Transcribing Music
Transcribing music from CDs, cassette tapes or radio is somewhat related to "playing piano by ear" topic because it requires the same skills - listening, playing the instrument and analyzing the chord progressions used in the music and of course you need to learn how to read and write notation and this skill is developed through constant practice.
TRANSCRIBING MUSIC is the art of learning a specific song by listening
to the chord progression, melody, solos and fill-ins which were played by the musician or artist and writing the notations and piano chords to a music sheet.
Here again are some examples of the patterns that are commonly used in songs:
* V-I
* II-V-I
* I-IV-I-V
* I-IV-I-V-I
* I-IV-V-IV-I
* VI-II-V-I
* III-VI-II-V-I
* VII-III-VI-II-V-I
* I-III-II-U-I
In a minor song, say for example on the key of Am, the progression usually goes in this pattern:
* Am-Dm-Am-E7
* Am-E7-Am-Dm-Am-E7-Am
* Am-Am+M7-Am7-F#m7b5
* Am-Bm7b5-E7-Am.
These are just some of the basic chord progressions (there are a lot more) that you will
encounter when you are transcribing. This skill comes handy if you know the melody of the
song, you can easily find the right chords in your instrument. You can try to sing the melody while you play the chords on the piano or guitar.
To start learning how to transcribe a song, play a record of let's say
children's nursery rhymes. Find the key signature then try to analyze the chord progression. Play it on the piano then write it down. Try to play the melody then combine the melody with the chords. Use this process to some other easy songs like folk songs or hymns then gradually work your way to harder songs like pop, jazz or standard songs. Of course, all it takes is constant listening and practice.
You can use "slow down gadgets" like
Tascam CDGT2 Portable CD Guitar Trainer
for guitarists,
Tascam CDBT2 Portable CD Bass Trainer
for bass players, or
Tascam CDVT2 Portable CD Vocal Trainer
for vocalists,
if you want to transcribe fast solos, chords or lyrics used in a particular song. Just connect this machine to your electronic keyboard or guitar and you can
slow down the song at half speed without changing the key.
There are music softwares for recording and/or music notation like
Steinberg Cubase 5 Recording Software (Macintosh and Windows)
or today's most popular music notation software called
Sibelius
with the same idea - to slow
down the song so you can transcribe "fast" solos at ease. If you have a CD-ROM hooked up to your computer and a simple WAV editor, you can load the solo/passage/lick into memory and replay it or any fragment of it at 1/2 speed.
You can also download a MIDI file (on the internet) of your favorite song and then play it in your music software, this way you can set the tempo at a slower speed then transcribe the solo or a music piece.
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