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Old 12-03-2022, 06:32 AM
JonPR JonPR is offline
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If a song is too low for you to song, tuning down is not always the answer. If it's only a matter of half a step (or a whole step), then maybe; certainly if you want to keep the original chord shapes.

But the normal way to bring a song into your own vocal register is to transpose it. You need to do this if the song is a lot too high (or a lot too low). You will need different chord shapes, of course, but you can usually use a capo to keep the chords as simple as possible.

E.g. if you have a song in G which is too high (and tuning down even a whole step is not enough), then you can play it in EADGBE in E (3 half-steps down) or in D (5 half-steps down). Or play it with G shapes with capo on 5, which is key of C, because 5 half-steps up is the same key as 7 half-steps down.

Of course, the problem with transposing to other shapes is if the guitar part has distinctive and important riffs or finger patterns that simply don't work with other chord shapes...
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