What tunes to transcribe?

musicjohnny · #1 09-05-2010, 10:02 PM

I've just started transcribing by ear alot recently, made possible because I purchased the application Transcribe! I'm all done with Wes' solo on
"Montgomeryland Funk" on Far Wes. It's an F blues, some good ideas there.

I was just wanting some suggestions on good tunes to transcribe with alot of ii-v lines or something like that. I can't find a good version of "Autumn Leaves" to do, Cannonball's solo on his rendition is too wild. Something more tame would be nice, or maybe a nice version of ATTYA, or anything really. Help me out guys, thanks.

ohlcv · #2 09-06-2010, 04:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by musicjohnny

...Cannonball's solo on his rendition is too wild...

Although Miles' solo on this recording is more manageable.

musicjohnny · #3 09-06-2010, 09:33 AM

Great point, I didn't think of that!

Any other versions of any standards that would be really useful to transcribe?

FatJeff · #4 09-06-2010, 10:13 AM

Miles' solo on All Blues.
Cannonball's solo on All Blues.
Hank Mobley's solo on I Should Care.
Wilton Felder's solo on New Time Shuffle.
Lester Young's solo on Back To The Land.

All of those are easily manageable for the novice-intermediate player to memorize, transcribe, and play on the fretboard.

mr. beaumont · #5 09-06-2010, 10:27 AM

i often think not in terms of tunes but players, when suggesting easier transcribing to someone starting out...

for guitar, i think grant green is a great place to start. Jimmy Raney's lines are a lot faster, but still very clean and not too hard to pick up.

for sax players, I like Hank Mobley, Paul Desmond, Hawk and Pres, and Ike Quebec as guys who had great lines you can still cop without too many headaches. Ben Webster could be a good pick too, but he also does a lot of "sax-specific" techniques that just won't translate.

for trumpet, miles and chet baker. There's others too, but those guys will get you very far.

Jazzyteach65 · #6 09-06-2010, 11:08 AM

freshman year of school, Fred Hamilton told us "your mid-term will be to transcibe Miles' solo from So What, however, if you're brave, you will transcribe Cannon's or Trane's off any tune from therecord."

Reg · #7 09-06-2010, 01:04 PM

Rather than using "transcribe" to transcribe tunes or solos, I would simple work on tunes your ears can cover at actual speed. You can find transcriptions of almost any solo and all tunes if your simply trying to be able to analyze or learn to play. It's much better for your ears to try and hear at actual tempo. You'll learn how to see the form or shape of tune or solo and fill in the blanks.
But if your having fun and it motivates you to go through the transcribing process... I wrote out most of Wes solos and many of Benson's, much more difficult. If you want to work on your chops, try John Mclaughlin, there always fun. When I was young I also liked transcribing Chic Corea solos, again lots of chops, but his solos were not blues and more modal in style. If you want great jazz blues style licks, borrow Lee Morgans ( tpt.)
This list could go on for ever... Best Reg

Blue(s) Skies · #8 09-07-2010, 11:09 AM

I hope you guys don't mind me joing the thread with a question:

I like to do transcribe tunes with my ears, but I'm pretty new at the subject. I have transcribed easy things, but not fast stuff. Can you download transcribe for free or not? If not are there any programs for free that do the same? I have heard of people using Windows Media Player and the slow down function.

FatJeff · #9 09-07-2010, 11:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blue(s) Skies

I hope you guys don't mind me joing the thread with a question:

I like to do transcribe tunes with my ears, but I'm pretty new at the subject. I have transcribed easy things, but not fast stuff. Can you download transcribe for free or not? If not are there any programs for free that do the same? I have heard of people using Windows Media Player and the slow down function.

I think Transcribe has a free 30-day trial. It's well worth the 50 bucks though.

mr. beaumont · #10 09-07-2010, 01:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blue(s) Skies

I hope you guys don't mind me joing the thread with a question:

I like to do transcribe tunes with my ears, but I'm pretty new at the subject. I have transcribed easy things, but not fast stuff. Can you download transcribe for free or not? If not are there any programs for free that do the same? I have heard of people using Windows Media Player and the slow down function.

You sit, you listen, you pick out "highlight" notes (ones that stand out more than others, you go back and listen again.

sure it's not easy when you first start out--that's why it takes practice and you don't start out with a dizzy solo. But I've never used a slowerdowner or a mechanical device to transcribe, and my ear is all the better for it.

musicjohnny · #11 09-07-2010, 01:44 PM

Mr. B, how in the hell do you transcribe super fast passages without a slowdown device? I commend you my friend.

And yes, Transcribe is well worth the money, it really is a very useful tool.

I went ahead and got myself a copy of Baker plays standards, and I started transcribing Cannonball's solo on Autumn Leaves, it's actually not too bad at all. Just alot of legato and arps involved.

mr. beaumont · #12 09-07-2010, 02:06 PM

johnny, i wasn't kidding in the earlier post--you sit and listen, maybe the first pass you pick out the the first and last notes, the accented notes, or maybe the first note of multiple sets of triplets, or whatever. Write those down. Count total notes in the phrase. Sing it back to yourself, if you can. Dig what chord is underneath it.

Then you go back. Play along on the beats you have figured out, if you can--or just hum or listen. try to suss what notes surround the ones you've figured out. If you're still having trouble, analyze what the function of the notes you've figured out is...can you figure out if they're part of the same arpeggio or scale?

Then you go back again.

I'm not trying to be a grumpy old man, but when I first started learning to play (which wasn't that long ago, only 19 years) There was no slow down function on a computer media player, or downloadable software that'd do it for me. There might have been tape players that'd do it, but I didn't own one. And I'm nobody special, and I did it.

Blue(s) Skies · #13 09-08-2010, 07:45 AM

I know you're right, mr. beaumont. It's just that a lot of guitartists are getting lazy these days. Why do tabs exsist? Why are there little kids in the music store playing Metallica (or other mainstream stuff) even though they don't know what they're playing. I don't mind if people can't read notes, music comes from the heart. All I wanted to say is that I
think you're right that transcribing music without slowing it down is more fun, more difficult but therefore more challenging and better for your ears. I often play to CDs of mine and have great fun, without slowing it down. You're right. After such a great comment from you, I begin to realize that Wes didn't have a laptop, he didn't have a mobile recorder - and still he made it and how! So I'll try to do it without the software. Thanks for making that clear, mr.beaumont.

mr. beaumont · #14 09-08-2010, 09:58 AM

we used to walk to and from school too, in the snow...uphill...both ways!

this used to be all orange groves as far as the eye can see...

FatJeff · #15 09-08-2010, 03:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blue(s) Skies

After such a great comment from you, I begin to realize that Wes didn't have a laptop, he didn't have a mobile recorder - and still he made it and how! So I'll try to do it without the software.

I'll bet Wes did have an LP player that he could slow down, though. Maybe only useful for the fastest of passages, but still - use the tools at your disposal!

There are several phrases in some Louis Armstrong solos that I would have no chance in hell of getting right if it weren't for slowing down.