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Knowing chords by number can help you play any song in any key—using chords you already know. Web exclusive! Printable chord transposition chart
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4. New Year, New Key
Many holiday songs are written in non-guitar-friendly keys, so transpose a few and you’ll have songs for your family and friends to sing along. Let’s take a look at the New Year’s classic “Auld Lang Syne,” which for whatever reason is in the key of Eb in the book I have here at home:
I’m pretty sure you’d rather play this in an easier key, right? So let’s convert our chord progression to Nashville numbers:
Now you’re free to play it in whatever key you find friendliest to your current abilities.
5. Play Any Song
With practice, you’ll soon find yourself thinking of chords in terms of numbers, almost as an afterthought. When jamming with others, you’ll be able to rattle off the most common chords (usually the 1, 4, and 5) in any key you want to play in, which will help you transpose much faster. So when someone says, “How about a blues in D?” you won’t even have to ask which chords to use.
In addition to moving songs into easier-to-play keys (for example, moving a song in the key of C to D to avoid the F barre chord), you can use transposing to make the song easier to sing by putting it in a better key for your voice. Best yet, you’ll be able to play your favorite songs that have seemed too hard to attempt. Don’t even blink when you find that Green Day’s “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” uses Fm, Ab, Db and Eb. Simply play it with Em, G, C and D. Now try it yourself!
UNLOCK THE KEY
The first step to transposing is figuring out what key the song is in. If you have the sheet music and know how to read it, you can check out the key signature. But even if you don’t know much music theory, there are a few easy ways to find out what key a song is in. These methods aren’t foolproof, but more often than not, they’ll give you the right key.
1. The first chord in the song is usually the same as the key. Take a look at our transcription of “Summertime Blues” on page 46 of the Summer 2007 issue. The first chord is E, so you can guess that the song is in the key of E, and you’d be right.
2. The last chord in the song is usually the same as the key. “Summertime Blues” also ends on the E chord, another indication that it’s in the key of E.
3. The chords used most often are the first, fourth, and fifth chords in the key. Scan through the chords used in the song. It’s full of E, A, and B7 chords. Which key has E, A, and B as the first, fourth, and fifth chords? You guessed it: E.
THE OTHER NUMBER SYSTEM
People versed in formal music theory often use Roman numerals to refer to the scale degree of a chord: I is 1, V is 5, and so on. When using Roman numerals, use capital letters for major chords and lower-case letters for minor chords. For sevenths, ninths and other embellished chords, add the appropriate numeral at the end.
So for example, this progression, in the key of C, could be converted to the Roman numerals shown below.
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Printable Version
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