Transcribing - basics

[ted s]

I know many fretters (Robert comes to mind) often recommend transcribing as a huge step towards improvement. I think I get the basic idea, but could someone give me "transcribing for dummies" outline.

Is it basically listen, find, notate and move on ?

thanks

Ted

[Robert****]

Transcribe to me means listening, figuring out what note(s) are being played, store it somewhere - either in your head or on paper, or both.

Personally, I don't bother writing it down, because the only way I can make good use of what I transcribe is by learning it "by heart". By this I mean learn it well enough so I can make use of it somehow. This is where I recommend taking the lick, or whatever it is, and make it your own. You can change the timing, play it over a different chord progression, at a different tempo, play it over a different groove (maybe 3/4 time instead of over 4/4), etc, etc.

Learn it, change it, use it! How's that for a mantra!

[Tone2TheBone]

Transcribing is great during those times when you're bored with what you're playing. Ripping off other people's licks is fun sometimes.

[SuperSwede]

Ted, since you are lucky enough to own and operate a proper computer here is a nice and really useful application. It helps out a lot when transcribing screaming solos in tone2thebone-blazing tempo.

http://www.ronimusic.com/amsldox.htm

[ted s]

Cool, thanks SS... pm coming your way.

[R_of_G]

Like Robert, I try not to write down my transription work, instead I try to commit it to memory. In terms of how to do it, here's one way I do it. I will play the song/riff I want to learn through GarageBand with the tuner on. Using the built-in tuner [you can also play it thru a cd player and put a tuner next to your speaker] I find the right first note. Let's assume that note is an "A." Next step is to figure out which "A" it is. Explore your fretboard and try to figure out which "A" sounds like the right one. Note, it doesn't have to be the same "A" to learn the song, but it helps to learn to play it the way you hear it. After that, I remind myself there are only 12 possibilities for which note is next. Keep fretting notes until you find the one that's next. And so on, and so on... It's time consuming, but when you have put together a whole riff, or a whole song, it can be very rewarding. Not sure how everyone else does their transcribing, though I look forward to hearing, but this method works for me.

[ted s]

Very ingenious R_G, thanks.

[SuperSwede]

Ted, there is a very legal PM with a very legal link coming for you..

[jpfeifer]

I think that I use the same method that Robert described for transcribing, basically playing the track over and over and grabbing a few notes at a time intill you can assemble the whole phrase or song, etc.

The basic idea is to immerse yourself into the sound, feel, and phrasing of the part that you're trying to copy. Play only a few notes at a time and don't try to learn too many notes at once. Just start with the first few notes and try to copy everything that is going on. When you get enough of the notes under your fingers then practice that phrase until it feels comfortable. Slow it down, etc.

The other part that really makes these transcriptions part of your playing is to try and understand where the notes are coming from. Try to analyze "why" they sound good? Ask yourself some questions as your going through the process:
- What key are you playing in?
- What scale are the series of notes based on?
- Do the series of notes outline a chord that might be happening behind the solo?
- Is there anything in the solo that makes it stand out, such as a repeated phrase ?
- Does the solo use chromatic passages to connect notes in some interesting way?

Writing out the solo can be a chore, but I've found a really good program to help. It's called "G7", made by Sibelius. I've been using this for a while to write out things when I feel the need to. This program write out tab and standard notation at the same time. It also has a little guitar neck that you use to enter the notes from the screen, which is helpful when you want to use specific fingerings in the tab, etc. Here is a link to it:
http://www.sibelius.com/products/g7/index.html

-- Jim

[ted s]

Thanks guy's, lots of good info. from all.

ts