TR-003 • Beginners Transcribing Hints

[justinguitar]

Questions...

Lesson Link: http://www.justinguitar.com/en/TR-003-BeginTranscribe.php

[henry]

I do have a question, is it still possible to transcribe the right note whenever pedal boards and guitar effects etc are being used?

[para.dize]

jop, it is... all those effects just make it a little harder.

The real fun starts when you try to transcribe a G3 track, where those guys use everything from whammy bar over digitech pedals to octaphazers.

Still if you concentrate on the actual melody you will be able to figure it out! WahWah Pedals for example are easy to remove from the sound you hear, if you know how it changes your own sound. A good method is just to sit down and try to find the sounds on your instrument as justin tought.

[Lucille]

Hi,
I hope this hasn't been asked before (or if it's just a stupid question), as a beginner in the vast realm of transcribing, how would you know if a capo/drop tuning was being used? Thanks
Peace out!
Lucille

[para.dize]

Well... for a capo: you can't
for dropped tuning: you could figure out that the guitar sound you wanna transcribe sounds lower than all sounds you can get out your EADGBE tuned instrument

both things should not be used in songs a beginner wants to transcribe... except some metal songs where they most likely play dropped D and you know it.
if a capo was used you will most likely not be able to transcribe the chords, because the notes are the same, but they are played on different strings, which means in a different octave... that could give you a hard time
just go to www.ultimate-guitar.com or a similar site, get the tab and see if there is any of the above used if you're stuck

good luck with your first songs

[Lucille]

Thank you!!

[justinguitar]

hearing drop tunings and capo use just comes with experience, sorry...

just stick at transcribing as best you can and those skills will come

J

[razz1e]

Well I'm trying to transcribe 'pink bullets' by The Shins. What I have for the intro so far sounds good, but I've not checked with the video yet to see how I'm doing. My question is, I presume I'm doing the right thing in listening for the bass note of the actual chord rather than the notes that the bass guitar is playing?

[razz1e]

sorry - watched the tips video and my questions been answered even though i'm using the song tips, I'm really getting into this transcribing malarky. R.E.M have some brilliant songs for transcribing fingerstyle

[rwhawkes]

When you hear chords enough, you'll be able to recognize what they sound like... i.e. a G sounds different from a D ... so when you recognize the sound, you can just capo away till you find the proper key...

As Justin says, it's all about experience. And perseverance and passion.

[justinguitar]

Totally rwhawkes

mainly practice...

Music is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration!!

J

[wtouch]

okay, just got a few specific questions before i start transcribing. i'm going to start easy doing wild thing--troggs.

how do we know the chords or melody of a song?. do we need something called a perfect ear or relative pitch?. i have neither. although i bought george lucas perfect pitch and am trying very hard. i'm familiar with the A note, i can sing it in tune with that, sometimes D and E.

justin or any one who can help me should i try and obtain perfect pitch first then transpose or is it possible to do both, but splitting it like 15 mins ear training and 15 min transcribe.

thanks

willy

[C level]

As a beginer should I try to  transcribe with or without the transcribe softwear---- I went on there web site and it seems complicated  :?  Also does the music have to be on a CD or can  I use songs off of itunes when useing the softwear?
Thanks

[TomHothersall]

Software*

Fix'd.  :wink:

[wtouch]

As a beginer should I try to  transcribe with or without the transcribe softwear---- I went on there web site and it seems complicated  :?  Also does the music have to be on a CD or can  I use songs off of itunes when useing the softwear?
Thanks

i'm also a biginer, i started to transcribe the other day and the software makes it alot easier, it slows everything down for you.give it a shot its easy to use. just load the song, then hit Fx and slow it down i ussualy do 70%. it helps.

[C level]

Thanks guys, I now know how to spell software   and have down loaded the transciption program. It does help alot to slow down the playback in sorting out solos and leads, but how do you get the chords down? Thanks again

[w3lk]

Totally rwhawkes

mainly practice...

Music is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration!!

J

Is that why some music you hear now-a-days stinks so badly?

Sorry, had to throw that in there...

I'm really new to this whole thing... I played Coronet many-a-year ago, but this whole music thing has lost me since... When would be an ideal stage for me to start attempting transcription?  As it stands now, I'm only mediocre at determining the E B G D A E strings when played alone... I find it kinda difficult to determine chords... should I be waiting, or just try to plug away at it?

[Proteus]

What is a good way for a beginner to get the right pitch on the right string. For example I tried Mr Claptons very simple (or so I thought) wonderful tonight intro only to get stuck on it either being 5th fret high E, bend half a step then 3rd fret then 5th, repeat but last 5th on the B. OR same but on the 14th and 12th frets on the G and D strings. To me the first one sounds closer to the song but my ears are shot due to a little deafness in one of them.

[borth1967]

Been learning from scratch you beginners section, and followed it to the letter,and not moving on until i`m happy. Chord speed with all major n minors is resonable (28 - 36 per min) know a few songs, next lesson`s is 7TH Dom chords bc009 n bc 010.

Ive used the forum and some members have said to put these lesson to one side and work on barre chords, but that is not following your lesson learning in order and seems out of my depth at the moment.

Bit confused were to go next

ps i have not used your 2 strumming pattern dvd`s in the beginners section, but have learnt what you have online/ downloaded.

Your advice n guidence would be much appreciated "oh great one"

[Loco]

hi justin

i've been disarmed from a guitar for a long time and probably it will take a few more months before i will get something to play, so i'm browsing all lessons and try to plan what to learn at first, unfortunately my old guitar was a total crap (always out of tune and with incredible high string-action) so i think i will start from the begining

i'm really interested in transcribing, cause sometimes all these tabs make me sick (3 guitars transcribed into 1) and i often have doubts whether i don't have enough skill to play some shapes or maybe someone just used a MIDI file and import option of guitar pro software...

so my question is: which chords should i know to start all this fun with transcribing? i think that i will learn all open and power chords and then try to transcribe the good-to-start-with songs mentioned by you, but would these couple of chords be enough to pick up some random stuff and try to transcribe it more or less?

and one more thing: is there any place where i could get kinda samples of single chords, so that i could listen to them and improve my skill of recognizing them? it might be little stupid, but i don't have guitar now and i can't stand the fact that everyone around is making progress while i still have to wait saving money for the guitar

cheers

[dangerx]

Hi Justin,

Rob here from Princeton NJ, USA

I have been using your site for a while now, went through a ton of stuff so far, and finally bit the bullet and tried to transcribe somthing.  The solo from Rush's Closer to the Heart.  Simple solo, right?!  seemed good to start with to me.  Well, 3 hours later I have it, and that was using the Transcribe demo software ( 23 days left =).  That software is realy solid, i love the spectrum, I could measure how sharp they were playing ( about +12 cents ), which is why, I beleive, I could never quite get it before.  After getting my first 3 strings tuned up a bit, every fell together!

Ah, now for my question.  What software, if any, should I use to get this on some epaper.  I have it written in my notebook at the moment.

I love the PDFs you generate for your examples, it looks handwritten, what software do you use for that.  I was thinking I wanted the 5 line staff + the 6 lines for the tab. 

I still have to workout the exact timing, if i ever want to get this into a MIDI file, which is another project.

Thanks a TON for all your help!!

[chrisx16x2008]

im having trouble transcribing basket case by greenday because its hard to hear the guitar over his voice. advice?

btw, sorry for making a new thread i didn t see where justin already made  threads for the lessons

[jacobvanhalen]

Hey Justin, first i would like to thank you for all the help you have given me thanks a lot now BIG Question im a little confused about the transcribing area.You mentioned that is better to transcribe then to use tabs and you seem to provide the should i use tabs at all or would it be best to transcribe them the ones on the tab section on your site

[jacobvanhalen]

Hey justin i saw your video on transcribing an you said it is beter to transcribe than using tabs period well i saw that you have a tab area on your site should i use that or would you recommend me transcribing them or?

[Nightwish4Ever]

Hi,
This question is not just related to transcribing but anyway...
are songs always/usually written in a single scale?
or does the scale change (in the bridge or solo etc)?

in addition, the song tips...are they in a reccomended order?
if not can you recommend 2-3 songs to begin with.

thanks a lot....for the whole site!!!
i think it is simply great!