Chordie: Transpose Chords

[jcurner]

I use Chordie to get lyrics in larger print . . . but when it comes to transposing the chords . . . it's still hit and miss . . . can't seem to figure out how the system works. For example, if a song is in the key of E, it would seem to me that 3 half-tones + should change the song to G . . . but it rarely works out that way.

Can someone give me some tips on how to use the Transpose Chords ?

John

[Wally]

Seems to work for me like you stated Key of E up 3 semitones is Key of G. I notice that chord notation for the particular key might not be given correctly. For example giving a chord of Db in the Key of A when it should be C#. Other than that it seems to handle the transposing correctly.

[JonPR]

Yes, everything goes up (or down) the same number of half-steps. (And chord types stay the same.)
But (with an automatic system) you may need adjust enharmonics.
Make sure sharps and flats are not mixed, and that you don't have 2 of the same letter - the latter being the governing rule (a scale has one of each letter, which produces the "all flats or all sharps" rule).
Eg, key of F major has an Am chord and a Bb chord, not Am and A#.
The key of E major has a G#m chord, but the key of Gb major has an Abm.

Of course this is easier if you know all your major scales to start with. )

[stanron]

I don't know how to use chordie but here's a way to do it on paper. Maybe comparing the results will help.

The first thing to sort out is how scales are formed. The major scale is based on the intervals found on a keyboards white notes from C to C.
C D E F G A B C
The intervals between these notes are the intervals found in all major scales. Frets on a guitar are a semitone apart. 2 frets equals 1 tone. In the A -B C - line below each letter and each dash represents one fret or semitone. So you can see that there is 2 frets (or a tone) between A and B. There is one fret (or a semitone) between B and C.
The line below that shows how the notes of a major scale line up with C to C. (Ignore the dots. They are there to make the spacing work in text format.)
If you can print this out do so. Make a cut between the A - B C - line and the first line of numbers. Now you can put the number 1 under any letter and find the notes in that key.

Try putting 1 under G. You will see that note 7 is in between F and G. As JonPR said you can only have one of each note. Note 6 is E, note 1 is G so note 7 has to be F something. As its higher than F it's F#.

Try putting 1 under F. You will see that note 4 is in between A and B. Note 3 is A, note 5 is C so note 4 has to be B something. As its lower than B it's B flat.

If you know the key of your original, put 1 beneath the key note and you can use your sliding paper to write out your chord sequence as numbers. Dont forget to transfer any attributes such as minor or 7th to your number chart. Then move number 1 to the new key and read off the new chord sequence.



A - B C - D - E F - G - A - B C - D - E F - G - A


. . . 1 . 2 . 3 4 . 5 . 6 . 7 1
. . . . T . T .s. T . T . T .s.
major scale


1 . 2 3 . 4 . 5 6 . 7 . 1
. T .s. T . T .s. T . T .
minor scale (natural)

good luck

PS. There is a convention that scale numbers are written as Roman Numerals. Major chords are upper case and minor chords are lower case so the chords of a major scale would be written;

I ii iii IV V vi vii I

however this would really screw up the spacing and possibly obscure the the idea.