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Transpose Chords — Free Online Transpose Tool

Transpose chords to any key instantly. Paste your chord chart, pick a new key, and get transposed chords with guitar capo positions and Nashville number notation.

Transpose Settings

0 semitones
-110+11
Quick Transpose

Transposed Result

Enter chords and press Transpose to see results

Common Transposition Shortcuts

Guitar Capo Calculator

If the song is in A, here are the shapes you play with each capo position:

Capo Fret Play As Key Ease

How to Use the Transpose Tool

Step 1
Enter Your Chords
Paste your chord chart, chord progression, or individual chords into the text area. Lyrics and non-chord text are preserved as-is.
Step 2
Choose Your Key
Select the original key (From Key) and your target key (To Key), or use the semitone slider to shift up or down.
Step 3
Transpose
Click Transpose or use the quick transpose buttons (+1, -1, +2, -2). See your chords instantly transformed with a side-by-side comparison.
Step 4
Use Capo & Copy
Check the capo chart for easy guitar voicings in the new key. Copy the transposed chords to your clipboard and you are ready to play.

Understanding Transposition

Transposition means moving every note in a piece of music up or down by the same interval (number of semitones). The melody and harmony remain identical in structure; only the pitch level changes. This online chord transposer handles the arithmetic instantly, making any key change a matter of seconds rather than manually rewriting a chord chart. Musicians transpose to match a singer's vocal range, to simplify chord fingerings on guitar with a capo, or to convert between concert pitch and the written pitch of transposing instruments like trumpet (B♭), alto sax (E♭), or French horn (F). Worship leaders frequently transpose contemporary Christian songs to suit their congregation's range or a band's preferred guitar keys, and cover musicians use transposition to adapt recordings to their own voice without relearning the chord structure. To understand which scale fits a transposed key, try pairing this tool with the scale generator to see every mode and scale degree for your new root note.

Transposition Formula
New Note = (Original + Semitones) mod 12
Each note is represented as a number 0-11 (C=0, C#=1, D=2 ... B=11). Adding the semitone shift and wrapping around gives the new note. For example, transposing A (9) up 3 semitones: (9+3) mod 12 = 0 = C.
Guitar Capo Principle
Play-As Key = Original Key - Capo Fret
A capo raises all open strings by one semitone per fret. To play in A with a capo on fret 2, you finger the shapes of the key of G (two semitones lower). The capo handles the rest.

Nashville Number System

The Nashville Number System replaces chord letter names with scale-degree numbers. In any major key, the I chord is the tonic, IV is the subdominant, V is the dominant, and vi (lowercase = minor) is the relative minor. This system makes transposition trivial: a 1-4-5-6m progression is the same in every key. Session musicians in Nashville use it to quickly learn and transpose songs on the fly without re-writing chord charts. The built-in capo calculator below the chord transposer complements this by listing every capo position and the corresponding open-chord key shapes, so guitarists can find the most playable fingering for any target key in one glance. Once you know the Nashville numbers for a song, you can instantly generate a new chord chart in any key — for further exploration of chord movement and diatonic harmony, the chord progression generator lets you build and audition common progressions within any key signature.

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Frequently Asked Questions

How do I transpose chords from one key to another?
Count the number of semitones (half steps) between the original key and the target key. Then shift every chord root by that many semitones. For example, to go from the key of C to the key of D, shift every chord up 2 semitones: C becomes D, Am becomes Bm, F becomes G, and G becomes A. This tool does this automatically for you.
What capo position should I use to play in a certain key?
Place the capo so that easy open-chord shapes produce the key you need. For example, to play in B♭ with open-chord G shapes, place the capo on fret 3 (G + 3 semitones = B♭). The capo calculator section shows every capo position and highlights the ones that give the easiest fingerings.
What are Nashville Numbers?
The Nashville Number System assigns a number to each scale degree: 1 = tonic, 2 = supertonic, 3 = mediant, 4 = subdominant, 5 = dominant, 6 = submediant, 7 = leading tone. Minor chords are indicated with a lowercase "m" (e.g., 6m). This system lets musicians communicate chord progressions without specifying a key, making transposition effortless.
How do I transpose for B-flat instruments like trumpet or clarinet?
B♭ instruments sound a whole step (2 semitones) lower than written. To give a B♭ player a part that sounds in concert C, write it in D (up 2 semitones). Conversely, if you have a B♭ trumpet part in D, the concert pitch is C (down 2 semitones). Use the "B♭ Instruments" shortcut button (-2 semitones) in the tool.
Does transposing change the feel of a song?
The harmonic relationships between chords stay identical, so the structural feel is the same. However, higher keys can sound brighter and more energetic, while lower keys feel darker and heavier. On guitar, different keys use different chord voicings (open vs. barre), which subtly changes the timbre and resonance of the instrument.
What is the difference between sharps and flats?
Sharps (#) and flats (♭) are two names for the same pitches. C# and D♭ are the same note (enharmonic equivalents). The choice depends on the key: sharp keys (G, D, A, E, B) use sharps, while flat keys (F, B♭, E♭, A♭, D♭) use flats. Use the enharmonic preference toggle to switch between sharp and flat spellings.
Does this tool handle slash chords, sus chords, and extended chords like maj7 or add9?
Yes. The transposer recognises and preserves chord extensions and modifiers — minor (m), major 7th (maj7), dominant 7th (7), suspended 2nd and 4th (sus2, sus4), added 9th (add9), diminished (dim), augmented (aug), and others — and only transposes the root note (and the bass note in slash chords like G/B). For example, Cmaj7 transposed up 2 semitones becomes Dmaj7, and C/E becomes D/F#. Modifiers that are not chord roots are left untouched.
How do I transpose a song that's in a minor key?
Transposing a minor key works exactly the same way as a major key — select the minor key's root note as your "From Key" and your target root as "To Key," then transpose. The minor quality of each chord is preserved because the tool only shifts the root pitch; it does not re-harmonise the song. For example, Am-Dm-Em transposed up 3 semitones becomes Cm-Fm-Gm. If you want to check which chords belong to your new minor key, pair the result with the key signature finder.
I'm a worship leader — what's the fastest way to change a song's key for my band?
Paste the full chord chart (verses, chorus, bridge) into the text area, set the original key, then choose your target key or use the +1/-1 quick-transpose buttons to nudge the key until it sits in the right vocal range. Enable "Show Nashville Numbers" if your team works with numbers rather than chord letters. Check the capo table to find a capo position that lets guitarists play in open-chord shapes even if the target key is otherwise difficult. Copy the transposed chart to your clipboard and share it directly with your team. The entire process takes under a minute and works offline.
How do I transpose for E-flat instruments like alto saxophone or baritone saxophone?
E♭ instruments (alto sax, bari sax, some clarinets) sound a major sixth (9 semitones) lower than written for alto, or a major thirteenth (21 semitones, i.e. +3 in the next octave) for bari. In practice, to find the concert pitch of a written alto-sax note, transpose down 9 semitones (or up 3, same pitch class). To write a concert-pitch melody for an alto-sax player, shift it up 9 semitones. Use the "E♭ Instruments (+3 semitones)" shortcut in the Common Transposition Shortcuts panel, then adjust the octave by ear if needed.

Related Tools

🎴 Key Signature Finder 🎹 Chord Progression Generator 🎶 Scale Generator
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