Any site with sound

How to transpose a Bandcamp track to a different key

Elyra Labs teamAug 21, 20263 min read

The short answer

Bandcamp lets you stream a full album in the browser, which makes it the easiest place to learn a song from an independent release. It has no key or speed control. Capo adds pitch in semitones, speed from 0.25× to 3×, and an A–B loop, on both the artist subdomain and the main site.

Open the album on Bandcamp and press play.
Open Capo and transpose in semitones.
Loop the section you want to learn.

Bandcamp is unusual in letting you hear the whole record before buying, which means it is often the only place a particular arrangement exists in a form you can study. It is also a plain player: play, pause, a seek bar, nothing else.

Artist subdomains work the same way

Most Bandcamp pages live on an artist subdomain rather than the main domain. Capo treats both the same, so a page at an artist address and one on the apex behave identically — there is nothing to configure.

The popup at rest on a playing tab, before anything has been moved.

Transposing to your instrument

The usual reason to move a Bandcamp track is tuning. A great many independent records are tracked a half or whole step down, and rather than retune your guitar for one song you can move the recording instead. One semitone up puts an E flat record into standard tuning.

Situation	Move
Record tracked a half step down	Pitch +1
Record tracked a whole step down	Pitch +2
Song sits above your vocal range	Pitch −2 to −4
Learning a fast part	Speed 0.5–0.7×

Transpose anything on Bandcamp.

Free · nothing uploaded

Add to Chrome — free

Where it stops

Capo cannot give you the stems, cannot export the transposed audio, and cannot help with a track that is not streaming in the tab. Everything it does is to the sound on its way to your speakers.

Questions

Can you change the key of a Bandcamp track?

Yes. Capo adds a semitone pitch control to Bandcamp pages, on artist subdomains and the main site alike, up or down twelve semitones by default.

Does it work on the album streaming preview?

Yes. Capo works on whatever is playing in the tab, which includes Bandcamp’s full-album streaming.

Can I slow a Bandcamp track down to learn it?

Yes, from 0.25× to 3×, with the pitch held steady so it does not sound deep or slurred.

Does Capo download from Bandcamp?

No. There is no download or export. It only changes what you hear as it plays.

Why would I transpose instead of retuning my guitar?

Because it takes a second and does not put your instrument out for everything else. Independent records are often tracked a half or whole step down, so moving the recording up one or two semitones puts it into standard tuning.

Keep reading

Any site with sound3 min

How to change the pitch and speed of a SoundCloud track

SoundCloud has no key control and one coarse speed setting. Capo adds semitone pitch, fine speed and an A-B loop.

Practice4 min

How to transpose a song to fit your vocal range

Move the song, not your voice. The hard part is not the transposition, it is keeping the singer sounding like a person.