Transcribing note symbols to actual letters

[stewart8980]

Hey guys


Well for my HS Jazz Band I need to play Ain't Misbehavin tomorrow, but I just got the lead sheet today. My issue is my teacher assumes I can read quickly even though I struggle a lot.

This led me to wondering if there was a program, or website where you could input the note symbols on a clef and it would transcribe it into the letter correspondent. I don't need tabs, but my issue is just reading notes on a staff.

Any suggestions?

[MalcolmAmos]

A number 2 pencil with the big eraser works fine.

[stewart8980]

That's what I've started to do. It just made me wonder in for future reference as well.

[Roy Vogt]

Like Will Lee once said, "Ain't too proud to pencil in."
You will get more traction if you play the part slowly out of time (a la Jeff Berlin) and find all the notes before you try playing it in time.

[bassybill]

Originally Posted by MalcolmAmos

A number 2 pencil with the big eraser works fine.

No kidding around intended - this is actually the very best solution to what you're asking for and much better for your purposes than any software solution could hope to be. Sometimes there are jobs you need to do where a computer is absolutely zero help. This is one of them.

Just remember that the lines go GBDFA and the spaces are ACEG (both from bottom to top). In fact, you could start by writing GABCDEFGA on the left of each staff as you climb line-space-line-space-line-space-line-space-line.

Don't forget to keep an eye on the key signature as you go.

[stewart8980]

Yeah I've been using the "All Cows Eat Grass" method taught to me when i was 4 but hey, its working all right so far.

[bassybill]

Originally Posted by stewart8980

Yeah I've been using the "All Cows Eat Grass" method taught to me when i was 4 but hey, its working all right so far.

Do that every day for two weeks and you'll never need to do it again for the rest of your life.

There's some good transcriptions to practice with linked to right here in wisemonkey's current thread in this forum, check it out.

[bassybill]

Originally Posted by Roy Vogt

Like Will Lee once said, "Ain't too proud to pencil in."

I still do it now and again when the ledger lines start piling up a bit too high for my middle aged eyesight to sort out quickly!

[RayG]

Originally Posted by bassybill

Sometimes there are jobs you need to do where a computer is absolutely zero help. This is one of them.

+1 The pencil is your friend. Hard to find one around my place with a proper point!

Regards--------------

[elgecko]

Originally Posted by stewart8980

That's what I've started to do. It just made me wonder in for future reference as well.

If you keep at it, you'll be a much better reader in the future.

[Boyakasha]

Guitar Pro, you can also print with both the partiture and the tab.

[Intenzity]

Generally, Black Dudes Frighten Anglos.

And of course, all Cows Eat Grass.

And then just get your hands on as much music as you can to look at.

[Beginner Bass]

Originally Posted by Intenzity

Generally, Black Dudes Frighten Anglos.

And of course, all Cows Eat Grass.

And then just get your hands on as much music as you can to look at.

I prefer the less volatile Good Boys Do Fine Always, but that's just me.

[Minotauros]

Originally Posted by bassybill

No kidding around intended - this is actually the very best solution to what you're asking for and much better for your purposes than any software solution could hope to be. Sometimes there are jobs you need to do where a computer is absolutely zero help. This is one of them.

I have sheet music (originally for piano) that has no chord notations. Reading the notes on the staff and penciling them in gives me the triads to make the chord. I can use that for guitar or to make a bass line.

Just remember that the lines go GBDFA and the spaces are ACEG (both from bottom to top).

Apropos nothing, GBDFA is a G7add9 and ACEG is an Am7.

Just sayin'.

[recreate.me]

I have started with this approach while try to learn standard notation and to play the real book all at the same time lol

Slow going, I don't know what half those songs are supposed to sound like...

[electracoyote]

Originally Posted by Intenzity

Generally, Black Dudes Frighten Anglos.

Nice.

And it gets a pass.

[Russell L]

Practice makes perfect. Simple as that.

I can sit and read the Real Book or a bass line and know what a tune sounds like without playing anything. But, I've read music for years. Familiarity, that's all.

Yes, writing the notes in will help you learn.

[electracoyote]

Originally Posted by Russell L

Yes, writing the notes in will help you learn.

I understand why people are suggesting this. I think in an emergency pressure situation where you really have to learn a song quickly and you just don't have the fluid reading skills requierd, it's probably your only choice. I'm sure I have done it once or twice, probably on piano, a long time ago.

But as a private music teacher with 20 students (guitar, bass, mandolin, etc.), for long-term comprehension and fluid sight reading, I discourage my students from writing the letter names above the staff. I much prefer, and get far quicker, better, longer-lasting results, when my students make the mental effort to make the connection between the letter of the alphabet, the note on the staff, and the note on the instrument, in their head. No crutches, no training wheels. Writing out "ACEG" and "GBDFA" somewhere nearby is as far as I think they should go.

I even go so far as to encourage my students to say aloud the names of the notes as they read and play them ("say it and play it"). This is very reinforcing.

Students who I regularly catch writing letters above the staff always seem to progress more slowly and more uncertainly than those who don't.

[Russell L]

Originally Posted by electracoyote

I understand why people are suggesting this. I think in an emergency pressure situation where you really have to learn a song quickly and you just don't have the fluid reading skills requierd, it's probably your only choice. I'm sure I have done it once or twice, probably on piano, a long time ago.

But as a private music teacher with 20 students (guitar, bass, mandolin, etc.), for long-term comprehension and fluid sight reading, I discourage my students from writing the letter names above the staff. I much prefer, and get far quicker, better, longer-lasting results, when my students make the mental effort to make the connection between the letter of the alphabet, the note on the staff, and the note on the instrument, in their head. No crutches, no training wheels. Writing out "ACEG" and "GBDFA" somewhere nearby is as far as I think they should go.

I even go so far as to encourage my students to say aloud the names of the notes as they read and play them ("say it and play it"). This is very reinforcing.

Students who I regularly catch writing letters above the staff always seem to progress more slowly and more uncertainly than those who don't.

Yep, that's actually the best way. There are some crutches I do like, though, personally. When I played in the symphony I would sometimes draw a pair of eyeglasses somewhere to help me remember to watch out at that point, for instance. Or use a red pencil to mark a first ending that's back on another page. (I'm not gonna tell ya I put a pencil mark at the octave on my bass, no, no. LOL, I did)