TR-004 • The Importance Of Transcribing

[justinguitar]

This thread is for question on justin's lesson on transcribing. If you wanna discuss the problem in Sudan (Darfur) then go to the Just Chatting Forum.

Before too many people ask - I will be doing a new lesson on transcribing hints very soon (Maybe today!).

Thanks

J

Lesson Link: http://www.justinguitar.com/en/TR-004-ImportantTranscribe.php

[Nathan]

Hey
It's a great idea

It just seems hard  
so i didn't practice transcribing at all

Tried just to find the notes I'm singing while playing
I heard that singing the notes can help a lot
I guess the video will help

Good luck

[Paul]

By learning to sing in tune you're training your ear to recognise what the notes you're singing are supposed to sound like, and if you can find the notes in your voice then it would make sense that it was then a hell of a lot easier to find the same notes on your instrument.

[angelfire]

Hey Justin, am just starting transcribing. THe troggs seemed an easy place to start, I think I can only hear three chords in it. It doesn't sound quite right with open chords, would I be going in the wrong direction trying some barre chords? I think I already know the answer is to try it! Cos I don't want to look up the chords!

Anyway thanks for the website, has taken me into a more structured way of learning.

Take carex

[bahaal]

I think this is the best place to put this question so here it goes.

I've always loved the song dear mr president, but I ain't sure if this would be a good choice to start transcribing.

I've managed to find some small bits but I ain't getting close to the big picture I think
I've cheated a little trying to find the right tune and I've noticed in the video he has a capo on the 3rd fret (not sure if its regular E tuning tho)

To me it sounds like he starts off with a regular G chord and then strums the bottom strings a few times before he does a hammer on flickoff on the second fret on the G string and then switches to a chord (200233) not sure of its name but I guess its some B chord :p

The chorus sounds like C Am G to me.

Tell me the truth, am I even close?

[justinguitar]

sorry dude but I don't know the song

new lesson on transcribing for beginners I uploaded yesterday...

J

[bahaal]

hard to believe for a person with such beliefs in political injustice doesn't know this song

I'd say http://youtube.com/watch?v=6DEh0eSpNvY check it out.

I have a feeling you'll like it

edit: I don't seem to find that new video about transcribing you spoke off I only found the 100th YT video

[Quark]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xt4H2zQjNBM

Try this!

W

[Cozza]

Beat me to it... LOL

Cara xx

[bahaal]

thx guys

[rick]

I just watched the 'Dear Mr President' video (didn't know it)

I would really like to know the answers to her questions:

What do you feel when you see all the homeless on the street?
Who do you pray for at night before you go to sleep?
What do you feel when you look in the mirror?
Are you proud?

How do you sleep while the rest of us cry?
How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye?
How do you walk with your head held high?
Can you even look me in the eye
And tell me why?

the acoustic guitar is nice, too. Perhaps I'll try to transcribe it....

@bahaal: Do you use a capo? In the video you can see that he's using one (think it's a Kyser btw ) on the third? fret....

[justinguitar]

nice song

Not quite as potent to me as Masters Of War by Dylan - but very cool.

The "mystery chord" TAB: 2 x 0 2 3 3 - is D with and F# bass...

And you are pretty much right on - the C chords are C add 9 - you kinda leave your 3rd finger down on 3rd fret 2nd string for most of the tune...

But you doing great mate...

ok - I'm off for a beer...

[Trish]

i know i should start easy, but that's too unlike me.....

question:  is it possible, or how do you transcribe a song to acoustic if the original is done in piano?  example:  billy joel's song *honesty*.  how would i go about it?  i know, step 1, transcribe some easy guitar songs first, but let's *pretend* i did that already.  it's the songs that aren't done on guitar that i want to play on guitar.  is that such a crying shame?

[bahaal]

I am making progress on this

thx justin for the way you handled the 'times like these' song.  It motivated me to transcribe it using the chords you gave me and it worked (had a bit of trouble placing the F#m tho in the beginning)

This must be the song so far I've learned the fastest ever not even using tabs

I hope you'll consider doing future songs like this one, giving us the chords first and give us some time to work it out

I reckon this is a pretty easy song to transcribe considering A. You gave the chords and B. its not a hard progression but still
transcribed and learned the song in less than 10 minutes

[rick]

It motivated me to transcribe it using the chords you gave me and it worked

Same here! I only had an E chord at the very end. It sounds okay too, I think....

Thanks for the lesson and it's a great song btw! Lookin forward to more transcribing lessons

@Trish: If you just want a play-along-version for guitar you could transcribe the voice-part and then find chords to it.

[Nolita]

Hey Trish;

 Are you using some sort of software to slow the song down?  Take it down to about 75% speed(maybe slower, but since it's a ballad 75% should be plenty).  Then listen.  For the intricate little bits(I think they're arpeggiated, but not sure), fingerpicking.  Find the notes and when it's time to play, use your fingers(okay so really it's your choice but fingerpicking would keep it nice and soft - balladesque if you will).  

I know how it is I'm getting answers right in Functional Ear Trainer now(so it's just a matter of memorizing all the frets and shapes, and not just using numbers).  Will share.  Maybe it's different for different ears though?  Anyway, the program plays three chords.  Those three chords all have root notes in the game(buttons).(as you advance though, you can add more buttons, and customize and stuff).  So really, what's happening, and I only just realized it.  Is that the game plays the chords.  My ear hears them, but also picks out the root notes.  I hit the right root note's button and score in the game.  I don't know why I can just hear them(most of the time, tend to be somewhere in the 90%s, hope that's not worse than it sounds, I've no idea how to find out).  I just can.  But now I know exactly what I'm hearing and the way I'm hearing it.

So my hypothesis(and I've no answer as I'm not an expert), is that if you use an application to slow down "Honestly", and listen.  You'll know the chords from their root notes.  You'll just know them.  I'll give it a go if you like.  I was told that if I mic my amp, it's the best way to record my guitar on the computer(though I heard if I turn all the knobs down to 0 and slowly adjust them, keeping them very low, I can plug the amp into the computer).  I could just try for the first bit, up to and including the chorus(I get lost when we're talking barres I know what they look like on paper, but while listening I admit to getting a bit lost, that's why my little twinkle experiment was so sloppy).  Then upload it into my yahoo briefcase.  

If it sounds right to you, then yeah.  That's how you do it.  Just slow it down to about 75% maybe slower(depends on what you need), and listen to the chords.  Listen for them and you'll hear the root notes.

I just mean if you want it to sound more like on the album than a strum-along.    Both are good, it's up to you really.

[Trish]

do you have links for that game and the software that slows things down?

[Paul]

http://www.seventhstring.com/xscribe/overview.html?a=48

Extremely useful.  

[Trish]

i feel so guilty that i'm going to confess it.  i went to border's and bought a billy joel songbook.  i had a coupon...

don't hate me ya'll.....    :cry:

[Nolita]

Hehe, just keep buying songbooks, then wonder where the money for new guitars went.  Sorry couldn't resist.  But at least you know the music's good in the published book...

Here's the link for functional ear trainer http://www.miles.be/  When you get really advanced you can buy the fanciest version.  But the first two are totally free.  They really are like a little game though.

Oh and here's the slow-down/pitch change/vocals-removal app thingie http://www.xs4all.nl/~mp2004/bp/  Might as well see if you'll even be using such an app before buying one.

I have a freeware slowdown app, so haven't even tried the x-scribe app.  It might be even better for all I know, but space on my harddrive's limited.

Not sure if I explained how Functional Ear Trainer works.  Plays a series of chords.  Then it plays a root note from one of the chords.  You have to figure out which note it is just from the sound clues + available buttons.

[steveyboyuk]

Hey Justin, i've appreciated your thoughts on the importance of transcribing and have been trying to tackle it. Working down your list of suggested songs.

I don't think i have a great ear for picking out notes- in fact i'm sure i don't. Still, since trying to transcribe a bit, in the last week or two, i find i can often get a good idea of what the basic chords are if i kinda hum the song in my head. like the song 'all the small things', i'd hummed it in my head and thought it was something like c,g f. And it was. Although, i did notice that when i tried to do the same with the intial part of REM's 'everybody hurts' the key was slightly different, though the relationship of the notes seemed the same. What i hadn't realised with the blink song was the need to use power chords until i read your help notes. I even had to then look up what power chords were! It's a good learning curve though.

Anyway, my bigger problem is that when i try to actually listen for the notes in the song i struggle sometimes filtering out the guitar part. Is this common? Should i be concentrating on the moment in getting the general gist of the song down, and then later refine it? Or should i be practising right now in listening to the song, and trying to distinguish the guitar chords? Or maybe it's a mixture of both.

Thanks for your help, you're a star.

[justinguitar]

hearing the guitar just takes practice.

As you do it more you will start to block out the other instruments or vocals and focus on one thing.

It's cool cos it also means you can focus on other stuff like drums or percussion and get deeper into the music


I don't mind Trish buying songbooks but BILLY JOEL..... death penalty

J

[Trish]

I don't mind Trish buying songbooks but BILLY JOEL..... death penalty

J

i was sad.  
http://youtube.com/watch?v=rgmJ1miBzek

[steveyboyuk]

Thanks Justin, i'll keep persevering. It's quite exciting the propect that i could actually begin to improve my playing! I've taken your advice and am trying to do a little each day. Strumming with a metronome and working through your lessons, and thinking about transcribing songs rather than just reading them out of a book (which is what i've always done). Ooooh, i also bought the capo your recommended and my guitar now boasts the presence of dr strings!

Thanks for you help anyway, you're a little star. You do seem a pretty cool guy, yep. And thanks too for sending me an email- that was kind of you. Have fun on the tour. I do like Katie Melua's music, and am really looking forward to your updates on what tour life is like.  

Erm, oh the billy joel thing. C'mon he's not so bad! I don't have any of his records and have not really listened to a great deal of his music, but he has done some nice stuff- you shouldn't feel embarrassed. A bit of trivia: i heard Pink saying she was a bit of a fan of billy joel, and i believe he sang 'always a woman' at her wedding.
As an aside, this guy on utube does some really nice covers, with a few of them being billy joel, search for fargenbastich. I like him anyway. I've just heard a great one from him of rocky mountain high by Denver. He's good.

ME

[poely92]

I've transcribed my first song . I just have to know if I had it right. Because I was watching friends and than phoebe was playing smelly cat and I knew the chords from wild thing so plz tell me if Im right.      

E,E,A,A,D,A,E      thats what I thougt it was plz tell me if Im right or wrong