chord wheel

The Amazing Chord Wheel

To make your own Amazing Chord Wheel, download the guitarwheel.pdf file from the 'Amazing Chord Wheel' page of the website to your computer, print it out onto stiff card and follow the instructions!

The Chord Wheel can be used to perform many functions including transposing songs into other keys, finding scales and chords, and the keys being played when the guitar is capoed.

Transposing songs from one key to another.

Sometimes the original key of a song or the chords as written make the piece difficult to sing or play, and the original chordtransposed into another key.

To transpose the original key to another find the letter of the first chord of the song on the outer ring of the wheel and then turn the inner wheel so that the chosen chord to in its place is directly below it. For example to change from that the letter G is directly below the letter

Now leave the wheel set and do not alter the inner wheel.

In the original song the chord of of the original song is C then it will be replaced by the chord now shown on the inner wheel ie G. If the next chord of the original song is below it on the inner wheel ie

For example we could transpose turning the inner wheel so that inner wheel set. The new chords to play would be as below:




Sometimes the original key of a song or the chords as written make the piece difficult to sing or play, and the original chords can therefore either be played capoed or simply

To transpose the original key to another find the letter of the first chord of the song on the outer ring of the wheel and then turn the inner wheel so that the chosen chord to in its place is directly below it. For example to change from G to D turn the inner wheel so

is directly below the letter D.

Now leave the wheel set and do not alter the inner wheel.

In the original song the chord of G will now be replaced by the chord of Dthen it will be replaced by the chord now shown on the inner wheel

. If the next chord of the original song is D then it will be replaced by the chord directly nner wheel ie A.

For example we could transpose Knocking On Heavens Door from the key of turning the inner wheel so that D is directly below G on the outer wheel then leave the inner wheel set. The new chords to play would be as below:


Sometimes the original key of a song or the chords as written make the piece difficult to s can therefore either be played capoed or simply

To transpose the original key to another find the letter of the first chord of the song on the outer ring of the wheel and then turn the inner wheel so that the chosen chord to be played

turn the inner wheel so

D. If the next chord then it will be replaced by the chord now shown on the inner wheel

then it will be replaced by the chord directly

from the key of G to D by on the outer wheel then leave the

Original chords (from outer wheel): G D Am7 C

Transposed chords (from inner wheel): D A Em7 G

Note that the transposed chord has the same characteristics of the original chord ie the Am7 also transposes to a minor 7th chord (Am7 to Em7). Had the original key contained the chord of G7 then it would have transposed to D7 and a chord of Gmaj7 to Dmaj7 etc [but do not confuse those with sharps (#) or flats (b) which is not a characteristic of a chord but simply its pitch].

Sometimes the original key of the song has one difficult chord in an otherwise easy piece and by converting the difficult to an easier version will make the whole song easier. For example:

If the chord of F#m7 is causing the problem try replacing it with Am7 as below.

Turn the inner wheel so that A on the inner wheel is directly below F# on the outer wheel. The result is as below:

Original chords (from outer wheel): E Am B7 F#m7

Transposed chords (from inner wheel): G Cm D7 Am7

Play the transposed chords in place of the original.

Where to place the Capo?

Having worked out an easier way to play a song, by transposing to another key, you might still to prefer to sing it in the original key but using the transposed chords. Use a capo! but which fret will it need to be placed on?

Find the new key (quite often the first chord of the song.... but not always!) on the inner or outer wheel (it doesnt matter which) and think of each segment of the wheel as a fret on the guitar. A capo placed on the first fret of the guitar will raise the key by one semitone, so that a chord of G played with a capo on the first fret will sound like a chord of G# (or Ab) (the next note going in a clockwise direction round the wheel). On the second fret it will sound like A, next A# (or Bb) and so on. Therefore to play a song using chords in the key of G, but to raise it to the key of C, you will need to place your capo on the 5th fret of the guitar (count how many segments of the wheel there are from G to C.

Barré Chords - At which fret do I barré for any given chord?

Most of the common barré chords are based on either E or A shape chords (ie E, E7, Em, Em7, A, A7, Am, Am7) which are played up the neck of the guitar and instead of using a capo to raise the pitch we use our first finger (as a barré or bar).

Looking at the chord wheel we can see that, clockwise, the next note to E is F and therefore if we play the chord of E one fret higher either by putting a capo on the first fret or making

a barré at the first fret with the first finger and using our remaining fingers to make an E shape, the sound that we then produce is a chord of F. Equally if we had capoed or barréd an Em chord at the first fret the new chord would be Fm, and an E7 would become F7. The same applies to A shape chords although, as we can see from the chord wheel, the next note (clockwise) is A# or Bb (they both sound exactly the same!). It therefore follows that a chord of A capoed or barréd on the first fret will produce a chord of A# or Bb and a chord of Am would sound as A#m or Bbm, A7 as A#7 or Bb7 etc.

Using the wheel we can see that a chord of E played with a capo or barréd at the 7th fret would produce the chord of B, an E7 shape would become B7 and an Em shape would become Bm (starting at E on the chord wheel count 7 segments clockwise and you will reach B). If instead of playing an E shape chord at the 7th fret we play an A shape then the chord produced would be E, an A7 would become E7, and Am would become Em.

Which notes make up any chosen major scale?

To find the notes of any scale turn the inner wheel so that the name of the scale is directly beneath number 1 (the brown ring on the outer wheel). The notes of the scale will be directly below the numbers highlighted in brown).

For example the scale of C major is made up of the notes C, D, E, F, G, A, B and (an octave higher) C.

Try the scale of G (by placing G on the inner ring directly below number 1 on the brown ring) and you will find the notes G, A, B, C, D, E, F# (or is it Gb?) and an octave higher G. The 7th note of the scale is F# as every major scale has one not of each letter and therfore had we called it Gb there would have been no F and two G notes (Gb and G).

Try the scale of F and you will find the notes to be: F, G, A, Bb (or is it A#?) C, D, E and an octave higher F. Of course the 4th note of the scale is Bb otherwise there would have been two A notes!

What makes a chord?

A major chord is made up of the 1st, 3rd, and 5th notes of the scale of that name.

To find the notes played in a chord of C place C in the inner ring directly below number 1 on the outer ring and find the 1st, 3rd, and 5th notes of the scale (highlighted in red on the outer ring) Any combination of those notes (C, E, and G) will produce the chord of C. Add a flattened 7th note of the scale, Bb (ie the 7th note B played one fret lower) (highlighted in yellow on the outer ring ) and you have a 7th ie C7 and if instead you simply added the 7th note of the scale ie B the chord produced would be Cmaj7.

A minor chord is made up in the same way as a major chord except that the third note ot the scale is flattened (see the green notes on the wheel) so that a chord of Cm is made up of the notes C, Eb, and G) Add the flattened 7th note of the scale ie Bb and you have the chord of Cm7.

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