Transposition
There is a technique used to learn your chords on all keys, and that's the transposition idea that involves two methods: chromatic and circular approach.
Time and time again, I hear musicians asking if I’ll transpose my examples into other keys. While this is convenient, you can do this for yourself! No need to rely or wait for someone to do it for you. It is easy to perform. There are two methods. I’ll cover the first one here and the second one in the future (since we’ll be talking about the “circle of fifths” in the PATTERN PROFICIENCY part of this program).
1) Chromatic approach
2) Circular approach
Chromatic Approach
In the chromatic approach, you’re simply taking a chord you know and moving every note up a half step,or you determine the distance between the new key and your current key, then move the required steps up/down. Remember, half steps are from key to key with NO keys in between as opposed to whole steps, which always skip a key with one key in between.
The circular approach uses the idea of the circle of fifths.
Either way, they both rely on numbers.
So, let’s say you want to take the FANTASTIC FOUR chords from C major and move them up a half step to D flat major (Db) --- all you have to do is move every finger in your chord up the same distance... in this case, a half step:
C major
(1 + 3 + 5)
The “C” in your chord becomes “Db” (which is a half step higher). The “E” in your chord becomes “F” (a half step higher). And lastly, the “G” in your chord becomes “Ab” (a half step higher). The end result is a Db major chord.
Time and time again, I hear musicians asking if I’ll transpose my examples into other keys. While this is convenient, you can do this for yourself! No need to rely or wait for someone to do it for you. It is easy to perform. There are two methods. I’ll cover the first one here and the second one in the future (since we’ll be talking about the “circle of fifths” in the PATTERN PROFICIENCY part of this program).
1) Chromatic approach
2) Circular approach
Chromatic Approach
In the chromatic approach, you’re simply taking a chord you know and moving every note up a half step,or you determine the distance between the new key and your current key, then move the required steps up/down. Remember, half steps are from key to key with NO keys in between as opposed to whole steps, which always skip a key with one key in between.
The circular approach uses the idea of the circle of fifths.
Either way, they both rely on numbers.
So, let’s say you want to take the FANTASTIC FOUR chords from C major and move them up a half step to D flat major (Db) --- all you have to do is move every finger in your chord up the same distance... in this case, a half step:
C major
(1 + 3 + 5)
The “C” in your chord becomes “Db” (which is a half step higher). The “E” in your chord becomes “F” (a half step higher). And lastly, the “G” in your chord becomes “Ab” (a half step higher). The end result is a Db major chord.
Notice the QUALITY doesn’t change. Whenever you take a chord and move every note up the same amount of distance, the chord quality DOES NOT CHANGE. You haven’t changed anything about the chord but the starting point. In this case, we’re still playing the same type of major chord... but on Db instead of C. Makes sense?
What if you want to move a chord from C major to E major (skipping several notes)? What do you do?
The concept is the same but you just have to think slightly more since you’re not just moving every finger up a half step like in the past example.
STEP #1: Determine the distance between the “NEW” key and your “CURRENT KEY.”
If you want to transpose a chord... any chord... from C to E, first you need to find out how many half steps are in between C and E.
C to Db is 1 half step.
Db to D is another half step (2).
D to Eb is another half step (3).
Eb to E is the last half step (4).
All combined, “E is 4 half steps up from C.” So if your number is 4 half steps, then that’s how many notes you’re going to move EVERY finger of your current chord up by. Simple!
STEP #2: Just move every note in your chord up (or down) the correct number of half steps, as determined by step #1.
So the same C major chord can be changed into E major by simply moving every note in the chord up 4 half steps.
What if you want to move a chord from C major to E major (skipping several notes)? What do you do?
The concept is the same but you just have to think slightly more since you’re not just moving every finger up a half step like in the past example.
STEP #1: Determine the distance between the “NEW” key and your “CURRENT KEY.”
If you want to transpose a chord... any chord... from C to E, first you need to find out how many half steps are in between C and E.
C to Db is 1 half step.
Db to D is another half step (2).
D to Eb is another half step (3).
Eb to E is the last half step (4).
All combined, “E is 4 half steps up from C.” So if your number is 4 half steps, then that’s how many notes you’re going to move EVERY finger of your current chord up by. Simple!
STEP #2: Just move every note in your chord up (or down) the correct number of half steps, as determined by step #1.
So the same C major chord can be changed into E major by simply moving every note in the chord up 4 half steps.
Like I said earlier, I will deal with the second method, circular approach, in a later topic that covers the circle of fifths.