Where to capo for Eb Mixolydian
Put the capo at fret 1 and play Eb Mixolydian using D Mixolydian shapes. That is the easiest of the eight positions ranked below, and it is what most players reach for. Against playing Eb Mixolydian open, it drops the mean difficulty of the key's seven chords from 6.2 to 3.4 and gains 17 ringing open strings.
You want Eb. Capo 1 and play in D.
All eight positions, ranked
Each row transposes Eb Mixolydian 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | D Mixolydian | 19 | 3.4 |
| 6 | A Mixolydian | 19 | 3.9 |
| 4 | Cb Mixolydian | 10 | 4.4 |
| 3 | C Mixolydian | 15 | 4.7 |
| 2 | Db Mixolydian | 3 | 5.6 |
| 5 | Bb Mixolydian | 4 | 5.6 |
| None | Eb Mixolydian | 2 | 6.2 |
| 7 | Ab Mixolydian | 0 | 6.3 |
What you are playing
The seven chords of Eb Mixolydian are Eb, Fm, Gdim, Ab, Bbm, Cm, Db — the ones the ranking above is scored against. Their diagrams are on the Eb Mixolydian key page.