Transpose a song up a whole step

What a whole step is

On a piano a whole step skips one key between two notes: from C to D, or from F to G. It is two semitones, the same distance as from do to re in a major scale. Moving a song up a whole step moves every note up by that distance.

Setting it in the browser

Click the PitchShed icon on the tab with the song and press + beside Key until it reads +2. You hear the change immediately, and the video does not reload. To undo it, press the reset link beside the Key row.

When to go up

Raise a song when it sits too low for your voice, when you want a brighter sound, or when a lesson recording is in a lower key than the chord chart you are reading. After a change, sing or play the highest part to check that it is still reachable: a higher key moves the top note up with everything else.

Up a whole step, and the capo

A recording raised by 2 semitones sounds like the same song played with a capo on the second fret, so a capo on the second fret is what your guitar needs to follow it. The opposite problem, a recording that already uses a capo, is covered in transposing a song so you do not need a capo.

Check before you commit

Play the chorus once at +2 before you build a rehearsal around it. If the top note is just out of reach, try +1, which is only a half step; the difference between the two settings is small, but often decisive.