In college I was a music performance major with a concentration in jazz and studio music. So without saying I studied a lot of jazz. One assignment that I remember having was to do what was called transcribing a song. I had to listen to a CD and then by ear write out the notes of the song on staff paper. You then write down what chords are being played over those particular note. (C Maj, G7 ect.) Then I had to do what was called analyzing the notes. This was writing beside each note what number the note was in relation to the chord on top of it. Whether it was the 5th, b3rd, #11th or whatever. Then you had to play the song just like they played it. Here is an example of transcribing a tune for a horn player. This tune is by John Coltrane Called “Giant Steps.” Click Here.

Needless to say this was a LOT of work. But when I look back on that I think this really opened up a lot for me in my playing because I learned alot of things that I would not have learned other wise by just listening to the CD of just casually trying to learn how to play the song. Transcribing forced me to really look deep into the song and figure out note for note what the musician was really doing. I know alot of people don’t have the patience to do all of this but if you do it will pay off in the long run. Tim a friend of mine ask me a music question and made me think about this so I decided to place it on my blog. I figured it could help someone.

It you want to get started with this it’s good to start off with a transcription book which is just a book that someone has already transcribed the songs for you of a particular CD or song. You can go to your local music store that sells sheet music and they usually have transcription books. Find a book of an artist you think you could really learn something from and then get the exact CD for the song in that book. Get the exact version of the song that goes to the book. Some of my favorite piano transcription books were and still are books on Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson, ., Art Tatum. One of my favorite sax transcription books is on and Charlie Parker (The Charlie Parker Omnibook) So much of what I do in my playing and songwriting came from transcribing these musicians.

You can begin listening to the song and see the notes being played in the book. See if you can figure out if the note is the 5th or b7th or whatever. It really makes you think and makes you more aware of what you are doing in your own playing. If you have any questions or comments about this subcribe to the blog. Its FREE and leave your question or comment and I will do my best to answer or respond to it. Happy transcribing

Kenny Hollins