Practice Music Transcription
Transcribing is a skill that is often thought of as some superpower that you are either born with or not. However the reality is that like any learned skill, it requires consistent practice to get better at it. In this article we will look at some tips to help you improve your transcriptions.
Whether you play in a band or write your own music, learning to transcribe will make your musical life much easier. It will give you a way to learn songs quickly and to hear how chords and melodies work together in a song. It can also be used as a tool to help you understand how other musicians create their music and how you can incorporate some of those ideas into your own work.
The first thing you need to do is map out the structure of the piece you are trying to transcribe. That means listening to it through and making notes of where each section starts and finishes. It can also be useful to note what instruments are playing and the tempo that it is played at. This will be helpful if you have to later translate it into another key.
How Do I Practice Music Transcription?
Once you have a good map of the structure of the piece it’s time to start transcribing. As with any learning activity you need to start simple and build your confidence. Try to transcribe one short song or jazz solo each day, and focus on the parts that are easy for you to hear. This can be anything from the bass line to the top notes of a melody. Then once you’ve done that try something more complicated. If you are struggling to hear the inner voices of a chord then loop it and listen to it over and over again until you can pick out each individual note. Then try playing that note on your instrument and seeing if it fits – this will often give you a clue as to what type of chord it is (such as an altered dominant or a powerchord).
If the chords are not too complicated then a good trick can be to use a program such as Transcribe! which allows you to slow down a section of the music so that you can play it along. This makes it a lot easier to find the right note, and can be a great way to test yourself to see if you have got it right or not!
When you are stuck with a particular part of a song, it can sometimes be helpful to work out the rhythm of it by tapping your foot or clapping in time with it. This will help you figure out the beats and accents that give the piece its groove, as well as how long each note should last. It can be particularly helpful to have a metronome or reference beat at hand for this purpose. Alternatively, many programs such as Transcribe! have a built in metronome feature to help you out.