney Houston. It is from the Waiting to Exhale soundtrack. Anyway, there are three, eighth grade students who want to accompany the music teacher. She'll be on the piano and them on guitar. They play, but they aren't spectacular. The song has some unusual chords that they didn't know how to play, so the music teacher doesn't play guitar. She knows that I do, so she asked me to help them. I did, and I simplified the song as much as I could. But they were still having a hard time with some of the chords, because they play by ear and only know basic chord formations, not bar chords, etc.

Also, the music teacher said that she discussed this with another person who plays guitar as well, and they thought it would be easily played with a capo on the third fret. I can't find a capoed version of this song anywhere, and I don't think that I can convert the original chords to the new ones after the capo. I'm getting confused.

Anyway, I thought that someone on here could probably convert the original chords to the way to play it with the capo easily. I wanted a version that will easily be played, basic chords, etc., as much as possible. The students are just playing rhythm guitar, not lead. I'll post the chords that are used in the song below, according to the sheet music. Although, I have simplified the sheet music to some degree already. My students and I would really, really, really, really, really appreciate the help. Thank you in advance.

Here is the simplified version I have helped them with:


F Gm F B flat maj7

F C

F Bflat maj 7 F Dm

Gm A Dm Gm


This repeats the rest of the song.

Also, here is a version I found on the internet, but it is different from the sheet music that we have. http://www.911tabs.com/link/?2303529

[The Tower]

Originally Posted by golddustwoman77

Here is the simplified version I have helped them with:


F Gm F B flat maj7

F C

F Bflat maj 7 F Dm

Gm A Dm Gm


This repeats the rest of the song.

Also, here is a version I found on the internet, but it is different from the sheet music that we have. http://www.911tabs.com/link/?2303529

Here are the chords to play if the guitar is capoed on the third fret:

D Em D Gmaj7

D A

D Gmaj7 D Bm

Em F# Bm Em


For beginners, the only tricky chord in this key is the F# - the Bm is easily played in the non-fret version.

Hope it helps!

[chiliD]

Actually, for intermediate guitarists, the 3rd fret capo would be good. But, for beginner guitarists, capoing at the 5th fret might allow even easier chord fingerings...all based around basic fundamental chord structures...and all played within three frets of the capo, with minimal movement of fingering to change chords:

C Dm C Fmaj7

C G

C Fmaj7 C Am

Dm E Am Dm

If you have two guitarists of different degrees of guitar knowledge, having the more advanced one capo the 3rd and playing Tower's chord patterns, and the lesser advanced guitarist play capoed at the 5th playing my suggested patterns would give a great mix of chord voicings when played together (guitar tuning would have to be precise, however)

[golddustwoman77]

The Tower and ChiliD, thank you so much for replying and helping me out. I will try both of these tomorrow and see which one my students can manage to do. They are so excited about this, and I'm glad to know that now I won't let them down. You guys are the best!