Transcribing vocalists ....

[cire113]

How come when I try to transcribe vocalists it's really difficult and seems just really unnatural to play on an instrument...

For example I learned the vocals of let it be and played the vocals on my bass it was really weird....

It took me about 20 mins longer than I thought to learn ...

[Volk99]

Maybe because bassists tend to rely on certain patterns that fall easily on the fingerboard. Vocalists and other instruments don't rely on the same patterns. Transcribing other instruments is a good idea, IMO, because it gets you out of your comfort zone. I was just thinking I should transcribe some horn parts...

[MalcolmAmos]

Because of our strings our scale is spread over a four string fret area, much easier if we just rely upon one string till we pick out the melody - then take that to the other strings after you have the "up scale/down scale" worked out. Keyboard is much easier as everything is in a straight line.

Plus melody does not fully register in the lower frets of the bass - after the 12 fret this works it's self out and we can hear the melody better. The lowest and highest octave is seldom used on the piano - because we do not find notes in these octaves pleasant.

Of course IMHO

[J-B'ass]

I know what you mean, I think it's because the voice has a greater range of expression on a given pitch, and can even feel like it's moving when staying on the same pitch. Often when playing the exact melody on the bass it sounds a bit plodding and unwieldy :/ like it doesn't quite 'work' for some reason. Some melodies work great on any instrument though.