First transcription suggestions

[bassicmelodies]

Hello everyone,

I'm curious about how people got started transcribing. I have yet to do it, so this next project will be my first. Any recommendations for where to start? I've been playing for close to ten years, I would consider myself in the upper intermediate category. Would walking bass lines be a good place to start? I tend to jump towards something way to difficult and then get discouraged. So, I thought I would ask around and see where others started.

Any tips, advice?

Thanks!

[MalcolmAmos]

Melody first. That will point you to the chords. Transcribing and or playing by ear. Transcribing involves getting in the right key first so the notes you come up with are the same as in the song you are transcribing from. Playing by ear you can start in any key you like. My instructor challenged me to start with playing by ear Some where over the rainbow, Happy Birthday, and songs like that. No peeking at tabs. One new song per day. I do best on the keyboard and in C.

Getting the first note to fit with the first lyric word is where to start. After that its just up scale or down scale, douggah.... really. Write it down as you work it out.

Might find this interesting.:http://www.ibreathemusic.com/forums/...ad.php?t=18170

[ericw]

If you're trying to do accurate note-for-note transcriptions: don't bite off more than you can chew initially. In some songs, different lines will be played every time through the chord progression. So you end up listening to the line over one chord, pausing, figuring it out, writing it down, listening to the next chord, pausing, figuring it out, writing it down, listening to the next chord, pausing... over and over. So you end up transcribing 16 individal measures and you've only done the first verse

You might be better off to start with a song that has a little more repetition to it. Then you can transcribe the line, listen and verify it's played the same later in the song, copy, adjust for the occasional different note, the use of an octave, a run, etc.

Starting off I think it would better to set a goal you know you can achieve and be proud of. Then move on to a more difficult song with a lot of variety.

That's just my 2 cents.

[BluesWalker]

I started off with some simple Chicago style blues tunes and then moved to some more complicated blues tunes. That gave me confidence.

[ericw]

Also, are you goign to transcribe by hand or in some program? I use noteflight (noteflight.com). It is free, web-based, and has a built in midi sequencer so you can play back what you've notated - very handy for verifying you've transcribed the rhythm correctly. It has its flaws but I find it works for me.