Free tool
Medley key planner
List your songs and their keys. Get the smoothest order and a transition you can play between each pair.
How it works
For each pair of songs the planner works out how far apart the keys are and picks the simplest way to get there:
- Same or relative key: go straight in, maybe with a drum fill.
- Lift: up a semitone or a whole tone. One bar of the new key's dominant (V7) gives the classic "one more time" energy.
- Up a fourth: the old tonic turns into a seventh chord and leads straight into the new key.
- Pivot chord: a chord that belongs to both keys. Move to it, then to the new V7, and you are in.
- Distant key: no shared chords. Use a break, such as a bar of drums alone, then the new V7. Or reorder the songs.
Find the smoothest order tries every order (up to eight songs) and keeps the one with the least effort in total. Leave Keep the opener first ticked if you already know which song starts the medley.
Read more in medley transitions that work and how to change key between songs.
Questions
What is a pivot chord?
A chord that is diatonic in both the old and the new key. For example, Em is iii in C major and vi in G major, so it sounds natural on both sides of the change.
Should a medley always go up in key?
Not always, but a lift near the end gives energy, so many arrangers put the biggest upward step before the last song.
How is "transition effort" calculated?
Staying in the same key costs nothing and relative keys almost nothing. A semitone or tone lift counts as 1, and other changes count as the distance between the keys on the circle of fifths.
Can it write the transition for my band?
This planner gives you the chords. Medley Writer writes the whole transition, every part, into the score.
Making a medley? Let Medley Writer write it.
Upload the recordings, pick the parts and the order, and get every instrument's part with the key changes and transitions written in. Free during the beta.
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