Transpose

How to use a capo

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Transpose

(Or… BUT I CAN’T PLAY THAT SONG IN THAT KEY!!”)

The more you play songs, you will realize that although most songs can be played in G, they don't always sound the best in G either because of the sound of the chord progressions or that the song is either too high or low to sing with. Many songs in the key of G are harder to sing because they are too high to sing. There is a similar problem for songs the key is Eb. Eb songs are great for piano players but horrible for guitar players because of fingering positions.

You have two options.

You can check out the Transposition Chart - Major Keys.

Transpose it: The first option is to transpose the song. Transposing a song simply means changing all the chords from one family to another family that is easier to sing or play. For example, if you had a song that was in the key of F,(and the chord pattern is I, IV, V, I) and you weren’t very good at playing the Bb (the IV or the 4th chord triad), but you really loved that song, transpose it to G. You will use the same chord pattern of I, IV, V, I, but this time instead of playing F, B𝄫, C, F, you will be playing G, C, D, G.

Many times, musicians will play a song in a key and when they just know it is an I, IV, V, I pattern, they can just transpose the song into any key (if they can play those chords. If you can’t play those chords, you may have to opt for option two, the Capo.

Here is an online Chord Transposer

Capo: The second option you have to play and sing a song that you can’t sing or play is to use a capo. A capo is a mechanical device that uniformly raises the pitch (sound tone) of all six strings on your guitar. The capo can be purchased from a musical store selling guitar equipment. When you place the capo on the first fret, just behind the metal fret bar, you raise the song 1/2 step. So if you have a song in G, put the capo on the first fret and still play the G chords, but you will be singing the song in G#. This principle is the same as Barre Chords which will be covered later.

Look at the Capo Transposition Chart. If the song you want to play is in a key that you can’t play all of the I, IV, and V chords (and their minors), then grab your capo. If the song is in the key of B, but you can’t play those chords, try playing the song using the G family of chords. Place the capo on the 4th Fret and you will be able to play the song in the key of B.

**Download** the **Capo Transposition Chart** so you can have your very own copy or save the above image to your phone and put it in your favorites

For example, as I was learning guitar, there were a lot of songs in the Key of F. But I couldn't play the Bb (the IV chord of the major scale). But since I can play the three major chords in the key of D (D, G, A) and the minors (Em, Fm, Bm), I could place the capo at the 3rd fret to get the right sound in the key of F, but play the D chords.

This is important when playing with a band because you may have a song that the keyboard player can play but you can’t. It is harder for beginning keyboard players to transpose music. If the song is in F, you can just throw on your capo on the 3rd fret. As you are playing the chords in the key of D, the sounds you are making are in the key of F. Your keyboardist is happy and all is well. No one knows the difference. Your piano player is glad he/she didn't have to transpose the song. They don’t make capos for pianos!

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