I want to play guitar in my schools jazz band, and when I told the director I could play Twist and Shout, he asked me to transpose it and present it for him. I am new to this, so I could use some help. I never had to do anything like this before, so if someone could point me in the right direction, I would highly appreciate it.
"At the end of the day, I can end up just totally wacky, because I've made mountains out of molehills. With meditation, I can keep them as molehills" -Ringo Starr
Transposing just means moving all the notes and chords by the same amount (and in the same direction). It's easier to do that on fretted instruments than any other!
So if you know it in E, and he wants it in Bb, just count the frets in between - there are six, right? Then take the next chord (A if you're in the key of E) and move it the same amount - you get Eb. The B becomes F - because that's six frets above B.
Guitar teacher offering lessons in Plainfield IL
Tom's right in that transposing is easy - like everything else about music and about playing, it simply takes practice.
This Guitar Noise lesson may be of interest to you: https://www.guitarnoise.com/lessons/basic-guide-to-transposing/
Hope this helps.
Peace
Thanks! My teacher wasn't much help. All he said was, "Transpose it :lol:
"At the end of the day, I can end up just totally wacky, because I've made mountains out of molehills. With meditation, I can keep them as molehills" -Ringo Starr
Are you sure he said 'transpose' and not 'transcribe'? It's a bit strange to ask you to transpose it, especially if he didn't mention any key. No - my money's on 'transcribe', which means he wants you to write it out and show it to him.
He said he wants me to transpose it into the key of B.
"At the end of the day, I can end up just totally wacky, because I've made mountains out of molehills. With meditation, I can keep them as molehills" -Ringo Starr