Transposing on Guitar - How to Play In Any Key

So, you've walked into a jam session and the you've got a couple songs under your belt that you'd like to play

. In walks a singer and a harmonica player. You call out your first tune and they both want it in a different key. What to do?!

Guitar is one of the easiest instruments for transposing keys. Using a simple numbering system you can drop all your chords into a new key and be ready to go in no time.

Here's how it works...

Let's say you know the song in the key of C major which includes these notes:

C D E F G A B C

Let's number those off:

C D E F G A B C

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1

Now, a chord can be built on top of each of those notes. When we use the numbering system for chords we use roman numerals. An upper case roman numeral means a major (happy) chord. A lower case roman numeral means a minor (sad) chord.

C D E F G A B C

I ii iii IV V vi viidim I

These are what we call "diatonic chords". That means those are the chords that naturally occur based on our key signature. In this case, no sharps and no flats. And the best part is that this combination of major, minor, and diminished chords occur in the same order in every major key. So now you have a generalized relationship that is portable to any key you need.

The easiest way to remember them is I, IV, and V are major. Everything else is minor except the vii, which is diminished.

Let's do an example.... Say you've got a song in the key of C with this chord progression.

C F G7 C Am Dm G7 C

We can quickly number them based on the key of C to look like this:

C F G7 C Am Dm G7 C

I IV V7 I vi ii V7 I

And the harmonica player asks you to play the song instead in the key of Bb. Start with your Bb major scale:

Bb C D Eb F G A Bb

I ii iii IV V vi viidim I

Then transpose those numbers from your song's chord progression.

Old Key: C F G7 C Am Dm G7 C

I IV V7 I vi ii V7 I

New Key:Bb Eb F7 Bb Gm Cm F7 Bb

And BAM! Just like that, everyone is happy in the new key!

As a guitarist, you have a huge edge over other instrumentalists because you can use moveable patterns all over the neck to easily play in any key. Next time you jam, just for fun, tell the keyboard player to change keys from C to Ab major and watch him squirm while you effortlessly bust out with the new key!

Transposing on Guitar - How to Play In Any Key

By: Phil Johnson

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