Does anyone have any recommendations for online tools that can help with transcribing when you don’t have a guitar to play along with?
I got into transcribing so much that I started doing it at work when I’m waiting for something or when I have 5 min between meetings. I obviously don’t have my guitar with me and I can’t install software like Transcribe because of company policies.
That’s why I started looking at online tools like Virtual guitar – Play guitar online | Musicca. This simple tool allows you to pick out and play single notes or chords, so it does the job. For audio playback I just use YouTube or Spotify.
But maybe there are better alternative ways to transcribe without a guitar and software?
Loved this lesson, i tried transcribing songs in the past but always felt it was a too difficult and went straight for tabs. By transcribing power chords it feels a lot more doable and I was able to figure out all of the given songs even if some were a bit harder to figure out than others. It gave me a real confidence boost being able to do this . when i was done with the recommended songs I started looking up some more song that used power chords to see if I could transcribe them. The songs I transcribed after this lesson were: The Scorpions - Rock you like a hurricane , The Offspring - Pretty fly, Weezer -Beverley hills, American idiot - Green Day and Survivor - Eye of the tiger. Good luck everyone!
Hi @jillm2007 ,
I would at least give it a go.
It’s great practice for learning the root notes on the 6th low E string and 5th string which will make learning your barre chords easier, it did for me at least .
Quick tip I used looper.tube, its a website where you can paste a link to a youtube video and select a portion of the video you want to loop. You can also slow down the tempo of the selected section.
The tip for Fly Away is wrong if compared to the song lesson video. What I initially transcribed was a lot closer to the song lesson video as well.
While it is somewhat possible to substitute most song lesson chords for the chords in the tips, one can’t be played. It’s also easier to play the song lesson version. (bit vague, but I’m trying to avoid spoiling anything)
Just started this exercise today, and I think I have the chords for Molly’s Lips. It sounds right to me when I play along, but I don’t have enough confidence in my ear to really say for sure that I got it.
Is it fair enough to look up the answer at this point, to confirm that my answer is correct? Or should I leave it a bit of a mystery and push on ahead to the next song?
I don’t think there is a right or wrong answer, but I’d check to see if I had the right chords. If they were correct I’d move on. If they were wrong I’d try and figure out where I went wrong. If you move on without checking you run the risk of making the same mistake over again without knowing why.
@MarcoD96 You have probably already discovered by now that the tip for Fly Away is not wrong, but in the wrong order. Put them in the right order and they match the chords in the progression given at the beginning of the video lesson for Fly Away. Justin also gives a modified version later that is closer to the recorded version.
Spent another hour on Fly Away the next week, didn’t feel like I was getting anywhere with it and figured 2.5 hours is a proper effort. Looked up the answers and yep, I was wrong.
This week, took a crack at Nirvana - Polly. Thought I was making progress, took the hints and it turns out (shockingly) that I was wrong again. With the hints I was able to figure out the chorus but then I looked up the answers and I was still wrong about the verse.
This transcribing business is a load of bollocks, I hate it so much. But I will persist.
FWIW I struggled for weeks on powerchords transcribing. Eventually I called it and moved on. I’m having a lot more fun with the melody transcribing in the next module.
A little help please.
I am just starting the transcribing of songs.
From what I’ve read so far you need to download the songs suggested by Justin to your computer.
Best place to download from for free?
Then how or what is the best way to play them as I start to transcribe them. I’ve seen some people have mentioned Audacity software. This the easiest or best? Other ways?
Any help how to go about doing this would be appreciated by this old geezer! Thanks everyone!
Wow, this lesson has changed my life! No more wasting time going down internet rabbitholes looking for chords. I ‘cheated’ by using the piano but I managed to transcribe this song in 15mins. Blackwaterside - YouTube I’d looked for the chords before and found really strange ones that didn’t sound right. So satisfying to get it right myself
A tip I used was from my old piano teacher that the last note of the song is usually (not without exception but generally) the note of the key. Once I found that (for this song E) it was a matter of testing out the other chords which for me is still easier on the piano. Now to figure out how to actually play it, the finger picking, might take a few months…
. when i was done with the recommended songs I started looking up some more song that used power chords to see if I could transcribe them. The songs I transcribed after this lesson were: The Scorpions - Rock you like a hurricane , The Offspring - Pretty fly, Weezer -Beverley hills, American idiot - Green Day and Survivor - Eye of the tiger. Good luck everyone!
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! I can’t wait for the next Transcribing lesson.
