Any tips on how to most easily transcribe music?

[WrapRough]

In score notation yes in TAB no

Thanks man.

TAB is dead to me

 

[GrahamNN3]

Thanks man.

TAB is dead to me

I play my bass parts in to Logic Pro X via midi keyboard - Logic automatically sorts most of the scoring issues.

 

[WrapRough]

I play my bass parts in to Logic Pro X via midi keyboard - Logic automatically sorts most of the scoring issues.

I'm doing old school pencil and manuscript book. Currently doing When We Get By by D'Angelo. I'm insanely crap at this at the moment so it's hard going man. I think I figured out the key to be B but I really have no idea and don't wanna look and cheat

It's fun though!

 

[Snarf]

Hi, I'm relatively new to the bass and most of my progression so far has come from learning as many of the James Jamerson basslines as I can. A lot of the songs I can't find tabs or notation for so I've been trying to transcribe a lot.

My problem is that I have a hard time hearing the bass distinctly in a lot of recordings. I'm wondering if there is software or a site that puts the bass up front/makes the bass more discernible.

I'm trying to learn "For Once in my life" and that mf didn't play any bar the same in that song so something like this would really help me suss out those lines!

You could use an EQ bass boost to help out with that. Youtube also has a slowdown feature, although it introduces a lot of artifacts. If I'm really stuck on a transcription and I want to slow it down, I'll record the clip into [insert DAW software of your choice] and adjust the BPM down. Works well for [Reason, my DAW software of choice].

 

[LeFunk Machine]

Check out the free app "Moises". It analyzes pretty much any song and allows you to separate the track out via some (I'm guessing) eq magic. Pretty much I've only used it on some worship music to play along with by muting the bass line. Soloing the bass track produces a rather washy bass sound full of artifacts however. It IS free so you get what you pay for. It's a fun tool to get you in the ball park of the notes that are being played. Check it out.

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Thank you for sharing this. Now I know about this brand/application.

 

[lennybass]

The way to learn it is to do it every day. Jim Stinnett, a master teacher, explains how to transcribe. You can learn from him by searching for "Real Bass Lessons 224 - Transcribe All The Things You Are."

On the question of writing down transcriptions -- I do not usually write down what I transcribe. Instead, I keep playing it by ear until I know it. I find that each step of transcription (figuring out notes, playing along to get the "feel, etc.) has a benefit.

When I do write something down, it is usually after I've played along by ear enough to have a good feel for the part (this is certainly well for something I want to learn to play well).

 

[Bill Murray]

The way to learn it is to do it every day. Jim Stinnett, a master teacher, explains how to transcribe. You can learn from him by searching for "Real Bass Lessons 224 - Transcribe All The Things You Are."

On the question of writing down transcriptions -- I do not usually write down what I transcribe. Instead, I keep playing it by ear until I know it. I find that each step of transcription (figuring out notes, playing along to get the "feel, etc.) has a benefit.

When I do write something down, it is usually after I've played along by ear enough to have a good feel for the part (this is certainly well for something I want to learn to play well).

^ nailed it

 

[dreamadream99]

If I catch you a fish, you eat for a day. If I teach you to fish, you eat for a lifetime.

if you use transcription software or someone else's transcription or tab, you deny yourself The opportunity to learn how to do transcriptions yourself. It is not an easy task, but well worth it—It takes years to get proficient at it.

If I hand you a tab or an app, you can play one song. If you learn to transcribe, you can play any song.

 

[WrapRough]

Jeff teaching fishing:



This was really helpful for me as I was doing this and thinking there was some magical thing that I was missing, and only noobs like me fumble around. But nope, this is just the way you do it

 

[SteveCS]

...
On the question of writing down transcriptions -- I do not usually write down what I transcribe.
...

Then by any reasonable definition you are not transcribing:

transcribe
Link Removed

 

[WrapRough]

Then by any reasonable definition you are not transcribing:

transcribe
Link Removed

I was thinking that. For me, learning the piece by ear is not the biggest challenge (depending on the song, of course). But writing it down, with correct rhythms, is really difficult. Especially really syncopated funk stuff with dotted 8th notes and that kind of thing. Really difficult for me at this stage of my learning. I keep having to remember that a song that is easy to learn by ear is not necessarily easy to transcribe!

 

[SteveCS]

I was thinking that. For me, learning the piece by ear is not a challenge. But writing it down, with correct rhythms, it's really difficult. Especially really syncopated funk stuff with dotted 8th notes and that kind of thing. Really difficult for me at this stage of my learning. I keep having to remember that a song that is easy to learn by ear is not necessarily easy to transcribe!

Which is why transcribing is such an effective aide to long-term retention - you actually have to think about it.

 

[WrapRough]

Which is why transcribing is such an effective aide to long-term retention - you actually have to think about it.

i'm still not sure whether to use pencil and paper of some software. i know the old school will say pencil and paper, or maybe even slate and chalk But I think having the ability to transpose, share etc is quite valuable. I guess I should keep oldschool until I am competent and then move to software

 

[SteveCS]

i'm still not sure whether to use pencil and paper of some software. i know the old school will say pencil and paper, or maybe even slate and chalk But I think having the ability to transpose, share etc is quite valuable. I guess I should keep oldschool until I am competent and then move to software

I think there is a place for both. Although I use paper less and less, I do print stiff put and annotate the paper copies. It also maybe depends on how you place notes in the software. I try to use a MIDI keyboard or the regular letter keys rather than the mouse as it is faster, more accurate and reinforces musical thinking.

As an aside, I have tried using a pitch to MIDI interface (Sonuus i2M Midiport) to capture from the bass but it was just too clunky. Also, even if it worked well, I think it would be sufficiently far removed from actually writing to lose the retention benefits. YMMV

 

[mambo4]

For me transcription is as much a an exercise in improving my notation skills as it is about learning the song. Once I learn how to notate a challenging rhythm, poof, it goes into my written vocabulary .

 

[WrapRough]

For me transcription is as much a an exercise in improving my notation skills as it is about learning the song. Once I learn how to notate a challenging rhythm, poof, it goes into my written vocabulary .

Yeah this has recently clicked with me... It's the rhythm that is really hard. Notes are just notes... Fumble around and you'll get there!

 

[SteveCS]

When you transcribe in notation, say you have an Eb played on the 6th fret of the A string, do you write it the same as you would if you played it on the 1st fret of the D string?

The convention for string number is an arabic number in a circle above the note, thus

 

[Lownote38]

The best way to get better at transcribing is to transcribe more.