Learning the song you will actually play

Cover bands rarely play every song in the recorded key. The singer’s range decides, and the guitarist, bassist and keys then learn the chords in the new key. Practicing against the original is a trap: the notes in your head are a few semitones away from the ones on stage.

Shift the record, not your brain

Click the PitchShed icon on the recording and set the key to the band’s version of the song. The recording now plays in the key you will perform in, and the parts you pick out by ear are the right ones. If the singer moved a song down two semitones, set −2.

One number per song

Keep a list: the song, its original key, the band key and the shift between them. PitchShed also remembers the shift for each video, so the key is back after one click on the icon whenever you reopen the recording.

Fast solos and tricky endings

Loop the bars you are learning and slow them down. With a lead guitar break or a busy bass line, speed is where the work happens; speed control is free and does not change the pitch.

Guitarists: shapes or capo

A band key can be awkward on guitars. If it is, the page on transposing a song so you do not need a capo shows how the recording and a capo relate.

The set list in numbers

Write each shift as a number beside the song title: −2, +1, 0. When the singer changes a key at a rehearsal, you change one number and your practice recording follows. Nobody needs to relearn the whole set from scratch.