Transpose a chord chart, or turn it into Nashville Numbers

How to use it

Paste it the way you have it.

The tool reads two layouts. ChordPro puts chords in brackets inside the words, like A[G]mazing [G7]grace. Chords over lyrics puts them on their own row above the words, the way most PDFs and web charts do. Your layout comes back the same way, so you can paste the result straight into your own document.

“Written in” is the key the chart is in now. The tool takes it from a line such as {key: G} or Key: G, or else from the first chord, which is usually right. For a song in a minor key, pick its relative major: A minor is written in C.

“By key” spells chords the way the new key does, so moving to B gives you F♯ and moving to D♭ gives you G♭. The Sharps and Flats buttons override that if your band reads one or the other.

How to pick a key people can sing

The key on the chart is rarely the key a congregation should sing it in. Recordings sit where the artist’s voice sits, and that’s often higher than a room full of people can follow.

Start with the melody, not the chords. Find the highest note and the lowest note of the song. A rule of thumb many worship leaders use is to keep the top note around C or D in the middle of the treble staff, and to avoid sitting up there for long. If the verse drops too low to sing once the chorus fits, the song’s range is wide and the chorus should win, because that’s the part people sing out.

Then try it in the room. Sing it at the volume a congregation sings, not the volume you sing alone at a keyboard. If the sound drops away on the high line, come down a step and try again. A leader who is slightly below their best note is worth more than a room that has stopped singing.

Last, think about the band. Moving a song one step can turn it from a key your guitarist loves into one full of barre chords. That’s what a capo is for.

Capo chart: which fret for which shapes

Find the key the song sounds in, then read across to the shapes you’d like to play. The number is the capo fret. A dash means no capo: those shapes already sound in that key. Or set the Capo control above and the tool writes out the shapes for you.

Nashville Numbers in one minute

The Nashville Number System writes chords by their place in the key instead of by letter. In G, the chord G is 1, C is 4 and D is 5. In A, those same three places are A, D and E, and they’re still 1, 4 and 5. A number chart never has to be rewritten when the key changes, which is why studio players and many worship bands read it.

The major scale gives you seven numbers, and each one has a usual quality. 1, 4 and 5 are major. 2, 3 and 6 are minor. 7 is diminished. So a bare 6 means the minor chord, Em in the key of G. Anything that leaves the key says so:

• 2M is a major chord where the key expects a minor one, such as A major in G.
• b7 is a chord built a half step below the 7, such as F in G.
• 1/3 is the 1 chord with the 3 in the bass, such as G/B in G.
• 1(7) is the 1 chord with an added 7, such as G7 in G. The brackets keep it from reading as two chords.

Press Numbers above and any chart turns into this. Paste a number chart, set “Written in” and “New key”, and press Letters to go the other way. Teams use different number conventions, so read through the result before it goes on the stand.

Seteo uses this same chord engine on the Stand, where the whole band can flip between chords and numbers on their own phones.