One of the skills that has helped me tremendously over the years
is the ability to transpose a song from one key to another.
Hey I'm Tomas Michaud from Real Guitar Success when I first started out
the way I used to do that is I'd take a song on a sheet of paper
with the chords and I would take the first chord and
count up to the key that I wanted to change to. So for example if I'm in
the key of D I count up one note to E, cross off the chord and rewrite it not
so bad when you're going up one or maybe even two steps.
But when you started going 3 4 5 steps it was easy to get confused
and I often made a mess out of it had to do it
several times till I got it right. I also made some very messy paper in the
process but all in all it was good practice. I
have found an easier way and I'm going to share it with you.
I've created what I call a key change chord chart. It could be
easily called a transposition chart. You can use that easily to just
find your place on the chart where you're at and where you want to go to
and figure out the chords. I still would recommend crossing off and
writing it on the sheet so you remember and you don't have to
look at the chart and keep going back to the sheet of music but the more you do
it the easier it gets. Now you're going to love this. I'm going
to show you how to use the keychain score chart.
I'm going to give you a download link so you can get your own copy and I'm going
to show you some practical examples of how I would go about changing keys.
Let's head over to a bigger version of that chart and I'll
show you how it works.
Okay let me start by explaining how the chart works. This will be kind of a quick
review type explanation. I do have another video where I go into more
detail. On the far left hand side is a list of
all the different keys. Then within each row you'll see a list
of the chords in that key. At the top I've numbered them with roman
numerals 1 through 7 that indicates that the chord is
built off of that scale degree. In other words, in the key
of A the 1 chord is A, the 2 chord is B minor, the 3 chord
is C sharp minor. I'm following that top row
there just underneath the roman numerals. To use this for
transposition you just find the key that you're
in, find the chord that you're using and then find the key you want to go to and
find the new chord. For example I'm going to do something in the key of
G. Let's use a simple song Blowing In The Wind by Bob Dylan. The
3 chords that I'll need are G C
and D. In the key of G, we're using the I chord,
the IV chord the C and the V chord the D. So we've got a I IV V - How many roads must a man walk down Before you call him a man?
So I'd like to transpose this lower that's pretty high for my voice.
I could go down from G to F. I already know right off though
F is a key I genuinely stay away from the guitar.
It has that B flat for the IV chord and I don't want to go there unless I
absolutely have to. Let's go down a little farther. E - that
sounds like it could work but I think I want to go even a little
bit lower that was really high for my voice. Let's try the
key of D. So now I'm going to find the key of D
and follow along the I chord will be D, the IV chord
which was C is now G and the V chord is an A. Now what I
would actually do is I'd take the sheet music and I'd cross off
the G chord that I'm using and substitute next
to it I'd write the D chord and I go and find the next C
chord and I'd cross that. I just put a simple line through it
and then I'd write the next chord which is going to be G. And when I came to the
D chord in the original I'd put a line
through it and make an A next to it. It makes it easier
to remember. Over time you might remember this more
easily especially with simple 3 chord songs but in the
beginning this is a great practice. So now we've got blowing in the wind in the
key of D. How many roads must a man walk down
That's much better. Yeah, that actually works so fine for me but let's say I'm
still a little bit higher. I could go down another key.
Let's go down to the key of C quickly. I'll take
from D to C. When it's next to each other it's even a little easier.
I'll change that D chord to a C, right? I'm in the key of C
and then I'll go and find the IV chord. I'm looking at the roman numerals for
IV F and a G oh F okay.
Well, I can handle that it's a bar chord but if you're not
into that you can just find a key that doesn't use a bar chord.
C F and G and so on. You could go to any key. Now here's a
little dip that actually could be a big benefit in the long run.
Sometimes when I'm transposing going down, I'll avoid a key that has maybe a
bar chord and go a little lower but then
I'll put a capo on it and bring it back up. So for an
example here, if I was playing in the key of D and
let's say that was actually a little low for my voice
I might put the capo on there and just raise it up and play the same D
chords which were easy to play and I've solved the problem without having to go
to a key with bar chords. This chart is a
great way to learn your keys and it's also going to help you to be
able to change keys. If I were you and I didn't have this when I was
starting out, I would print this out put it up on the wall
and look at it often. Let's try this with a slightly more complex song.
I'll use for example the chords, the Country Roads by John Denver.
We're going to do this in the key of G so the I chord will be a G
then we'll use a V chord then to a VI chord that's the E
minor and then the C chord
that happens to be a common chord progression the I
V VI IV also called the hit maker. It's been used
in so many pop songs. Country road take me home to the place I belong
so on. Now just for practice, let's try going
up a key. So now we're going to go from G. There's no
H right so we start over A. A would be actually a step higher.
For the one chord we'll use the A. We'll need a V chord that's E
in the key of A. Now the VI chord is F sharp minor bar chord for me. You could
use a partial bar but either way the substantial chord and
then to D which is the IV chord
Country roads, take me home To the place I belong
Of course I can always go down the key also. Let's see if we're in G,
I might want to try the key of D or C. Let's do C just for practice.
C V chord, G VI chord A minor and then F.
I'm not going to try and sing it. I don't know if that looked for my voice
but I wanted to show you an example of what you can do. One little trick that
I'll mention here is sometimes if you want to avoid
certain chords like bar chords you can lower it until you get to a key
without the bar chord but maybe it's a little low for your voice then put a
cable on and raise it back up that way you can avoid using the bar
chord. One more example, even more chords we'll use the verse
from I Can't Help Falling in Love With You Elvis Presley. We'll start off
with the one chord the C chord, to an E minor it's a III chord
3 minor and then the VI chord A minor, off to the IV chord
back to the I and end on the V chord.
So that's all the chords that we're going to need for the verse.
Let's do that much. We'll start off with the I chord that's
from C up to D. Take a look at the chart. We're off to the III chord we'll need
in place of the E minor and F sharp minor. Now one of the things I
can easily do here is I can kind of see the chord and I can easily count up
from C to D. When you start making bigger leaps it's more difficult but in my mind
I can go from C to D, from E minor F sharp
minor.Now I happen to know the keys and I know F is going to be F
sharp but if you don't look at the chart and then we need a
VI chord B minor. Now to the IV chord in the key of D
that's going to be a G back to the I chord and end with a V
chord.
So to review we've got D in place of C, F sharp minor in place of the E minor
and D minor in place of the A minor then we go to the IV chord of G in
place of the F, back to D in place of the C and then
A in place of the G. Our new key sounds like this - Wise men say only fools rush in.
Now you can use this same process for songs that are in a minor key and I've
included a whole section of minor keys. There's one caveat you should know about.
On this chart, all the 5 chords are minor in minor
keys but in reality it's common practice not
always but common practice often to change that
to a major. You're kind of borrowing from a major key because
the changing that E minor in the key of A minor to
E major makes it stronger. Listen for a minute.
Go A minor to E minor and back to A minor that's the key.
Listen. When I change to the E it has a little more energy going back
to the one chord especially when you add a IV chord that's what I just did.
I went to the D minor to the E chord so we're going to use the E call the
Spanish progression that's basically the key of a minor the A to
the VII chord from 1 to VII to VI
and to the V chord which should be minor but I'm going to change it to E
major. So the progression is this - A minor
G F and E I VII VI V. Let's change that to the key of
E minor. So we're going for the VII chord
that's the D. Take a look that's it. To the VI chord
C and now to the V chord. Did you notice what I did? B not only B
but I change it to B7 partly because it's easier than playing
a B bar chord but it also sounds good to me. The VII
chord really has a strong sense of going back to that E minor.
Now in common practice what I would often do is take the sheet out and just
cross off the chords and write it. But over time when you do that, you'll find
that you start remembering especially simpler
progressions at the top of your head. You'll remember that A C F G
automatically goes to D G A and that one's the easy one a III chord
progression . But as you start practicing more complex progressions it gets to be
easier and easier. Two ways to practice this. One is just
pull out songs, go to the chart, cross off the chords and
change the key. You might want to try playing it. Make sure it sounds good. I've
made mistakes more than once myself not really looking accurately at
the chart or not counting properly. I used to try
without the chart. I used to try and count
up the chords or count down each of the chords so I said go
up IV and I'd miss something. I'd be a sharp instead of a natural.
A second good way to practice it is to learn common chord progressions
and practice them in many different keys. An example of that is what I just showed
you. I was playing the Spanish progression in
A minor and then I transposed it to E minor.
Do that to a few different keys and that way you're not only learning
intellectually but you're hearing the changes.
And over time you just start remembering it once you've done it enough times.
I have a lesson on the 7 most common chord patterns that you should learn
and I'll link to that also. Hey was that cool or what?
I wish I had a chart like this when I first started out though
I'm glad I had to practice also. Today is day 21 of my 30 days
of guitar coaching series. Thank you for joining me and I hope you follow me for
the rest of the days until I reach 30. Hey I have a quick favor to ask. I've got
9 days left and I would love to hear your
suggestions on videos you think I should make.
Leave me a comment below and tell me your suggestions.
I look forward to seeing you tomorrow for day 22.
Bye for now.