Fretboard Anatomy

Pros and badasses all do this. Do you?

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Hands down, the best thing you can do for your guitar playing & musicianship is this:

Stop looking up TABs.

Stop searching YouTube for tutorials.

Start learning songs BY EAR.

But Josh! I’ve Never Transcribed Before! Where Do I Start?

Photo by Josh Sorenson on Unsplash

About ten years back, I switched from multi-blade Gillette razors to old fashioned double edge razors & badger hair brush. There was a paradigm shift from single-pass shaving to “stubble reduction” done in two passes. Lather, shave, rinse. Check progress. Lather, shave, & rinse again.

Transcribing is a little like that:

  • you can’t do it all in one go
  • successive passes will reveal more to you

And in a way, that makes it like Sudoku: the information you have paves the path to figuring out the information you don’t have.

 

Transcribing is also like writing: it’s not that syntax and norms aren’t important, it’s that they take a backseat to N O T I C I N G.

Sure, there’s an ear training element to this. But it’s also a forcing function: the distance between “yeah, I basically have this figured out and could fake it at a bar gig” and “I’m ready to write down the specific notes and rhythms now” is a HUGE gap.

That said, this isn’t black & white—it’s a continuum. You should probably play the signature licks and riffs, but also you can play any appropriate rhythm part and take your own solo.

Your transcription should reflect that!

  • write out the parts you have to play (or would benefit from learning)
  • elsewhere, make some basic notes (the chords, or “SOLO!”)

 

 

Transcribing isn’t just for making publication-worthy dots on a page. It’s for making a reference YOU can (and will) use.

  • could be the publication-quality song book chart we just mentioned
  • or it could be a chart for just the rhythm section to refer to on a bandstand
  • or it could be a whole-band score, with individual charts for each player
  • but it could also be a one-page Nashville Numbers sheet
  • or (gasp!) guitar tab
  • or some strange chart system of your own making
  • here, check out Questlove’s chart that Lin-Manuel Miranda shared:

 

Ok, that’s more than enough setup, let’s get to it.

 

 

When I set out to learn a song by ear, I’m shining my light on it in the following order:

1. What’s the form?

  • what’s the order of the sections? (verse, chorus, etc)
  • how many measures are in each?
  • are similar sections different from one pass to the next? (eg is there a different number of measures from Verse 1 to Verse 2?)
  • to do this, I:
    • pull the song into Logic Pro X
    • use Adapt tempo to get the grid to align to the song
    • manually reset any obvious snafus with the auto-detection
    • add section markers
    • make an empty chart with just the section markers laid against the appropriate number of bars
      • Sibelius is the best app for this. I have the $$$ full version, but there’s a free one to get you started.
      • You can use another app, or staff paper, or just plain old paper paper.

2. What are the chords?

  • Sometimes the intro is the hardest part—if it’s tripping you up, try starting in another part of the song. Actually scratch that—start with the easiest part of the song, every time.
  • One of the biggest benefits of working inside your DAW is the ability to loop sections.
    • drag the loop ribbon around the measures you’re trying to figure out
    • maybe slow it down if it goes too fast for you
      • In Logic*:
        • 1. View > Customize Control Bar and Display
        • 2. under LCD, select “Custom” from the dropdown
        • 3. enable Varispeed by checking the box
        • 4. now there’s a “Speed Only +/-0.00%” window you can use to drag the tempo up or down a percentage.
      • Cool thing about this is that if you’re using ReWire, Sibelius will slow down in lock step with the tempo of Logic. Huzzah!
      • *but Josh! I’m not using Logic! It’s cool: there’s a way to do it with what you have. You’ll figure it out with a little Google & YouTube.
  • Chord not immediately obvious? —> what’s the bass note?
    • sometimes there are “slash” chords (“D/F#” is pronounced “D over F sharp,” and it’s just a D chord with an F# note in the bass)
    • but most of the time, the biggest, loudest, most on-the-beat bass note will be the root note, and that will tell you what the chord is
    • knowing one chord will help you find another
      • it could be an ear training sort of thing, like: “ah, I heard that Here Comes The Bride sound, and that’s a perfect fourth”
      • or it could be the realization that probably 75% of songs start on the I chord (out loud, you say: “the one”).
      • get two chords and you’re ready to start playing sudoku using this chart of all the chords in every key
      • and this article How To Figure Out The Key Of A Song
        • once you know what key it’s in, update your chart to show the key signature
          • select all ⌘-a (Mac) / CTRL-a (PC)
          • in Sibelius you hit k to change the key
          • pick the appropriate key from the dropdown
  • To add chords in Sibelius, use ⌘-K (Mac) / CTRL-k (PC).
    • Save time: while you’re in the chord symbol text field, tab moves you to the next measure. Space moves you to the next beat (or next note if you have a rhythm entered in that bar).

3. What rhythmic information do we need to play this song?

  • Don’t fall into the trap of thinking:
    • a) you need to notate every note that gets played
    • b) that you even need to figure out the exact rhythm being strummed
    • Not only do you not need this, doing so will make it LESS READABLE.
  • Instead, convey JUST ENOUGH information to get the job done.
    • use “/ / / /” to say “play four beats of stylistically appropriate stuff using the chord(s) written above this”
    • and then use rhythm head slashes to show when there are specific hits or definitive rhythms
    • use rhythm head slashes for a “push” (also called an “anticipation”) too. That’s when you go to the new chord a half a beat early.
      • On “the + of 4” (say it: “the and of four”) when there’s one chord per bar. Check out Mr Jones by Counting Crows—push on the and of four for most of the song.
      • On the + of 2 (“the and of two”) for when there’s two chords per bar. Check out Let’s Get It On (and its derivatives Waiting On The World To Change and Thinking Out Loud) to hear hits on the and of two.
    • Rhythm too hard for you to suss out right now? Punt. Come back to it. Preserve momentum. You can fill it in on a later pass.
  • CONGRATULATIONS: YOU NOW HAVE A SUPER BASIC CHART THAT’LL WORK IN A PINCH

4. What are the signature bits I should learn?

  • There’s no right answer—this is always a personal question!
    • ask yourself why you’re transcribing this:
      • because you want to learn all the cool little bits so it’ll inform your playing?
      • because you have to closely copy another player’s parts for a gig?
      • because you want to figure out the basic gist of the song so you can put your own spin on it?
    • that will tell you how far to lean into this, how much detail to scrape out of it
      • no transcribing is ever wasted—you’re building the muscle of playing what you hear
  • Looping & slowing down audio are your friends. So is ReWiring your DAW to your notation app.
  • At this point, you know the chords and the key, so you at least have a jumping off point for riffs, licks, & solos.
    • But beyond that:
      • be naïve
      • sing the part you’re trying to play
      • listen to what’s actually there, not what you expect to hear
  • If you’re stuck, come back to it!

5. What did I get wrong the first time?

  • Go back and listen to the whole song while reading the chart down.
    • again: ReWire is a MASSIVE help here
  • Google some other transcriptions of this song and compare notes.
    • IMPORTANT: the time to do this is AFTER you’ve done 90+% of the transcribing you’re capable of doing
    • otherwise you’re shooting yourself in the foot
    • besides: even published works for sale aren’t always right are frequently wrong
  • Send it to someone who’s farther along on the path than you and ask them for advice.
    • “Does this look right to you?”
    • “Is this how you would write the (THING) in measure (NUMBER)?”
    • “Anything else you’d change / anything unclear?”

6. Do it again tomorrow.

  • This is an ongoing process that you need to engage in continually over time.
  • Do everything in your power to make this easy and enjoyable.
    • clear away any and all obstacles:
      • keep a list of things to transcribe
      • know your tools
    • set the bar absurdly low
      • “transcribe one measure per day”
      • use a habit tracker like Strides to goad yourself into keeping your streak going.

To recap

Professionals and other badasses LEARN MUSIC BY EAR. It’s the only way to strengthen the muscles of playing what you hear.

It’s ok if you’re not yet good enough to figure out all of it by ear, but get as much as you can by yourself before seeking outside help. Besides, this is a muscle that gets stronger with use. No transcribing is ever wasted! By exercising the muscle, transcribing will get easier and easier.

What questions do you have? Leave a comment and I’ll do my damndest to answer them. Thanks for reading!

 

Josh

About Josh Frets

Hey, I'm Josh. I write the best damn guitar newsletter on the whole friggin' internet. Find out more here.