My latest transcribing rampage

BlueNote · 08-13-2005, 11:35 PM

I have done quite a bit of transcribing these past couple of days, and I barely ever transcribe.

The first thing I transcribed was Lester Young playing "Blue Lester". I wrote out the head and his solo, which was one chorus long. I'll scan it in eventually and put it in PDF format.

In the same day I also transcribed the A section of Mingus' "Girl of my Dreams" off of Mingus Ah Um (16 bars). A couple notes might be wrong, so I'm not going to post that yet. Then (same day) I went on to Charlie Moriano playing "Celia" of Mingus x5.. the first 8 bars or so. That's a tricky recording to transcribe!

Then I wrote out Wynton Marsalis' "Swingdown, Swingtown" (just the melody) from his Citi Movement CD. That took 2 days to do, because one small part was confusing. All in all, it ended up being about 20 bars (it comes back to the melody throughout the song). I think I messed up some on the form. It should either be 18 or 24 I'm guessing. Anyone know the form of this tune?

And today I started to transcribe "Feeling of Jazz" as played by Coltrane and Ellington. I got about 9 bars into it before I took a break and went onto somethig else, which was the turnaround line in "Doodlin'" played by Horace Silver/Art Blakey & the jazz messengers.

I'm going to start transcribing some Miles Davis solos later (like "Blues by Five") and a Sonny Rollins one ("Paul's Pal").

Does anyone know of any good solos/melodies that aren't too difficult to transcribe?

**littlemanbighorn** · 08-14-2005, 03:06 AM

I've been on a tear lately, too. I've done Jimmy Giuffre's New England Mood, Sun Ra's Enlightenment, Grachan Moncur III's Love and Hate most of Steve Lacy's Esteem, all melodies only except for Love and Hate which I transcribed the chords for. Next is chords and solos, bass lines, etc for as much as is within my ability. And probably more and more melodies.

TMadness1013 · 08-15-2005, 05:58 AM

Good for you BlueNote. I've been busy w/ a transcription rampage as well this summer.

I've found Earl Bostic's solos very easy to transcribe because he plays so melodically - he always played great lines. Another I've had a lot of success with is Ben Webster. Again, a very melodic oriented player - however, his laid-back style can bring about some rhythmic difficulties while trying to write out in notation.

Judging from what you've transcribed so far - I would imagine you're not too big on smooth jazz

I'm not much for smooth jazz personally, but it is a great way to get the ball rolling w/ transcriptions & training your ear.

I remember from previous posts that you're a huge Joshua Redman fan. While most of his solos are really rough (I've had some success with the easier ones) his heads are GREAT for transcription - very easy to sing back yet complex. Good luck.

BlueNote · 08-15-2005, 06:31 AM

Yeah, I am going to start to transcribe his solo on "Turnaround" (Wish) soon. A good C blues. The only knack I have with Redman's solos is that he often goes into the stratospheric altissimo range. At one point I knew the entire melody to "Wish", but never wrote it down.

Earlier today I transcribed a few bars from Craig Handy's tenor solo on "Started Melody" (with the Mingus Big Band, found on Gunslinging Bird) -- which had some interesting lines and unique intervalic playing, the melody to Monk's "Light Blue" (played by Marcus Roberts (piano) I think.. with the LCJO), some of the melody to Chris Potter's "Wistful", and about 13 bars of Illinois Jacquet's solo on "Las Vegas Blues" (G blues).

saxfree · 08-15-2005, 03:17 PM

I've been working on a lot of Paul Desmond's solos lately. He plays so melodically it makes it easy to hear.

TMadness1013 · 08-15-2005, 06:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlueNote

The only knack I have with Redman's solos is that he often goes into the stratospheric altissimo range.

Figure it out an octave lower and then work on being able to play it with fingerings that work well with each other at a later time.

Ken · 08-18-2005, 11:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlueNote

Does anyone know of any good solos/melodies that aren't too difficult to transcribe?

Here are some that I have found not too difficult:

Chet Baker. I prefer the stuff he played in the late 70's onwards like the Montmartre Sessions or "White Blues"

Sonny Rollin's "Blues for Philly Joe" from Newk's Time

Also Dexter Gordon. I've transcribed a blues from "A Swinging Affair"

HTH

**littlemanbighorn** · 08-19-2005, 12:33 AM

A couple of days ago I did a couple of tunes off of and started some solos from Per "Texas" Johansson's "Man kan lika garna leva", which is a beautiful album with some simple melodies and both Per and Fred Ljungkvist play some great solos.

themusicalone · 08-25-2005, 02:55 AM

Quote:

I remember from previous posts that you're a huge Joshua Redman fan. While most of his solos are really rough (I've had some success with the easier ones) his heads are GREAT for transcription - very easy to sing back yet complex. Good luck.

His songs are great for tanscribing I love his stuff. Some songs can get a tad bit confusing, but its worth the effort. Sadly though, i have yet to transcribe a good amount of at least one song. I usually give up after a while. But i've been in the mood to do some, so maybe tomorrow i will try again.

dirty · 08-27-2005, 08:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eternal_woodshedder

Also Dexter Gordon. I've transcribed a blues from "A Swinging Affair"

HTH

Dex is great for transcribing. Usually not too hard, but always interesting.

saxchado · 09-02-2005, 07:35 AM

Rollins' Blue Seven is a great one to transcribe, as are Miles Davis' solos from Kind of Blue.
On a side note, For the occasional difficult passages, Windows Media Player will let you slow things down to half speed while keeping the pitches true. It was very helpful.

!anarkisti! · 01-04-2006, 09:33 AM

I haven't transcribed too much..

..but I found Lou Donaldson's "Brother Soul" (found on Blue Breakbeats) easy to transcribe. (12 bar blues) Head + solo, solo is 3 choruses. I recommend the whole album - great blues/minor blues licks.

KingHarvest22 · 08-02-2006, 08:08 PM

Dexter Gordon, McSpliven's, on "A Swingin' Affair"
Hank Mobley, Dig Dis, on "Soul Station"

Razzy · 08-02-2006, 08:22 PM

I dunno how you guys work so fast. It takes me a few weeks to really learn a solo and be able to play it correctly... then maybe another for stopping and analyzing what I'm doing harmonically... week or two before I even start to write things down... I feel like I get a lot more out of it this way though.

saxymanzach · 08-02-2006, 10:05 PM

Just began my rampage Yesterday. It usually would take me well over a week to transcribe a solo, but I just finished "Now's the Time" (Charlie parker) in a little over 2 days. Granted, it's only 3 choruses of blues, but there are some tough passages (I used Windows Media Player to help me out).

drrodgers2002 · 08-02-2006, 10:56 PM

This week I have begun transcribing for the first time ever. I am older (38 - not old but older) so this is a old dog new trick kind of thing.

At the suggestion of a friend I have started with Hank Mobley on Remember from the album Soul Station. It is not a hard one to start with but wow this stuff sure makes you listen and listen and listen. I guess that is the point.

Anyway...I am a little curious what you guys do to check this stuff for accuracy. Do you send it to a friend, teacher, etc and let them play along or what?

There is a bar at the very beginning of his solo that I am unsure of what I am putting on the page and would be interesting in having a more experienced player check my work.

Thoughts?

Jeff

saxymanzach · 08-02-2006, 11:10 PM

Dr,
My first transcription ("Take 5"), I did check it for accuracy against a published version, but since then as I have gotten better at it, there is no need to check the work. Once you become good at it, you will be able to catch any mistakes you make yourself.

Razzy · 08-02-2006, 11:49 PM

Zach, do you play the whole solo from memory? If so, kudos! Speedy one y'are

I've only done a few transcriptions: Chris Potter on "Star Eyes" (off Gratitude), Cannonball on "One Man's Dream" and "I Just Can't Get Started" (both off Cannonball/Nancy Wilson), and Joe Henderson on "Blue Bossa". I've also done a few choruses of each guy on Tenor Conclave on the blues and rhythm changes tunes, but those aren't what I'd call complete...

Deezie · 01-02-2007, 03:40 AM

Little quick reminder for me. I am wanting to transpose some pieces from the real book I have in Eb to Bb. Is that going to be easy? In particular the changes to Stella By Starlight in Bb....and then I guess the key it's written in for Bb without having to go and actually purchase the Bb edition Real Book.

Any help? Do I just go 3 1/2 steps up or 2 1/2 down?

Wodger · 01-02-2007, 04:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlueNote

I have done quite a bit of transcribing these past couple of days, and I barely ever transcribe.

The first thing I transcribed was Lester Young playing "Blue Lester". I wrote out the head and his solo, which was one chorus long. I'll scan it in eventually and put it in PDF format.

In the same day I also transcribed the A section of Mingus' "Girl of my Dreams" off of Mingus Ah Um (16 bars). A couple notes might be wrong, so I'm not going to post that yet. Then (same day) I went on to Charlie Moriano playing "Celia" of Mingus x5.. the first 8 bars or so. That's a tricky recording to transcribe!

Then I wrote out Wynton Marsalis' "Swingdown, Swingtown" (just the melody) from his Citi Movement CD. That took 2 days to do, because one small part was confusing. All in all, it ended up being about 20 bars (it comes back to the melody throughout the song). I think I messed up some on the form. It should either be 18 or 24 I'm guessing. Anyone know the form of this tune?

And today I started to transcribe "Feeling of Jazz" as played by Coltrane and Ellington. I got about 9 bars into it before I took a break and went onto somethig else, which was the turnaround line in "Doodlin'" played by Horace Silver/Art Blakey & the jazz messengers.

I'm going to start transcribing some Miles Davis solos later (like "Blues by Five") and a Sonny Rollins one ("Paul's Pal").

Does anyone know of any good solos/melodies that aren't too difficult to transcribe?

I'm a little confused. Do you transcribe these solos with a view to being able to use, edit, embellish the lines in your own solos? Or is it just an ear training exercise? The reason I ask, is that it seems you are working on a whole lot of different things all at once.
I usually transcribe a line or chorus and then spend considerable time learning to play it in every key. It takes me even longer to be able to play all or part of the line at different tempos and over different rhythmic feels. To be able to just drop the transcribed line in whenever and wherever I feel like it.
You must be the worlds best transcriber. Any tips?