Fix Grammar When Transcribing Piano
When you’re a beginning musician, it’s not uncommon to hear the suggestion that you should focus more on transcribing songs by ear than practicing your piano playing. It’s true that transcription helps you learn to play by ear, but it also requires you to listen actively and critically. That doesn’t mean that you should avoid learning to play the music that you’re attempting to transcribe, it just means that you should practice both skills simultaneously.
The first step in transcribing is to choose a piece of music. This can be any genre or style that you like, but it should be within your skill level. If you’re a beginner, it might be helpful to start with a simple song that has a clear rhythm. This way, you’ll be able to practice listening to the whole song and finding its beats without getting distracted by other musical elements.
Next, slow the recording down. The more you can slow it down, the easier it will be to imitate on your keyboard. You can use a free online tool like Transcribe to slow down a recording and loop the section that you’re trying to transcribe. This will allow you to work in smaller chunks and be more accurate as you build the chords by listening to them and then putting them down on the keyboard.
How to Fix Grammar When Transcribing Piano
Once you have the bass line and the melody, it’s time to move on to the chords. Once again, it’s important to listen carefully and try to imitate the chords by listening to them and then placing them on your keyboard. This will help you avoid “fishing for notes” and will make the process much faster, especially as you gain more experience.
For the most complex hand-to-hand passages, it’s sometimes necessary to listen to the original recording multiple times. This will help you to figure out which hand and finger are being used for each note, as well as the shape of the chord. Once you have this information, you’ll be able to transcribe the chords quickly and accurately.
Another good tip is to sing the melody before playing it on your instrument. This will tell you right away if you’re hearing the pitches correctly and it will also force you to pay attention to the harmonic context of the melody. This is a method that was recommended to me by the great pianist Lennie Tristano, who required his students to be able to sing Billie Holiday or Lester Young solos before they could learn them on their instruments.
Other tools that can help you transcribe are transcription software programs that will allow you to slow down recordings, loop sections and record your transcriptions as you play it on the keyboard. It’s also a good idea to study music theory, as it will help you understand the relationships between intervals and chords when listening to recorded music. This will also make it easier to recognize familiar scale fragments and arpeggios.
