How to Transcribe

How to transcribe

Have you ever tried improvising and realized that you just don't have enough language to be able to do so at a high level? The easiest way to combat this is to listen to other musicians who you enjoy and transcribe what they play. When it comes to improvising, transcriptions will help you develop vocabulary. A lot of the language that you'll end up using in your improvisations will come from other musicians or other songs. For instance, Jazz musicians have been transcribing each other for decades, that's why you'll notice a lot of similar language when it comes to improvising in the Jazz sense. Transcription is a skill you'll need if you want to improve your improvising.

What is transcription?

There are two ways that I like to think about transcribing. With the first way, you'll listen to a piece of music and write down note for note what you hear, as best you can. The second way is to listen to a piece of music and memorize the music note for note. Both help in their own ways, but only one is essential if you want to develop your musical vocabulary. Can you guess which one? If you guessed the second way, you're correct! The first way is great if you want to see the music written down on paper. However, if you're learning the tune note for note, there isn't a need to actually write it down. Having it in your memory is probably the best thing that you can do with transcriptions since it allows you to access it when needed. So how can we start transcribing?

Learn to transcribe

Being able to transcribe gets easier down the road, this is because as You go you start to pick up on familiar shapes Melodies lines Etc. It becomes easier to hear these things In all types of music. The best thing to do is start small. Take a short one bar phrase and see if you can transcribe it note for note. to make it easier listen to one of your favorite musicians and try transcribing a short phrase that they play. Sometimes it's difficult to do this at speed, If that's the case You can search for a song on YouTube and use the settings to slow down the playback. there's nothing wrong with this as sometimes this is the fastest way for you to transcribe something. This method works for many musicians who can transcribe and will likely assist in your practice. If you don’t read sheet music, stay tuned; we’ll cover how to do so in another post! But even if you don’t read sheet music, transcription is very much within your reach.

Check out this awesome transcription I did of a bass saxophone!

Conclusion

Transcription is a foundational skill that will aid your development as an improviser. If you cannot transcribe, it’ll likely be difficult for you to develop your sound. You need other people’s ideas to help you create your own. If you don’t build your vocabulary, you won’t have much to work with when attempting to improvise. Remember to learn vocabulary from other musicians note for note, as this will help you create a strong foundation. If you can stick to these concepts, they will yield amazing results.

Thanks for reading, stay tuned so you can level up your improvisation!