In preparation of BLIM4, I’m reviewing JG Transcribing Course and looking for advice on which transcribing software to get. Not sure when this was written, but Justin writes, “This is the software I have used for many years. It’s simple, does what it needs to… It’s not got as many features as some of the other programs, but it does me just fine, and sometimes keeping it simple is good.” I’m a big believer in “keeping it simple.” But now I see the JG site appears to be promoting GuitarPro. I sat through the GP course and didn’t find it to be that simple. My inclination is to go with Transcribe! to start with and if I get so proficient that I feel I need more bells & whistles, I could always upgrade. Any thoughts/feedback?
I was in BLIM1. There will be a few files released in GP with the course. I have not used Transcribe! so I cannot compare. You might want to see if Transcribe will import GP files. I didn’t see any mention in their FAQ.
I do like GP. It may take a while to figure out how to do some things, but once you look it up, it is pretty straight forward. GP makes it easy to print whatever notation you want. Entering the notes is simple enough with the note duration being a little clunky, but I don’t see an easy way around that. It is easy to fix a wrong note.
GP adds the benefit of being able to slow down the tempo for playback if you play along. I use this for some things and it helps to keep the tempo consistent when playing slowly.
For transcribing, the looping on a note or set of notes is really useful.
I think the hardest thing to do is set up timing on a recording you imported when a song is not consistent. You can easily throw yourself out of time by doing a poor job of manually setting the beat marks individually.
ask if you want more info.
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I haven’t used Transcribe! but I bought myself a GP license back when I could combine a sale plus a code from Justin.
I haven’t found it all that difficult to use. It took some experimenting to wrap my head around how a few things worked - namely, the note timing part but also a couple little things like showing the chord names above the TAB/staff. I haven’t figured out yet if I can compress multiple measures with rests, and if so, how. It’s gotta be in there somewhere, but shrug
Totally depends on what you want to do. If you want to transcribe a song or a solo, then use Transcribe, it does all you need to: you can loop, you can slow down speed, you can shift pitch, you can use an equaliser to select certain ranges or suppress them (base on of off, tenor on or off etc) it also has usful features like karaoke modes, it shows you chord suggestions and note spectrums. So, every tool under the sun you need for the detective part of figuring out by ear what is played in the recording. The one thing it does not do is create tabs. If that’s what you want to do you will need GuitarPro or other software. I have been using for years now TuxGuitar which is an open source version that reads GuitarPro files. I run it on Linux, but I believe there are versions of the software out there that run on other operating systems.
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The problem with Guitar Pro is that it is not easy to transcribe without adding rhythm notation. And Justin recommends starting transcription in BLIM with pen and paper, without rhythm notation.
In a way, this makes things easier. However, with Guitar Pro 8 and after watching this recent livestream, I realized that it can actually be easier to transcribe in Guitar Pro, since the backing track is synced with the tab and you can check your transcription using the MIDI guitar.
Also, when using paper without rhythm notation, if you look back at the notation a few months later, you do not really remember how to play it anymore. At that point, it just looks strange.
It’s this livestream that sold it to me. So yes, it can make things more difficult, but with the new features in version 8, it can also be easier in some ways.
But disclaimer, I had already finished the BLIM when I discovered the livestream so I already had some experience with transcribing. So, you may not want it now, but eventually, if you want to redo the BLIM transcription with the rhythm, you’ll most likely get it.
Though : it’s definitely slower to write things on this software than on paper without rhythm so maybe it can throw you off for your first transcribing exercices. Like right now, I recognize the lick in 2 minutes and it takes me 10 to write it down in guitar pro 
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If you get GP it will be easier to follow the lessons and do the exercises. Yes, JG promotes GP. I don’t find it easy to use compared to other alternatives but it does the job once you’ve learnt how to use it. You can get a discount code via JG. I think I paid around £35 for a license. It’s worth it purely for the ease of following up the BLIM modules without wasting time (you’ll find time is already very tight if you want to keep up).
Personallly, I think they are complementary and, if you can, it’s worth getting both.
For BLIM, Guitar Pro is worth getting as there’s a lot of course material available in GP format (or you can use Tux Guitar as @MollyT points out. Tux Guitar isn’t quite as good as GP IMO, but it’s free.
As @MollyT stated, Transcribe! Is great for the detective side of transcribing, which Guitar Pro isn’t so strong at, but is not a music scoring or Tab editor.
Guitar Pro is a music score/Tab editor. Possibly as importantly for BLIM it is also a Tab player, so you can use it to practice along to the Tabs that Justin provides.
Guitar Pro doesn’t have much in the way of the “detective” features that Transcribe! has and, as pointed out, because it’s primarily a Tab editor, it’s very strict on the notation, especially on the rhythm side.
For quick transcriptions, this can slow you down compared with using a pencil, as you have to get work out the rhythm and the rhythmic notation from the very start, and you have to commit to a specific rhythm for a lick, where Justin often proposes being a bit more experimental with how you play them.
But what you end up with is a complete transcription that you can get the computer to play back to you.
Personally, I use both: Transcribe! For the detective side and Guitar Pro for capturing the notation (when I want to capture or edit a full tab notation). When transcribing, I primarily use Transcribe!
But Transcribe! Is really limited to transcription tasks, whilst Guitar Pro has uses beyond transcription. So, in general I use GP far more than Transcribe!
By the way, there’s a version of Guitar Pro for mobile platforms (Android/iOS) but it’s not the same as the Windows/Mac version. It’s useful for playback if you already have the full version on a PC or laptop or a lot of Tab files, but I would not recommend it as the only version.
Like so many other applications, the phone/tablet version is nowhere near as good as the PC/laptop version.
Cheers,
Keith
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I’m going to throw in another option - maybe - soundslice.com
I say maybe because I’ve only ever scratched the surface. I’ve used it to play back GP files because GP doesn’t have a good iPad app. You do have to create an account, but that’s free and they’re not spammy. There’s some editing features, never used them and I’m not sure what is in the free vs paid tier but it would cost nothing for someone to take a look
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They are two very different tools, for doing two very different jobs.
I use Transcribe! almost every single day. I use it to figure out new material (using loops and slow-down feature), and I use it to practice - since it can play back tracks in a different key (we often move keys around when covering songs in the band) and because it’s an easy and convenient way to set up loops and sections that needs more practice… for example a loop over the solo in a song, which I might have to practice more than the rhythm parts.
I’m not a big fan of GP - or tabs in general - if I’m being honest. I did spend quite some time with it, because learning to do proper rhythmic notation is a great and important skill for understanding how music works and how certain licks are played over multiple bars. But I find no use for it at all for daily work. I HIGHLY recommend that you never become reliant on tabs! They are completely useless if you want to learn to perform, and I think they take a way from an important skill - memorization! 100/100 times I’ve found that as soon as I write down chord charts and take them to band practice, the harder it will eventually be for me to memorize the song.
These days I always learn material by using my ears, taking it section by section, and committing it to memory from the very start. This goes for the 60+ songs with the band, and the 75+ covers I’ve recorded and posted here. Never relied on tabs for anything - it’s a crutch that you’ll come to greatly regret down the line 
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The only app I can find with that name is for transcribing audio to text. Could you perhaps post a link or a more detailed description of the app you mean?
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I was new to transcribing when I took BLIM and can echo what the more experienced folks are saying.
I stated off with GPro, found the learning curve and rhythmic precision took up precious time, and switched to Transcribe for looping and detective work, and used pencil and paper (and eraser!) for writing down the tabs. I found it helped me to write down the rhythm below the tab, not in any “syntax consistent” manner, just my memory aide.
GPro was invaluable looping and playing along to. the BLIM exercises.
Recently I started writing out GPro tabs of melodies that I work out by ear and it’s nice to see “professional” looking tabs that I can play back and validate.
Just to add, it’s not possible to play Justin’s guitar pro file with free tools like soundslice or tuxguitar because his GP files are locked, which make it impossible to open with other tools.
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I find regular tabs without rhythm notation to be largely useless for learning something. As a recall aid? Maybe, but they’re still awful busy for a quick glance.
But GP tabs with rhythm notation? Those are helpful for learning. Still pretty busy for use as a recall aid, but the graphical way rhythm is handled fits with my understanding and past use of musical notation. It “feels” less busy to me because of the way it’s written out compared to ASCII tabs.
From a learner’s standpoint (I guess I’d be late beginner-ish?), I find that writing out something helps me learn AND memorize it. And if the GP files have been provided to me, simply seeing the parts written out helps me to learn AND memorize a piece. Yes, if memorizing something is a goal, I still have to make a concerted effort to do that. But being as visual as I am, visual aids are enormously helpful with the process. Plus, I don’t really have heavy negative connotations towards sight reading music. I did it when I played trumpet and I did it when I was learning piano.
But with that said, my working memory for songs can only hold so much that I can recall unprompted. I get to a point where I’ve gotta have a recall aid in front of me. Maybe I’ll use it, but maybe not. But it won’t necessarily be consistent when I’ll need that aid. And honestly, I’m perfectly okay with that for now. I’m never going to be someone who can handle all musical things by ear. Will I be able to memorize an entire set of songs for a concert? Maybe if I work long and hard enough at it. Will I be able to just pull extra unplanned material out of my brain if I need to fill up more time? That’s a bit of a reach.
Looking at the link for Transcribe!, I now see that this is a program that was recommended to me by my instructor some time ago. He used it extensively in our lessons to work out songs. I’ll say that I’ve made changes to most things he used that program for. They’ve been subtle changes, but changes nonetheless.
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Thanks for your feedback. I appreciate your comment re GP’s learning curve. Time away from course work while getting up to speed with tech aids is one of my concerns. Thanks again.
Thanks for your input. You’ve zeroed in on what I perceive to be what I’m looking for and I’m thinking it’s Transcribe!
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Thanks for your feedback. It’s the learning curve with GP that’s a concern and the time needed to come up to speed. Although I do recognize that many of the course downloads are formatted for GP.
Two different points of view here. This might be important if you want to read Justin’s files.
Thanks for your feedback. I did pick up on the GP downloads in some of the lessons. It’s the time commitment to learn how to use it while taking the course that’s a concern. Thanks again.
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Thanks Keith. I suspected that it might come down to finding value in both software programs. From the feedback I’ve received so far, and a desire to follow the path of least resistance in getting all I can out of this course by keeping pace, I think it’s the detective side of transcribing I need to focus on. The rhythm I can get from playing along with the song that I’m learning. This is how I originally learned to play guitar, by ear. I do suspect that six months from now I will also want to explore GP further. Thanks again.
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