Chords in Every Key: Transposition Chart

Every major key uses the same pattern of seven chords. Once you know the pattern, you can transpose any song by reading across a table — or by letting the app do it.

The chord pattern of a major key

Build a triad on each note of a major scale and you get seven chords. Their qualities always follow the same order:

Degree	Quality	In C	Role
I	major	C	Home. Songs usually start and end here.
IIm	minor	Dm	Often leads to V.
IIIm	minor	Em	A softer substitute for I or V.
IV	major	F	Moves away from home.
V	major (often V7)	G	Tension that pulls back to I.
VIm	minor	Am	The relative minor: the "sad" home.
VIIdim	diminished	Bdim	Rare in pop; often played as V7 instead.

Roman numerals describe a chord by its position in the key, so "I–V–VIm–IV" means the same progression in any key.

Chords in all 12 keys

Each row is one major key. The last column is its relative minor key, which uses the same seven chords but treats VIm as home.

Key	I	IIm	IIIm	IV	V	VIm	VIIdim	Relative minor
C	C	Dm	Em	F	G	Am	Bdim	Am
Db	Db	Ebm	Fm	Gb	Ab	Bbm	Cdim	Bbm
D	D	Em	F#m	G	A	Bm	C#dim	Bm
Eb	Eb	Fm	Gm	Ab	Bb	Cm	Ddim	Cm
E	E	F#m	G#m	A	B	C#m	D#dim	C#m
F	F	Gm	Am	Bb	C	Dm	Edim	Dm
F#	F#	G#m	A#m	B	C#	D#m	E#dim	D#m
G	G	Am	Bm	C	D	Em	F#dim	Em
Ab	Ab	Bbm	Cm	Db	Eb	Fm	Gdim	Fm
A	A	Bm	C#m	D	E	F#m	G#dim	F#m
Bb	Bb	Cm	Dm	Eb	F	Gm	Adim	Gm
B	B	C#m	D#m	E	F#	G#m	A#dim	G#m

Chords are spelled from each key's scale, so the key of F# has E#dim (the same pitch as Fdim). Db and F# are written the usual way; their twins C# and Gb use the same pitches.

Transpose with the chart

To move a song from one key to another, find each chord in the row of the old key, then read the chord in the same column of the new key.

Example: a song in G uses G, Em, C, and D (I, VIm, IV, V). In the key of Bb, the same columns give Bb, Gm, Eb, and F.

G       Em      C       D
I       VIm     IV      V

Key of G

Bb      Gm      Eb      F
I       VIm     IV      V

Key of Bb (+3)

Doing this by hand gets slow with long songs and chords such as D7sus4 or F#m7-5. Chord Transposer moves every chord in the chart in one step and keeps the spacing between chords and lyrics. For flat keys such as Bb, set #/♭ to Prefer b so the chords come out as Bb and Eb rather than A# and D#.

How many semitones between two keys?

The app transposes by semitones. Rows are the original key and columns are the new key: find the original key in the left column and the new key at the top; the number is the value to choose in Transpose. The table shows the smaller move (up to 6 semitones). Moving the other way also works: +5 and -7 give the same chords, an octave apart.

From ↓	To →
From ↓	C	Db	D	Eb	E	F	F#	G	Ab	A	Bb	B
C	0	+1	+2	+3	+4	+5	+6	-5	-4	-3	-2	-1
Db	-1	0	+1	+2	+3	+4	+5	+6	-5	-4	-3	-2
D	-2	-1	0	+1	+2	+3	+4	+5	+6	-5	-4	-3
Eb	-3	-2	-1	0	+1	+2	+3	+4	+5	+6	-5	-4
E	-4	-3	-2	-1	0	+1	+2	+3	+4	+5	+6	-5
F	-5	-4	-3	-2	-1	0	+1	+2	+3	+4	+5	+6
F#	+6	-5	-4	-3	-2	-1	0	+1	+2	+3	+4	+5
G	+5	+6	-5	-4	-3	-2	-1	0	+1	+2	+3	+4
Ab	+4	+5	+6	-5	-4	-3	-2	-1	0	+1	+2	+3
A	+3	+4	+5	+6	-5	-4	-3	-2	-1	0	+1	+2
Bb	+2	+3	+4	+5	+6	-5	-4	-3	-2	-1	0	+1
B	+1	+2	+3	+4	+5	+6	-5	-4	-3	-2	-1	0

For example, G → Bb is +3, and E → C is -4.

Singers often move a key by just one or two semitones. Try a small change first, then sing a line or two before going further.

Sevenths, slash chords, and other chords

Extensions stay the same. Only the letter name (the root) moves: Cmaj7 +2 is Dmaj7, and G7sus4 +2 is A7sus4.
Slash chords move both notes. C/E +2 is D/F#.
Chords outside the key (borrowed chords such as Bb in the key of C) move by the same number of semitones as everything else.

Next: sharps or flats? explains why the key of F uses Bb and not A#.