Transposing
The term Transposing is used to describe the process whereby a progression (or song) is changed from one key to another. This is done for two main reasons:
- Singing - to sing the whole song at a lower or higher pitch (depending on the singer’s vocal range).
- Ease of playing - because of the musical structure of the guitar, some keys are easier to play in than others (e.g., beginning students may not be able to play a song in the key of say Eb, but could perhaps play it in the key of C).
Consider the following turnaround in the key of C:
If you needed to transpose this progression into the key of G, the following method may be used:
1. Write out the C chromatic* scale.
2. Write out the G chromatic scale, with each note directly below its counterpart in the C chromatic scale, as such:
3. When the given progression is transposed to the key of G, the first chord, C major, will become G major. This can be seen by relating the two chromatic scales via arrow one.
4. The second chord of the progression, Am, will become Em (arrow two). Although the chord name will change when transposing, its type (i.e., major, minor seventh etc.) will remain the same.
5. The complete transposition will be:
Key of C:
Key of G:
Play both progressions and notice the similarity in sound.
* See Glossary
In the early stages you will mainly transpose for ease of playing, and thus the easiest keys for a song to be transposed into are C, G and D (for major keys) and Am, Em and Bm (for minor keys). Remember to write the second chromatic scale directly under the first, note for note, in order to transpose correctly, Try transposing the previous progression into the key of D major.
