4 Easy Steps to Transcribing Songs (for beginners!)

I’m really excited about this transcribing stuff even though I find it quite intimidating and previously I haven’t been sure if it is really beneficial!

But Justin said that if you know how to transcribe you can figure out songs that doesn’t even have guitar and when you hear a song you could play it almost instantly and that would be a really nice skill to have in the future!! I’ve always admired people that hear a song and immediately can play it (or play chords that resemble the track so people can recognize it).

Are there any advancing beginners (or advanced players) who can share their learning and the benefits of transcribing songs? Would be nice to hear some experiences to get more motivation (and to keep it) and to get encouragement on this subject!

Cheers to everyone from Finland!

Br. Riku

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Maybe a stupid question but can you slow down tracks that are played through Spotify? Or do you have to have the song on your computer…?

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No such thing as a stupid question, it’s quite a good one and unfortunately no option like this on Spotify. On youtube though you can do it. Hope this helps.

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Thanks!

I’m not sure but seems that the pitch changes a bit when slowing down music on youtube…?

Are you familiar with Audacity that can you play spotify or youtube songs with Audacity? Or do you have to have the song on your computer?

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Hmm I don’t think it does I tend to practice with youtube slow down option quite a lot.

Unfortunately I can’t help with Audacity but probably soon someone will pick it up. There was quite a useful thread about how to slow down songs in Reaper you can have a look:

Reaper Song Slow Downer - How to!

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I think you need to download music to your computer and
open it in Audacity. I haven’t used it for years so things may
have changed.

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Anyone have a transcribe software recommendation for use on an iPad?

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Wow, what an eye opener. Molly’s lips was a wonderful start and I really loved doing the Blitzkrieg Bob one. Started out ok for me but than it took me quite some time to figure out the middle bits. But I think I managed in the end. Awesome lesson. Thanks so much.

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Audacity is an excellent program and not just because it’s free. It has more functinality than I will ever need. Very useful for transcribing with it’s slow down and looping tools, and also improvising where you can change the key of a backing track allowing me to practice both my G Major and C Major scales over essentially the same track.

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You can try using tunetranscriber.com on your iPad. You can either upload a mp3 or use a YouTube link.

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Just a gentle reminder.
At this stage we are not expected to replicate the recordings, just the power chords and the order in which they appear in a song. So even though some songs have some fast chugging going on and many won’t be able to do that in time, it doesn’t matter. Play at whatever speed you can, the important thing for this exercise is getting the chords down, not the technique.

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You can copy the track link in Spotify over to e.g. Audfree Spotify Music Converter. From there you export to Transcribe.

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Thank you Patrick. I am trying it now.

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I was struggling to find a way to slow down music from my Spotify playlists.

I tried Audfree Spotify Music Converter on a Mac, but wouldn’t read any of my Spotify tracks.

I found that the ‘Amazing Slow Downer’ app works well on an iPhone. They have a free light / trial version that only plays the beginning of songs so you can confirm if it works / test it out.

Please post any other Spotify-friendly solutions!

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Hey Justin! The tips for Polly include one chord twice!

Moderator comment
Thanks for the heads up. I have edited now.
| Richard_close2u | JustinGuitar Official Guide & Moderator

Typo in the Polly by Nirvana tips , should be ## instead of the repeated ##. Had me confused for a bit as I was sure I was hearing a C

Moderator comment
Thanks for the heads up. I have edited the tip and it now has the ##.
| Richard_close2u | JustinGuitar Official Guide & Moderator

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Great lesson. The first time I strummed the Am chord, I heard “Angie” from Rolling Stones… I checked out the chords on ultimateguitartabs and there it was. I was thrilled.

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Managed Molly’s lips easily and got a most of Blitzkrieg Bop before having to look up the chords. Struggled with All The Small Things as the vocals and bass are so loud in the mix

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This is fun and instructive. Got the first three, but then missed the B5 in the transition from A5 to C5 in Fly Away, and so was going from 6th string root for the A5 to a 5th string root for the C5!. Guess I’ve just got to listen harder!

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Hi everyone, this is my first post! Dragging my laptop computer down to where I practice guitar is not really an option for transcribing (I use my computer every day for work, and it’s a pain to unplug everything). Any other recommendations for an app for iPad or iPhone that will work like Transcribe does? I usually watch my Justin Guitar lessons on an iPad or my iPhone. Thanks!

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