What are you transcribing at the moment?

[Faithless]

I get that, Rob.

What's really bad for me, is when there comes, erhmm, [i]real [/i]8th /16th notes, if you know, what I'm saying..

[deathpanda]

I'm pretty cack at transcribing stuff, I have trouble hearing and writing phrasing as well as the notes, something which I need to work on I guess. My ears are fine, but my brain tends to make everything more complicated than it actually is, a while back I transcribed a blues tune - I perceived the main riff to be 4 power chords, which sound perfect to me, but turned out to be just 3 notes, all on the E string.

Sorry to derail the thread a little bit, but I recently started tabbing out an Orange Goblin song, was just wondering if anyone could tell me if it's right or not.

The song:


My tab:
[url="http://www.box.net/shared/ffhdxpqao0"]Guitar Pro file[/url]

Sorry if this isn't the place to be asking, maybe I should make a thread in which people can post their tabs and everyone can hear if it's good or not and offer corrections?

[TKenrick]

[quote name='Faithless' post='725342' date='Jan 26 2010, 04:09 PM']Hope, you'll sort it..

I'm also spending not more than an hour a day, but, what gets in my way, is finding a [b]proper material[/b] to transcribe..

I thought, it'd be best to start at some plain blues solos, but, all that swing movement, it's just pain in the arse at the beginning to write it properly ..

Do you rememember any of your first solos/themes, that you transcribed?[/quote]


I spent a lot of time doing transcriptions of things that I thought I [i]should[/i] be transcribing, rather than things I really [i]wanted[/i] to transcribe.

I found the way round this was to make a list of musicians whose playing I really admire and who I want to sound like. This provides me with a decent amount of material to get through, and means that I'm always working on material that appeals to me and that I'll (hopefully) incorporate into my playing. There are other times, particularly when I'm working on standards, when I'll transcribe a couple of choruses of a solo to see how certain players approach different changes - working on Maiden Voyage has been really good for finding out how to deal with sus9 chords.

As for the first things I transcribed, I spent a lot of time only transcribing bass players. Although this is something that I needed to do as a bass player, it wasn't helping things when it came to improvising/soloing, as I don't want to sound like a bass player when I solo. I think the first non-bass transcriptions I did were Miles' solo on 'So What' and Paul Desmond's solo on 'Take Five', which aren't too taxing.

[Golchen]

[quote name='mcgraham' post='717542' date='Jan 19 2010, 10:15 AM']Guthrie Govan's 'Erotic Cakes' album. Started with the main heads/phrases of most of the songs (few of them I'm not too fussed about), then my favourite licks, and now moving to some of the solos.[/quote]

Great album from a great guitarist! Are you learning the guitar parts or the bass parts? I think that there’s some great bass playing on that album from Guthrie’s brother ....... but the guitar parts are impossible!!!!!


I still consider myself a newbie bass player, I’ve been on and off for a couple of years but it’s still only a bedroom indulgence. I seen to find it impossible working out bass parts off of records – I just can’t seem to tune into what the bass is doing, and then translate it onto the instrument that I am holding. Even stuff that sounds fairly clear in the mix seems to give me grief.

[JakeBrownBass]

Solo on Victor Wootens - Victa
The tab is probably not right but i'm really concentrating on my sight reading so trying not to use it! Enjoy

[mep]

I had to transcribe Pino's bass line on Paul Young's Whever I Lay My Hat. I couldn't find anything on the tab sites. I wanted to teach it to a pupil who I had lent my fretless to. I tabbed it out, does that still count? It's only the first (really well known) bit of the song.

[attachment=41393:WILMY.jpg]

[Faithless]

I was thinking of what Miles Davis solo I should take for transcribing, (he's probably perfect man for that - not too many notes, but, [i]what [/i]notes..! and I chose Straight No Chaser, btw.)

and it got me thinking..

(that may sound a bit weird, but, eh..) There are loads and loads of transcribed solos on the net, let it be the same Miles, or other chaps, so, I thought - what are the [i]musical [/i]benefits of transcribing a solo, rather taking it already transcribed, if it makes sense?

I'm not talking about technical side of transcribing..

I mean, what, do you think, you get musically from transcribing?


Hope that makes sense..

Faith

[Doddy]

[quote name='mep' post='728179' date='Jan 28 2010, 10:20 PM']I had to transcribe Pino's bass line on Paul Young's Whever I Lay My Hat. I couldn't find anything on the tab sites. I wanted to teach it to a pupil who I had lent my fretless to. I tabbed it out, does that still count? It's only the first (really well known) bit of the song.[/quote]

Opening a possible can of worms-but I'd say that it doesn't count,because of the lack of any musical information.There are no
notes,rhythms,key or time signature. It could be anything.
For someone like me,who doesn't really know the song that well,it is pretty useless.


[quote name='Faithless' post='751411' date='Feb 19 2010, 09:58 PM']There are loads and loads of transcribed solos on the net, let it be the same Miles, or other chaps, so, I thought - what are the [i]musical [/i]benefits of transcribing a solo, rather taking it already transcribed, if it makes sense?

I'm not talking about technical side of transcribing..

I mean, what, do you think, you get musically from transcribing?[/quote]

I think by transcribing pieces yourself,not only are you improving your ear and writing skills(with regard to
pitches and rhythms),but you are also likely to be transcribing things that inspire you personally. If you are inspired
you are more likely to study the piece closely,and you will absorb the ideas more thoroughly. Having said that,playing(reading) from a
chart that has already been transcribed is a whole other skill.
You'd be surprised how many people can transcribe an accurate score easily but would have major trouble sight reading a chart. They are
two different skills.

[Faithless]

I'm about to finish Miles solo on Straight No Chaser. The interesting thing here is rhythmic aspect - for the first time I've experienced what is called [i]jazz articulation[/i], i mean, it's stuff, when sometimes you just can't properly notate it in terms of rhythmic values..

and, today, when watching This Is It, I remembered one lovely Jackson 5's song - I Want You Back.

I've never tried to transcribe anything funky/16th note stuff, so this is a bit of challenge, but, so far, it looks that I'm in the right way..


I'll post both transcriptions here when finished!

Cheers
Faith

Edited March 8, 2010 by Faithless

[Bilbo]

[quote name='Faithless' post='768666' date='Mar 8 2010, 11:03 PM']The interesting thing here is rhythmic aspect - for the first time I've experienced what is called [i]jazz articulation[/i], i mean, it's stuff, when sometimes you just can't properly notate it in terms of rhythmic values..[/quote]

Another benefit of transcribing is the focus it brings. What you have described may go over your head unless you do what you have done and focus in on it a bit. One thing to watch is whether the soloist is playing something you CAN'T write down or whether is something YOU can't write down (do you et the difference?). For example, I have recently written our Jeff Berlin's '20,000 Prayers'* and there are parts where he is okaying things like 3 over two in the second and third crotchet of a bar or the fourth and first. Its really hard to hear and to get on paper but it CAN be written down, if you can figure it out.

Transcribing is a great tool for helping you listen in a more focussed way.

* for the record, the reason I haven't posted it is the chords. I have the notes but can't get the chords down at all they are all over the place If anyone wants to see what I have done, let me know. The dots are there but, without the chords, it is incomplete.

[Faithless]

I know, what you're saying,Rob.

And, yep, it may be, that it is ME, who can't write it down, I just don't know it yet.

Of course, there are some contentious places, which I'll be showing to my tutor for a revision, but, on the other hand, I'm not so much into perfection this time - as for the second transcription in my life, I'm happy to get basic and, yet, wonderful phrasal ideas, that Miles brought, and that's an awful lot from him in 8 choruses of the solo


BTW, how do you do your transcribing, Rob and other folks?
I mean, do you use your ear only(perfect pitch?), or do you use bass or piano?

The way I do mine, is, first of all, singing a phrase properly, then finding it on piano (emm, sort of MIDI keyboard..), but, if keyboard doesn't help in terms of clarity, I use my bass for a clearer pitch.



Cheers, Rob,
Faith.

Edited March 9, 2010 by Faithless

[Bilbo]

While we are on it, f, I couldn't download that file you sent me of the blues you transcribed. I couldn't get Rapidshare to open it. Can you post it here?

[Faithless]

Here it goes..

[Matt303]

I started playing bass a fewyears ago. I'd previously played keys. I got inspired by the dr lick's Motown book. As a consequence I started with the Motown songbook which in retrospect seems a good if not challenging place to start. I started by transcribing I'ts a Shame by the Spinners which was partially transcribed in the Motown book. Then jnr walker Come See About Me another Jamerson tune
Joy (takes over me)- Stevie Wonder
Sugar- Stevie Wonder
Smooth- Santana
Forget me nots-Patrice Rushen
Peg - Steely Dan
Josie - Steely dan

Currently I'm working on Glamour Profession by Steely Dan which I think is an Anthony Jackson bass line (someone very good anyway)
I'm upfor a chart swap if anyone is interested. They take an age to finish.

[ednaplate]

A lot of this is well beyond me transcribing wise. At the moment I'm figuring out Talk Talk It's My Life and Duran Duran's Save A Prayer all by ear and then tabbed into guitar pro.

[Mike]

I'm transcribing Mike Brecker & Pat Metheny's solos from Metheny's Song for Bilboa on Brecker's Time is of the Essence album, both brilliant!

[BottomEndian]

I've been doing "Head for Backstage Pass" from Jeff Beck's album [i]Wired[/i], particularly the silly, messy and massively sloppy bass solo from Wilbur Bascomb at the beginning.

EDIT: Oh, and Scott Thunes' awesome non-stop grind from Zappa's "Valley Girl".

Edited March 10, 2010 by BottomEndian

[TKenrick]

[quote name='Mike' post='770645' date='Mar 10 2010, 05:16 PM']I'm transcribing Mike Brecker & Pat Metheny's solos from Metheny's Song for Bilboa on Brecker's Time is of the Essence album, both brilliant![/quote]


I've just started Brecker's solo on this tune on [i]Tales from the Hudson[/i], fancy a trade when we're done?



Recently finished Wayne Shorter's and Herbie Hancock's solos on 'Witch Hunt', bass-wise I'm working through Me'Shell's [i]Plantation Lullabies[/i] album and some Bakithi Kumalo stuff from Paul Simon's [i]Graceland[/i].

[BottomEndian]

[quote name='BottomEndian' post='770648' date='Mar 10 2010, 05:18 PM']I've been doing "Head for Backstage Pass" from Jeff Beck's album [i]Wired[/i], particularly the silly, messy and massively sloppy bass solo from Wilbur Bascomb at the beginning.[/quote]
And as if by magic... [url="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/429522/Head%20for%20Backstage%20Pass%20-%20Jeff%20Beck.pdf"]here it is[/url]. If anyone who knows it would like to pass critique, please do. I haven't transcribed that much stuff before, so it'd be interesting to hear your thoughts.

(I'm a little unsure as to whether the bass actually plays those double stops in bars 28-30; it's all mushed in the mix with the clavinet. Also, the G and Bm7 chords in the main groove are only kind of implied, but I threw them in anyway. )

[Basska]

modern bass by Jaco. I could find it done already but I find It's helping my theory

chris

[Faithless]

Nice to see this going', guys!


[quote name='Basska' post='771131' date='Mar 11 2010, 01:55 AM']modern bass by Jaco. I could find it done already but I find It's helping my theory

chris[/quote]

Eh?

[Mike]

[quote name='Faithless' post='771241' date='Mar 11 2010, 08:35 AM']Nice to see this going', guys!




Eh? [/quote]

I'm guessing the exercises and pieces played on the Jaco educational DVD, which does already come with a booklet with it all transcribed ( in notation, thankfully )

[Faithless]

Ah, now I get it.

As far as OT goes, that Jaco DVD/pdf method, for me, tuition wise, is one of the worst things I've ever seen - no actual system, exercises go disorderly, compared to their difficulty.. The video itself is just zany - it looks like Jaco was asked to get to the scene 5minutes ago, rather than looking prepared for the whole thing.. Awful.

[Mike]

He was pretty much living on the streets at the time, he was essentially cleaned up for it. They were confident he was about to usher in a new era for himself but he was too self-destructive due to his mental illnesses. I think the DVD still captures his magic and attitude but not really at his best. Too many licks, maybe! An important watch though, I think.

[Bilbo]

[quote name='Faithless' post='769675' date='Mar 9 2010, 08:27 PM']Here it goes..[/quote]

Got to it at last. Your transcription is fine. The phrases you circled are correct to my ears/eyes. It sounds strange because normally the triplet feel played against straight time creates tension. As the groove is a 12:8 feel, the four sixteenths played against the triplet have a similar effect. So, in this case, you choice of note values in the transcribed version is correct.

Good work.