Capo and Key

gaichele

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Is there a chart that shows what fret to capo when you want to make 2 versions of 1 song in different keys playable/usable together? For example, my grandson is just learning trombone and most of his music seems to be in Eb (3 flats). I have the same song but it's written in C and I'd like to be able to play along with him, using my music. I'm pretty sure in the example I gave that the answer is "capo the 3rd fret," but I'd like a quick-reference that would let me figure that out for any key.

I know I could transpose the song on Wikifonia, but Wikifonia is sometimes down or doesn't have a song. NOTE: I DON'T want a chord conversion chart! I just want to look at the key signatures for the 2 versions and know what fret to capo.

Thanks for any help.
 
The first thing to determine is whether his music is transposed or not. Wikipedia says "Trombone music, along with music for euphonium and tuba, is typically written in concert pitch, although exceptions do occur, notably in almost all brass band music where tenor trombone is presented as a B♭ transposing instrument."

So the most likely scenario is that his music is at concert pitch. So one option is to just play off his music. If he says play an Eb , the you play a Eb on your uke and you're both good. Or vice versa, you both play off your C music.

The general rule would be that your capo needs to be set at the difference in half-steps to get up from your key to his key. Count up from C to Eb - C Db D Eb - 3 half-steps so capo 3. If his key was F, you'd have to count up 5 from C, so capo would go at 5. Note that it has to go up, so if your music was F and his was Eb, you'd have to go up to the 10th fret! Or again, you could just read off the same page.

Now, if his music is transposed, all this changes by how many half-steps he Is transposed by, probably 2.

Hope this helps.
 
If his music is written transposed for a Bb instrument, then tune your uke FBbDG (Bb tuning) then play from his written music as if you were in C tuning.
 
The way I do it, is C to Eb is three half steps. Up to C#, D, then Eb (which is the same as D#) Each fret is a half step, so you need to move up three.

If you want to go from C to F, you'd count up to C#, D, D#, E, F, so five half steps and five frets for the capo. I don't like putting the capo that far up, so I sometimes transpose each chord as I'm playing, or jot the transposed chords lightly in pencil.

Is your grandson playing out of the Essential Elements 2000 book?
 
The way I do it, is C to Eb is three half steps. Up to C#, D, then Eb (which is the same as D#) Each fret is a half step, so you need to move up three.

If you want to go from C to F, you'd count up to C#, D, D#, E, F, so five half steps and five frets for the capo. I don't like putting the capo that far up, so I sometimes transpose each chord as I'm playing, or jot the transposed chords lightly in pencil.

Is your grandson playing out of the Essential Elements 2000 book?

I agree. The third fret is about as far as I like to go, though a tenor is easier as there is more room.

A problem with Bb transposition is that you would have to capo at the 10th fret - not exactly realistic so in practice you have to tune down which is no great issue. In fact I prefer to tune my tenor down as the lower tension makes it more comfortable to play and it also sounds better, IMO.
 
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