Chord Transposer & Capo Calculator

About the Chord Transposer & Capo Calculator

Paste a chord sheet and move it to any key. The transposer reads both common ways of writing chords — on their own line above the lyrics, or in square brackets inside the lyrics as in ChordPro ([G]Amazing [D]grace) — and changes only the chord names. On chord lines every chord stays over its syllable: when a name gets longer (G becomes A♭), only the next chord moves, and only as far as it must.

Chords are spelled the way songbooks spell them in the new key: in B♭ you get E♭ and Gm, not D♯ and A♯m, and a slash bass keeps its place in the chord (D/F♯ in C becomes E/G♯ in D). The capo calculator shows where to put a capo to play a song in a hard key — B♭, E♭, F♯ — with easy open shapes, and rewrites the sheet in those shapes.

Common uses

• Lowering or raising a song to suit your voice before a rehearsal or a service.
• Playing a song written in a hard key with open chords and a capo.
• Rewriting a sheet that says “Capo 2” for playing without a capo, or for a different capo fret.
• Matching a sheet to a singer, a choir, a recording or another instrument such as a harmonium or a transposing instrument’s part.

How transposing works

Every chord root, and every bass note after a slash, moves by the same number of semitones; the rest of the chord name — m7, sus4, add9, 7(♭9) — stays as it is. The twelve semitones are C, C♯/D♭, D, D♯/E♭, E, F, F♯/G♭, G, G♯/A♭, A, A♯/B♭ and B, and then C again.

Twelve semitones make an octave, so chord names repeat: up 2 and down 10 give the same chords. For singing it matters which way you go — down 2 makes the song lower, up 10 makes it much higher — but the sheet is the same. Common moves from C: up 2 → D, up 3 → E♭, up 5 → F, down 5 (or up 7) → G.

Sharps or flats?

The new key decides. Keys with sharps: G, D, A, E, B and F♯ major, and E, B, F♯, C♯ and G♯ minor. Keys with flats: F, B♭, E♭, A♭ and D♭ major, and D, G, C, F, B♭ and E♭ minor. C major and A minor have neither.

Chords from outside the key are named by their place in it, as musicians write them: the borrowed ♭III, ♭VI and ♭VII of G major are B♭, E♭ and F, and the raised fourth is C♯. Names that are correct in theory but awkward on a chord sheet — E♯, B♯, C♭, F♭ — are written F, C, B and E. Choose Sharps or Flats to override the key’s choice.

Capo maths

A capo on fret n raises every string by n semitones, so a chord shape sounds n semitones higher: shape + capo = the chord you hear. To play a song in B♭ with G shapes, put the capo on fret 3 (G + 3 semitones = B♭); to play the same song with A shapes, fret 1.

The suggestions rate the shapes for a guitar in standard tuning: the open chords C, D, E, G and A, Am, Dm and Em, and A7, B7, C7, D7, E7 and G7 count as easy, F and Bm as small barre chords, and the rest as full barre chords. A lower fret wins a near tie, because a high capo leaves less of the neck and a thinner sound.

What the transposer reads

• Chord lines: a line counts as chords when at least 60 % of its words are chord names, so “G D Em C (repeat)” is transposed and “A man walks in” is left alone. Labels such as “Intro:”, “Verse 2:” or “[Chorus]” before the chords, bar lines (|), repeats (x2), rests (N.C.) and chords in brackets — (G) — are kept. Tabs on chord lines become spaces (8 columns each).
• ChordPro: chords in square brackets anywhere in a line, and the {key: …}, {capo: …} and {title: …} directives (ChordPro format).
• Key and capo lines: “Key: G”, “Key of Am”, “Capo 2”, “Capo on 3rd fret”, “No capo”. A Key line moves with the chords, so it always names the key of the chords on the sheet; the capo line is rewritten for the capo you choose.
• Chord names: roots A to G with ♯/♭ or #/b, or Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Si, followed by any common suffix — m, maj7, m7♭5, dim, °, ø, aug, +, sus2, sus4, add9, 6/9, 9, 11, 13 and alterations such as ♭9 or ♯11 — and a slash bass.

Limitations

• Only chord names change: guitar tablature, fret numbers and melodies written as notes stay as they are.
• A chord written inside a lyric line without square brackets is not changed; put chords on their own line or in brackets.
• German names with H for B, and Nashville or Roman-numeral charts, are not read.
• The key guess looks at which chords appear and which come first and last; songs that are modal or start and end away from the home chord can fool it — set the key yourself.
• Capo suggestions are for a six-string guitar in standard tuning and rate the common open shapes, not every voicing.

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