The lost art of transcribing

Techniques, licks, tabs, chords, tutorials
Post Reply
tbone
Posts: 17
Joined: Sun Sep 08, 2013 6:07 pm

The lost art of transcribing

Post by tbone »

Hi!


Don't worry, this won't become another of those threads discussing the why's and wherefores of transcribing, I think the advantages should be communicated in the Blues community by now... that being said, I have to admit that I myself am still hiding in my comfort zone of tutorials, running in circles and wondering why I don't come out of the rut... while I intend to continue my learning path, I'd like to steepen my learning curve by finally starting to transcribe some Blues songs... since there are so many veterans around here who probably did that for the whole life - do you have a good advise on a starting point? I'd like to think that Lightnin' Hopkins might be good, but I'd also like to learn some nice well-known classics that might come in handy if I'd finally find myself in the situation of an actual Jam session...

If there's any interest in where I am in respect of moving my fingers up and down the fretboard and having some Blues knowledge, I post my progress vids of working through the BYCU tutorial series on the authors blog http://www.bluesyoucanuse.com/forum.html (in the thread "Blues I could use..." filed under board "Everything blues").

Your input'd be much appreciated. :fingerscrossed:

Greetings,

tbone
User avatar
12bar
Site Admin
Posts: 3273
Joined: Thu Mar 25, 2010 12:05 pm

Re: The lost art of transcribing

Post by 12bar »

For me it was quite simple - the early Clapton albums were pure Blues ones, I loved them and so I transcribed them - see above. :music1:

The advice I can give is - be careful with old recordings, because they are often out of tune. It was a pain to transcribe some Robert Johnson songs because of this.
It's also much easier to transcribe solo leads than complex finger-pickings, even if they are fast.
tbone
Posts: 17
Joined: Sun Sep 08, 2013 6:07 pm

Re: The lost art of transcribing

Post by tbone »

Hmmm... actually, I'm more into songs than into artists... Clapton got some nice ones that probably are not to hard to figure out (Before you accuse me, Nobody loves you when you're down and out)... I think you're right, I should just work my way through my favorite Blues songs (maybe sorting them by key required skill level - easy to SRV)... man, it's quite tempting that so many musicians put out not only transcriptions, but whole videos on how to play great songs note for note, but I need to discipline myself - think working with that in order to build up a proper repertoire brings you just nowhere in terms of becoming a better musician (that being said, of course I use transcribed song lessons/videos when their purpose is to teach a certain playing technique otherwise hard to figure out without seeing it being performed, or if it contributes to your skill development in another way)...

Thanks for your Input!
Post Reply