transpose.siteHow to transpose sheet music
Transposing moves a whole song up or down by the same distance. The melody and chords keep their relationships; only the pitch changes. You do it when a song sits too high or low for your voice, or when the original key is awkward on your instrument.
The half step is the unit
On a piano, the very next key (black or white) is one half step away. On guitar and bass, one fret is one half step. An octave has 12 half steps, so moving 12 brings you back to the same key.
| From | −5 | −4 | −3 | −2 | −1 | +1 | +2 | +3 | +4 | +5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C | G | A♭ | A | B♭ | B | D♭ | D | E♭ | E | F |
| G | D | E♭ | E | F | F♯ | A♭ | A | B♭ | B | C |
| D | A | B♭ | B | C | D♭ | E♭ | E | F | F♯ | G |
| A | E | F | F♯ | G | A♭ | B♭ | B | C | D♭ | D |
| E | B | C | D♭ | D | E♭ | F | F♯ | G | A♭ | A |
Every key can be reached two ways: G to E is −3 or +9. Usually pick the smaller move.
Picking an easier key
- For singing: find the highest note you can sing comfortably and move the song so its top note lands there. Each half step down lowers every note by one fret.
- For guitar: keys like C, G, D, A and E use open chords. A song in E♭ or B♭ is full of barre chords — transpose it, or use a capo.
- For bass: E and A keep the low open strings ringing; flat keys like E♭ and A♭ are common with horn sections.
What changes in chords and TAB
Chord names move by the same number of half steps: C–Am–F–G up two becomes D–Bm–G–A. The chord quality (m, 7, maj7…) never changes. Slash chords move both parts: G/B up two is A/C♯.
TAB numbers move too: up two half steps adds 2 to every fret. Numbers that would go below 0 or above the highest fret have to move to another string or octave, which is the tedious part to do by hand.
Transpose a PDF in seconds
Open your PDF score in the free PDF transposer, pick the new key, and the chord names and guitar or bass TAB numbers are rewritten for you — including moving notes to another string when needed. Save the result as a PDF, or play along with an on-screen fretboard.
Chord diagrams for every key are in the guitar chord chart.