Is it possible to transpose only the chord?

• Sep 8, 2019 - 08:59

Is it possible to transpose only the chords without changing the keys and notes of the original music score for guitar capo tasto performance?


Comments

If you want only the transposed (capo changed) chords displayed, you can create a temporary staff for transposing, delete the original chord symbols, and paste the transposed (capo changed) chords into the original staff. It's then important to add a capo instruction.

See image:

Capo_chords.png

In reply to by bonkurakun

OK... so here's more info. explaining the steps in the pictures posted earlier:

You add a duplicate staff using menu item: Edit -> Instruments, then copy/paste everything from the first staff into it.
So, to create the new staff (add an instrument), see:
https://musescore.org/en/handbook/3/create-new-score#change-Instrument-…
and:
https://musescore.org/en/handbook/3/create-new-score#add-instruments
For copy/paste, see:
https://musescore.org/en/handbook/3/copy-and-paste

Once you have the staff duplicated, select the entire duplicate staff and transpose it into the key of C. The chord symbols (what you need for the capo change) will be transposed along with the melody.
For selecting a range of measures (i.e. the duplicate staff):
https://musescore.org/en/handbook/3/selection-modes#select-measure-range
For transposition, see:
https://musescore.org/en/handbook/3/transposition#transpose-chromatical…

To delete the original chord symbols, right click on one -> 'Select' -> 'All Similar Elements in Same Staff' -> press delete.

Copy/paste the transposed chord symbols into the original staff by right clicking on one -> 'Select' -> 'All Similar Elements in Same Staff' then Ctrl +C to copy them. Then paste the copied chords by selecting the first measure of the original staff and pressing Ctrl + V.

To remove the duplicate (transposed) staff go back to Edit -> Instruments, then select the duplicate instrument and click the 'Remove' button. This will leave only one staff with the transposed chord symbols.

Finally, add some staff text instruction for the capo position:
https://musescore.org/en/handbook/3/text-basics#add-text

In reply to by bonkurakun

You're welcome.

Just be sure that if you hand that score to someone else to perform, you explain why the chord symbols look wrong (i.e., different key).
You should indicate somewhere that the chords are played with a capo affixed to the instrument.

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