Free Chord Transposer
Paste a song with chords, pick a new key and play — with capo suggestions, chord diagrams and a clean PDF.
- Free, no sign-up
- Private — stays on your device
- Works offline
- Watch the 1½-minute tutorial
Original key: Detected G major · high confidence
Your song
Paste, type or drop a file · Tab inserts spaces
Live preview
Northern Lights Road
Example song
Key: G major · Guitar
Intro:
Verse 1
Out along the river where the cedar meets the stone,
every lantern in the window says you're never far from home.
We will sing it in the kitchen, we will sing it on the shore,
till the morning finds the fiddle by the door.
Chorus
Hey, the northern lights are calling, carry on,
every voice is welcome when the long day's done.
Verse 2
Bring the bread and bring the stories, bring the cousins from the bay,
leave a chair beside the window for the ones who couldn't stay.
- Home (tonic)
- Away (subdominant)
- Tension (dominant)
- Relative minor/major
- Outside the key
Chord shapes
5 chords to play on guitar — standard tuning. Tap a chord in the song to jump here.
C
D
Em
D/F#
Easy chord mode
Capo suggestions
Every option below sounds in G major — only the shapes you play change.
No capoPlay G major shapes
Easiest- G
- C
- D
- Em
- D/F#
- Every chord is an open shape
- No barre chords
- No capo needed
Capo 5Play D major shapes
- D
- G
- A
- 3 of 5 chords are open shapes
- Barre: Bm, A/C#
Capo 3Play E major shapes
- E
- A
- B/D#
- 3 of 5 chords are open shapes
- Barre: B, C#m
Adjust the ranking
Each chord is rated by its easiest verified shape: barre chords and wide stretches cost more, open shapes cost less, and a higher capo adds a little. It’s a transparent estimate — your hands have the final say.
How it works
How to use the Chord Transposer
A short narrated walkthrough. Jump to any step from the chapter list.
Read the transcript
Here’s how to use the free Chord Transposer at folksongsofcanadanow.com.
Open the Chord Transposer from the home page.
Paste any song with chords. Chords above the lyrics, ChordPro or simple bar charts all work.
The original key is detected automatically — here, it’s G major.
Press plus to move the song up. The chords change, and the lyrics stay exactly where they were.
Tap any chord to see how to play it, and flip through other positions on the neck.
Capo suggestions keep the same sound with easier shapes.
With a capo on the second fret, you play simple G shapes — and it still sounds in A.
Need Nashville numbers for your band? Switch with one tap.
Practice mode goes full screen, with big text and auto-scroll, so you can play hands-free.
Download a clean PDF chord sheet, a text file, or ChordPro.
Save your songs to My Songs. They stay private, on your own device.
There’s more: a capo calculator, a chord finder, the circle of fifths, and a printable ukulele chart.
It’s free, with no sign-up. Try it at folksongsofcanadanow.com.
The short version: three steps
Paste your song
Chords above lyrics, inline ChordPro like
[G]Helloor a bar progression like| C | Am | F | G |. You can also drop a .txt or .cho file on the editor.Choose the new key
The original key is detected for you — confirm it, then pick a new key or press +/− to move a semitone at a time. Lyrics and spacing stay where they were.
Play it your way
Try a capo suggestion for easier shapes, check the chord diagrams, open practice mode with auto-scroll, or download a PDF for your next session.
Real examples
What transposing does to chords
Only the root and the bass note move. Everything after the root — maj7, sus4, 6/9, 7(#9) — is kept exactly as written, so numbers inside chord names are never changed.
| Original | Move | Result |
|---|---|---|
C Am F G | +2 semitones | D Bm G A |
G D/F# Em C | -2 semitones | F C/E Dm Bb |
Cmaj7/G | +2 semitones | Dmaj7/A |
Bbmaj7/D | +2 semitones | Cmaj7/E |
C6/9 | +2 semitones | D6/9 |
E7(#9) | +2 semitones | F#7(#9) |
Am Dm E7 Am | +3 semitones | Cm Fm G7 Cm |
[C]Hello [G/B]world | +2 semitones | [D]Hello [A/C#]world |
Supported chords
Every chord type you’ll meet in a songbook
| Type | Examples | Up 2 semitones |
|---|---|---|
| Major & minor | C Am F# Bbm | D Bm Ab Cm |
| Sevenths | G7 Cmaj7 Dm7 CmMaj7 | A7 Dmaj7 Em7 DmMaj7 |
| Extensions | C9 C11 C13 Cmaj9 | D9 D11 D13 Dmaj9 |
| Suspended & added | Csus2 Gsus4 Cadd9 Dadd11 | Dsus2 Asus4 Dadd9 Eadd11 |
| Diminished & half-diminished | Bdim Bdim7 B°7 Bø7 Bm7b5 | C#dim C#dim7 C#°7 C#ø7 C#m7b5 |
| Augmented & power | Caug C+ E5 F#5 | Daug D+ F#5 G#5 |
| Altered | G7b9 E7#9 Cmaj7#11 C7(b9) | A7b9 F#7#9 Dmaj7#11 D7(b9) |
| Slash chords | C/G D/F# Am/G G/B | D/A E/G# Bm/A A/C# |
| Sixths | C6 Am6 C6/9 | D6 Bm6 D6/9 |
Unicode symbols work too: ♯, ♭, °, ø and △.
Capo basics
Same key, easier shapes
A capo raises every string by one semitone per fret. That means you can keep playing comfortable open shapes and still sound in the key that suits your voice. Three things are always separate:
- Sounding key — what the audience hears.
- Shape key — the chord shapes your fingers play.
- Capo fret — the distance between the two, in semitones.
The transposer shows all three, and its capo suggestions rate each fret with the real chord shapes: open chords score well, barre chords and stretches score lower. Read the capo guide or try the capo calculator.
| Play these shapes | Capo |
|---|---|
| G major shapes | No capo |
| E major shapes | Fret 3 |
| D major shapes | Fret 5 |
| C major shapes | Fret 7 |
Good to know
Common mistakes and limits
Transposing from transposed copies
Each change here is calculated from your original text, so you can go up and down as often as you like without errors creeping in. Reset always brings back the exact original.
Mixing up the capo and the key
“Capo 3, G shapes” sounds in B♭. When you share a chart, include both the capo fret and the sounding key — the PDF header does this for you.
Ambiguous lines
A line with only “A” could be a chord or a word. If a line is read the wrong way, choose the format in the editor footer or write the chord in brackets: [A].
Key detection is a suggestion
Songs that borrow chords or end away from home can fool any detector. When confidence is low the tool says so — pick the key yourself for correct spelling and Nashville numbers.
Unusual voicings
Diagrams are only shown when a fingering passes a note-by-note check. For very unusual chords you may see “no verified shape” rather than a guess.
Scanned sheets
This version imports text and ChordPro files. Photos and PDF scans need to be retyped or copied as text first.
FAQ
Questions musicians ask
Is this chord transposer really free?
Yes. Every feature — transposing, capo suggestions, chord diagrams, PDF and ChordPro downloads, the song library and practice mode — is free and works without an account.
Will it change words in my lyrics?
No. The transposer reads each line and only changes lines that are chord lines (or chords in [brackets]). Lyric lines are never touched. A line that contains only the word “A” is ambiguous; it is read as a chord when the rest of the song has chord lines, and you can force a format in the editor if needed.
How do I use a capo with the transposer?
Pick the key you want the song to sound in, then choose a capo fret. The preview shows the chord shapes to play with the capo on, and the status line shows the sounding key, the capo fret and the shape key separately. The capo suggestions rank every fret by how easy the shapes are.
Why does it write Bb instead of A#?
Chord names are spelled from the key, the way they appear in published music: in F major the fourth chord is B♭, not A♯. You can switch to “♯” or “♭” in Options if your band prefers one style.
Can I transpose ChordPro files?
Yes. Paste or import a .cho, .crd or .pro file and the inline [chords] are transposed while directives such as {title} and {comment} stay as written. You can download the result as ChordPro or as plain chords-above-lyrics text.
Where are my saved songs stored?
In your browser on this device (IndexedDB). They are never uploaded and do not sync between devices. Use “Export backup” in My songs to keep a copy or move songs to another browser.
Does it work offline?
Yes. After the page has loaded once, the transposer, chord diagrams, PDF export and your library keep working without a connection. You can also install the site as an app from your browser menu.
What are Nashville numbers?
The 1–4–5 view replaces chord names with scale-degree numbers (C → 1, F → 4, G7 → 5⁷ in C major). Numbers stay the same in every key, which makes it easy to call changes in a band. Confirm the original key first so the numbers are right.
Keep going
More tools and guides
Same key, easier shapes
Capo Calculator
Find which chord shapes and capo fret give you the sounding key you need.
Every chord, every positionGuitar Chord Finder
Look up any chord on the neck — or tap frets to find out what chord you are playing.
GCEA chords at a glanceUkulele Chord Chart
A printable chart of common ukulele chords in standard GCEA tuning, with fingerings.
GuideHow to Transpose Chords
A practical method for moving any song to a new key — by hand or with a chart.
Exploring Canadian folk music? Start with the Canadian Encyclopedia’s article on folk music, and see chordpro.org for the ChordPro file format.