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During the
first part of this edition in my "Coach's Corner" article
series, I shared with you personal experiences that eventually
led me to begin transcribing music on a day-to-day basis.
I also briefly defined what transcription is, and offered
some basic guidelines to help you in choosing a potential
project to tackle. Finally, as you recall, we discussed
the critical issue of determining exactly what key the
song or solo might be in. In this chapter we'll move ahead
and start covering the entire process in a methodical,
step-by-step manner. Ready?
Made A Decision Yet?
Now, the obvious assumption is that you've already decided
on a project by this time, and possibly also figured out
the key as well. But before we move on, I want to offer
some advice regarding the decision itself.
I often remind my students that "success lies in the effort,"
even though there's often a lot of pain and frustration
involved. I'm not about to lie to you. There's inherently
a pretty high frustration factor involved with transcription,
sometimes to the degree where it keeps a player away from
doing it at all (which is a big mistake!). Accept the
reality of the situation, and be willing to take whatever
you can get. Believe me, what you'll get will be priceless
in the long run. To make transcription life a little more
bearable, feel free to select more than one project. Remember
that this is all a means to an end, so there's nothing
wrong with having a second or third project waiting in
the wings when you inevitably run into a brick wall with
the primary target.
"Highlights" or the Whole Enchilada?
Take the time, before officially getting in the trenches,
to decide whether you wish to transcribe a project in
its entirety, note-for-note, or just in what I like to
call "highlight" fashion. This is where, as the name implies,
you go shopping for just those special moments that stand
out for you. I often do this if I'm transcribing licks
from a given artist, especially if they're the type of
licks that can be played in many situations, and not just
within the parameters of that particular song. If, however,
I'm tackling a melody, chord progression, bass line, or
if a solo really fascinates me from beginning to end,
I'll go for the whole enchilada. Again, remember the "means
to an end" theory, and the fact that your aim is generally
not to play another artist's solo verbatim. It's also
easier, in a sense, to tackle a project in highlight format,
because you can simply hunt around looking for those aforementioned
special moments.
Your Transcribing "Toolbox"
You'll need three essential tools to effectively handle
a transcribing project: your guitar or bass, a decent
audio player or software, and later some manuscript paper
(or software) for getting what you're interpreting into
standard notation. All of my early efforts involved tape
machines, and in my formative transcribing years I managed
to burn-out a couple of nice open-reel decks, just by
the sheer amount of pausing and rewinding to listen and
verify the accuracy of what I was doing. On the cassette
front, Marantz made the most widely used model for transcribing
purposes for many years (PMD-201). Those eventually gave
way to inexpensive digital samplers, many with the ability
to playback at a variety of speeds. The main negative
with the early units was the fact that you¹d often be
limited to usually around thirty seconds (give or take
ten or fifteen) per sample. It's much nicer to have the
full three or four minute track at your disposal. Another
negative was that the digital sound quality would deteriorate
when you'd slow down the audio, but that has been improving.
Software is being used more and more nowadays, the most
popular being Amazing Slow Downer (ASD) and Transcribe!
by Seventh String Software, which is easily my favorite
choice.
Step By Step, Inch By Inch...
As you begin the initial stage of transcription (i.e.
the "ear" part of the equation), be prepared to do three
things with every event that you try to capture. First
listen, then hum what you've heard, and finally imitate
what you're humming on your instrument. You'll do this
over and over again until you're as certain as possible
that what you've come up with is the real deal, and not
some facsimile of something that you've heard before.
One huge tip that I can offer is to limit yourself to
as few notes as possible, making it much easier to verify
your accuracy. Stop after each note, making that pitch
the last event that you've given your ear a chance to
hear. Tedious? Sure, but it's the only way to get the
job done and sharpen your ear.
In the next edition we'll discuss techniques for transcribing
chord voicings and progressions, and how to handle notation.
About
the author
Mark Stefani is a jazz guitarist and eduactor in Portland
Oregon. He has written many books in the guitar educational
field. In 1987 his career was spotlighted in Guitar
Player Magazine where he was described as possessing
a 'versatile style on both electric and acoustic guitars'
in addition to having a 'master's touch'. For more
info and to contact Mark go to www.visionmusic.com |
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