View the full lesson at Albert King Style | JustinGuitar
I am having a lot of fun with this first lesson in transcribing blues solos. Definitely a challenge and worth the struggle. First, I loaded the Rhythm track that Justin provided into GuitarPro and transcribed it. This was a good exercise to get a handle on using Guitarpro. Slowing down the tempo and following along with the track helped me to learn the correct notation (, rest, doted notes, ties, etc…) So, it is helpful to understand basic notation if you plan on trying this lesson. Next it was on to trying to transcribe the 24 bars of blues licks. Using headphones was helpful for me while doing the transcription.
It took me a few days to get it where I thought I had the lead track correct. I had somethings correct but most of it had some type of error. Common errors were getting the note correct but the wrong string, transcribing a slide into a note when it should have been a tone bend.
Lots of good licks. I think a got most of the song memorized. There are a few quick runs where I am struggling to get my fingers to keep up with the backing track, but I am almost there. It’s good to repeat a few measures at a time at a slower tempo until you get it down.
This is a paid lesson ($15) but I think it is worth it if you want to learn how to transcribe and learn some great licks. More fun when you hear the licks in context. Playing along with the backing track is helping me to be a more effective listener so that I can stay in time with the track.
How much experience in transcribing/ear training did you have before starting the course? I’m asking because I’m trying to see how big of a step it could be from the grade 3 transcribing exercices.
Not Much. Just the grade 3 transcription lessons. I purchased this about 2 weeks ago spent 3-4 days (2hrs per day) working on the transcription and I had a lot of errors. Hopefully, I will get better as I proceed through the course.
Some understanding music notation would be useful. I was familiar with notation already but not an expert. Working out the licks and trying to figure out how to chart the lick was a useful exercise.
A tool to slow down the track is also a huge lift. I am using GuitarPro 8 which allows you slow down the track and create the TAB. GP8 was a bit of a learning curve for me. Once I got a handle on how to use it was a big help.
I was looking for something a bit more challenging. This is not a beginner course but for $15 I thought I would give in a try and so far, it is money well spent for me.
I did not see any recent discussion in the community on this course so I figure I would kick off the discussion with some feedback while trying not to give away any of the content.
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Mission accomplished Philip. Your feedback is definitely helpful. Thanks 
A few hints for anyone looking to tryout this section of the course:
So 3 weeks into this and I think I got this exercise down. A few licks that are not as smooth as I would like but I am almost there. It got better as I relaxed the finger pressure a bit which seems to have removed the tension on my fretting hand. Less tension = more speed, So I will do some exercises to work on my finger pressure. Also a few licks 1/16 notes working across string1–>string 2–> string3 all up-picks instead of alternate picking. Kind of like raking the strings on an up strum but picking the individual notes.