Capo and key

How to use it

Type or paste the chords, separated by spaces. Lines stay as you type them, so a verse and a chorus can each have their own. Write sharps as # and flats as b. The page reads the ways songbooks write chords: Cmaj7, CM7 and CΔ7; Cm, Cmin and C-; Cm7, Cmin7 and C-7; Cdim, C° and Co; Cdim7, C°7 and Co7; Cm7b5 and Cø7; Caug and C+; Csus4, F#m7b5 and G/B. Anything else is left as it is.

The page guesses the key from the chords. If your ear hears another home, choose it. Then choose the new key. Each capo fret is listed with the shapes you would play there and how many of them are open shapes, played in first position without a barre. The easiest is chosen for you; tap another to change it.

The note after the slash is the bass, and it moves with the chord: G/B in G becomes A/C♯ in A. Where a guitar shape exists for the slash chord, the shapes show it; otherwise they show the chord and name the bass note to add.

In a minor song the chord on the fifth step is often major, like E or E7 in A minor. The page counts it as part of the minor key.

Under The singer’s range, choose the lowest and highest notes of the melody, in the key of the song, and the lowest and highest notes the singer reaches with ease. Middle C is C4. The page lists every key where the melody fits, an octave lower too, and marks the one that leaves the most room above and below. A melody within an octave is easiest for everyone to sing.

A capo raises every string one half step for each fret. Capo on the second fret with G shapes sounds in A.