How do you transpose a chorus?

[diogenes]

Up that is. Bon Jovi does it alot, I think Backstreet Boys had a huge hit where they did as well. It's such a cool way to add impact and really drive the song home but it's always eluded me. I have a chord progression thats C#m-A-E, would just move up say a whole step with out regard for key but following the original tonality of each chord? I've tried this and it just doesn't sound right. Any tips? Hopefully I worded this so that you understand what I'm talking about. Thanks

[daniel481]

To transpose a chorus up a whole step, just move everything up a whole step! In the case of C#m-A-E, you would move it to D#m-B-F# (I'm assuming that the second two chords are major in your progression. It's really easy to visualize on guitar in barre chords because you literally just shift your positions up a whole step.Hope that helps and makes sense.Dan

[mewman]

Dan's description is perfect. I would only add, in reference to your comment about the movement being "without regard for key", that you are, in fact, changing the key, or modulating when you move up. If C#m-A-E is a iii-I-V in the key of A, then when you modulate up a whole step, you change the key to B, so the iii-I-V becomes D#-B-F. If you want to modulate up a half step, the key would become Bb, therefore the iii-I-V becomes Dm-Bb-F, etc..Mewman

[daniel481]

Yep, good clarification!

[diogenes]

Thanks, that was my original thought, but it just never sounds right...I must be over thinking it. Is there any rule of thumb for this? Do people tyically go up only a half step? or just whatever sounds good.

[daniel481]

I'd say a whole step is probably a bit more common, but it really just comes down to whatever sounds good

[ncc1701]

I ran across this site several years ago, and it still cracks me up:http://www.gearchange.org/"Who or what is a truck driver's gear change?Many writers and arrangers feel that when their song is in risk of getting a bit tired, it can be given a fresh lease of life by shifting the whole song up a key, usually in between choruses, towards the beginning of a "repeat-till-fade" section. You may have heard this technique informally referred to as "modulation", but the correct ethnomusicological term for the phenomenon is the truck driver's gear change. This reflects the utterly predictable and laboured nature of the transition, evoking a tired and over-worked trucker ramming the gearstick into the new position with his – or, to be fair, her – fist. Contrary to what many people seem to think, the truck driver's gear change is in no way inventive, interesting or acceptable: it is in fact an utterly appalling and unimaginative admission that you've run out of inspiration and the song should have ended one minute ago; but you're under pressure to make something which can be stretched out to the length of a single. The concept of the truck driver's gear change seems to transcend all musical styles, from Perry Como to The Misfits, although my investigations reveal that it's most prevalent in mainstream pop, and, let's face it, it's unlikely to feature in hip-hop. But who's to say."On a serious note, there's a formula for finding the chord progression that will get you to that next key. If you're ending on the I major chord, the 5th of that chord is the same note as the 7th of the dominant chord in the next key, 1 step up. For example, if you're in C major, hold your G and build an A7 chord around it, then resolve to D major. Kathleen

[thecolonel]

I think the standard practice is up a half-step, although a whole step certainly could be done. If only done a half step, the transposition has the quality of not being such a large change that you can't deal with it. It's very common in pop songs (Bon Jovi, as you said, is a VERY good example of this with Livin' on a Prayer; although I don't know how they can sing any higher than they did in that song!), but it can be done. Personally, I think I would rather hear a bridge with a short instrumental break than the chorus beaten into the ground by the end of the tune.

[elser]

Hi Diogenes, there isn't really any hard and fast rule about how to modulate but there are standard practices. In 'Livin On A Prayer' he modulates up a minor third, key of G to the key of Bb, and he does what's often called a 'direct modulation'. The guitar solo is played over the chorus chords :Emi/C/D/ /G/C/D/ / : then goes to the pre-chorus still in the key of G, then goes directly to the same chorus chord changes but in the key of Bb.Another type of modulation can be done by setting up the new key with the V or dominant chord of the new key. For instance in your song try playing your chorus :C#mi/A/E/ : 4 times or whatever but on the last time play :C#mi/A/A#/: and then go D#mi/B/F#/: so you've modulated from C#mi to D#mi. The hard part is going to be to alter your melody to make it work over the A# chord.These are probably the two most common ways of modulating but listen to 'Ring of Fire' by Johnny Cash and you'll hear him modulate downwards almost every new verse and not a uniform modulation(I think, I haven't studied it). Or Sting's 'If I Ever Lose My Faith' also modulates downwards; very unconventional but interesting simply because it is unconventional.Feel free to experiment and find what works for you.Elser

[diogenes]

This has all helped immensely. Thanks everyone.