[Xaymaca]

Just as the title says. A lot of people say to transcribe solos is the number one way to really get ahead in terms of technical skills for improvisation. My biggest thing is when I transcribe I just play a long with the tune until I get the song. Once I get it, I don't necessarily know why they're doing what they're doing. I can play a few licks and so forth, but how does that help me in terms of creating my own licks. Aside from creating a lick, it's actually applying the lick that you learn into whatever song you may play. So I guess my question is how can I get a better understanding of things so that I can actually make things click in my head, and start improvising like a pro instead of a newb who just uses the notes in the key signature?

 

[Atratr]

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=transcribing+solos

Sure another lot of good information coming next.

 

[paulwl]

In music we don't always look deeply into the reasons we do things. The doing itself is more important.

 

[rhysonsax]

My biggest thing is when I transcribe I just play a long with the tune until I get the song. Once I get it, I don't necessarily know why they're doing what they're doing.

Are you writing down the recorded solo and do you know the chord changes of the tune ?

If you are just learning to play along with it by ear, then that isn't truly "transcribing" (literally "putting into written form") and you may not learn so much about why the bits you like sound good. For instance how do they relate to the harmony, how do they relate to the original melody, how do they relate to the beat.

Rhys

 

[LiAm84]

There was a good thread about this topic not so long ago. See here:
https://forum.saxontheweb.net/showt...-w-Recording-End-Result&p=4130802#post4130802

 

[Guto]

Transcribing, whether you write it down or not is a great learning tool. It’s not about how you put what you learned into good use. Of course you can analyze and intellectualize bits of it. But most important is that while transcribing you are working your ear, your timing and getting licks under your fingers. Don’t just find the notes. Try hard to sounds exactly like the player articulates each note. It all adds to the big picture of what makes you a musician. Many aspects of this learning will come out in your playing subconsciously at some point. Just enjoy the journey!

 

[Maddcow]

Are you writing down the recorded solo and do you know the chord changes of the tune ?

If you are just learning to play along with it by ear, then that isn't truly "transcribing" (literally "putting into written form") and you may not learn so much about why the bits you like sound good. For instance how do they relate to the harmony, how do they relate to the original melody, how do they relate to the beat.

^This. Transcribing, to me, is notating something....not learning it by rote. Both notating and rote-learning have their purposes but notating involves a lot more processing and skill, in addition to the user gaining a lot more than simply learning by rote.

 

[LiAm84]

^This. Transcribing, to me, is notating something....not learning it by rote. Both notating and rote-learning have their purposes but notating involves a lot more processing and skill, in addition to the user gaining a lot more than simply learning by rote.

To me, transcribing has always meant learning something by ear and memorising it. In terms of learning to play jazz, I find you only really absorb the music if you learn it all in your head and away from paper. The process of just notating it from a recording, while also a skill and challenge in itself, is quite different. I would only notate a solo once I had learned it thoroughly by memory first.

 

[rhysonsax]

To me, transcribing has always meant learning something by ear and memorising it. In terms of learning to play jazz, I find you only really absorb the music if you learn it all in your head and away from paper. The process of just notating it from a recording, while also a skill and challenge in itself, is quite different. I would only notate a solo once I had learned it thoroughly by memory first.

That seems to be an increasingly common interpretation of "transcribing" but it is not what the word actually means ! The derivation is from Latin (scribo = I write) and is related to other English words such as script, scribe, scribble, describe, prescribe.

Rhys

 

[Grumps]

I've never written down solos of others, but I have listened, played along and stolen from them accordingly. For practical purposes, if you play pop music, often enough you'll be expected to play pop solos note for note. Not that you have to write that down, as being able to do this by ear should suffice. There's one good use right there.

 

[Dave Pollack]

Transcribing, like many other things you practice, is a tool to be used to further your musicianship. There are a variety of uses depending on what you want to get out of it, and that's the key - always have a specific goal in mind. Don't just mindlessly transcribe a random solo then think "okay, now what?" That does you no good.

If you're trying to really get the style (articulation, inflections, dynamics, pocket, harmonic language, rhythms, etc.) of a particular music into your head, listening to and transcribing melodies and solos that are quintessential to that specific style will really help. It's like listening to a native speaker speak a foreign language that you're learning - you can hear exactly how to "say" certain things in the "correct" style.

If you're trying to get your ear training better (which is something I think many people need to work on more) transcribing will help with hearing rhythms, intervals, and harmonic progressions. Once you listen to and transcribe a bunch of different melodies/solos, you'll start to hear notes and rhythms in GROUPS rather than individual notes, and that helps immensely when creating your own music or trying to recreate someone else's.

If you're trying to increase your own improvisational vocabulary (harmonically, rhythmically, etc.) transcribe something THAT YOU LIKE!! This is often missed - people tend to transcribe what others deem "important" but often don't transcribe something they actually enjoy listening to or something they want to learn. If you like a way a certain player plays over the bridge of Cherokee, transcribe it! Then take that and put the changes over it. Now what part did you like? Was it the notes? The rhythms? The articulation? The phrasing? Figure out what specific part you liked, then see WHERE they played it, WHAT they played, and HOW they played it. Then you can take that and modify certain elements of it to incorporate into your own playing.

There are even more uses, but I think this is enough to get you started!

By the way - I often have students transcribe only the rhythms, or only the notes, or only the shapes of the phrases of a particular recording. Also you don't have to transcribe entire solos (I think I may have transcribed less than 5 full solos in my entire life) - you can just take the bits and pieces that you enjoy and want to dive deeper into. This is YOUR journey so make sure you get out of it what YOU want!