Transcribing is the art of working out songs by ear. Much better than using TAB because it develops far more skills, makes you use your ears and knowledge! If you think about it, music is all about listening, right? Doesn't it make sense that the best way to learn it by listening too?

The actual term transcribe means to write it down (the scribe part of the word), and although this also has many benefits, the main thing you should aim to get down here is the working out the songs by ear.

Please read the why and how lesson below (they will really help you understand the reasons why it's so important) - and then check out the Beginners Transcribing Hints before you get going. If there was one skill that I think many people miss it is this. And it's such an important skill.

Learning to transcribe WILL transform your playing and get you more in touch with the guitar and help you tap into the music that lives inside you!

Important stuff you should know about transcribing

TR-001 • Why Transcribe?
Wonder why I go on about this topic so much? It's explained here...

TR-002 • How To Transcribe
So I managed to convince you, this is how you go about it.

TR-003 • Beginners Transcribing Hints
If you are a beginner and want some of the basics, get them here.

TR-004 • The Importance Of Transcribing (***THE MOST IMPORTANT VIDEO ON THS SITE***)
A video I did where I rave about transcribing. No guitar playing... and some words about the atrocities in Darfur, which are still happening in 2012, and I made this video in June 2007. Disgusting.

 

Transcribing Lead Guitar Module

I'm still tweaking it a little and there will not be links until the lessons are done. I've moved some stuff too, so that we'll just be doing lead guitar first and then rhythm guitar later, most people find it easier this way! There will be some video lessons but lots of audio too, it is after all a transcribing course and it's going to be better if you are working direct from audio!

Transcribing course is well into development now and will be arriving in the next month or two!!

 

Transcribing Rhythm Guitar

Most people seems to find starting transcribing with lead guitar a little easier, but learning the chords and rhythm is as, if not more important and if you approach it a bit at a time you should find the journey fun and pretty easy.

TR-301 • Creating Lyric and Chord Sheets
A very useful, important and fun skill to learn is how to make your own lyric and chord sheets. In this lesson I am going to give you a whole heap of tips and a template to work from.

TR-302 • Basic Chord Chart Writing
In this lesson we are just going to look at basic chord chart layout, so you can write up your own chart for easy songs and know how many times to strum on each chord. Useful skill this.

TR-303 • Tips From The Low End
Listening to the bass line is a great way to get started on working out chord progressions, especially if the guitar is not that loud in the mix. Here we talk about the implications and how to do it.

TR-304 • Listening For Chord Types
Often finding the bass line will help you get the right root note, but only your ears are gonna tell you if the chord should be major, minor or 13b9#5 ;) Learn to pause helps a lot, as does listening...

TR-305 • Listening To Shapes
Huh? What you talkin about blood? I see shapes but ain't hearin any... well you may have heard of the CAGED system, which consists of 5 Chord 'shapes' . In this lesson we're going to try and hear them, not as hard as you might think and very useful.

TR-306 • Which Grip?
Once you know the chord you might want to know which version of the chord is being played - is that an Open C, a C using an E Shape Barre chord or something else? Listen to the top note and your a lot of the way there...

TR-307 • To Capo Or Not To Capo
Tricks on working out if a Capo is being used. Logic + ears + shapes = easy!

TR-308 • Strumming Patterns
How to work out and emulate strumming patterns.

Transcribing Practical Examples - LEARN COOL SONGS ALL BY YOURSELF HERE!!

You won't get anywhere without actually doing it. No amount of reading or thinking is going to help. A great Tasmanian friend of mine (John Farsarakis, thanks mate!) told me something one day that changed my life...

"You can play your way to a new way of thinking.
But you can't think your way to a new way of playing"

So what we're going to get into now is some real life songs, practical exercises that will help you with some of the problems you will encounter. The idea here is that if I give you some tips then you will learn them and be able to work out tunes when you get to them yourself!

TR-201 • Listening To The Bass Note
The best way of developing this skill is to do some songs that use Power Chords. In this lesson you will transcribe some classic rock tunes that use power chords and try and make your own charts for them.

TR-202 • 12 Bar Blues In Every Key
Once you know how to play a blues in lots of keys you should get in there and work out a bunch - that way you will learn the blues properly - by listening. Here are some hints and tips to get you going.

TR-203 • Acoustic Songs With Open Chords
It can be a big help to know some easy tunes to have a go at that are just using simple open chords on the guitar - get you used to hearing them.

TR-204 • Working Out Riffs
Riffs can be tricky when you first try. It's mostly about stopping the track at the right time. So in this lesson you will have a go at working out some classic riffs on your own (with some hand hints from me ;)

TR-205 • Songs That Use Capos.

 

 

Song Tips

In this area I will put some tips on working out songs, just clues, so you don't have to start from scratch but can still learn to transcribe!

I'm slowly going to get rid of this lesson as I replace them with better lessons above!

TR-020 • Song Tips 1 (Pop and Rock)
There are 25 songs here that are good to get started on - with some helpful tips on things like tuning, the chords used in the song and any tip for hard bit. These songs are a great place to start transcribing.