Useful Features Of Transcribe Software
In this lesson we explore 2 useful features of the Transcribe Software that will help you with transcribing chords and improvised lines.
If we click on the “View” dropdown menu in the top left and you will see 2 options in that menu, these are “Show Note Guesses” and “Show Chord Guesses”.
Show Chord Guesses
If we click this option, we see a box appear on the middle right of the screen.
This box gives you an analysis of the harmony and it’s good to look here before you start working out the notes of a line to make sure the chords haven’t been rehamonised from the original changes.
The software analyses bass note and other important notes to give you the jazz chord name. You will notice that sometimes it says “spectrum too messy” in which case it won’t give you a chord guess but if you rewind and try pausing the video a split second before or after. Sometimes it will pick something up.
Show Note Guesses
When you turn this option on, you will notice that some of the keyboard keys light up green and red. The accuracy of this tool can vary, and it also depends on the quality of the recording. If the sound is very crisp and clean, then it tends to pick up the notes better.
It’s useful for identifying the individual notes of improvised lines and it’s also handy for seeing the bass note. If the chord voicing contains lots of notes, you will find that the centre of the keyboard is often very cluttered and so it can be hard to take anything away from this.
Related Lessons
Let’s use the notes of the minor blues scale, the major blues scale and the extended blues scale to create different types of blues licks of riffs.
We create a beautiful ballad arrangement and then we apply upper structure triads and some interesting applications of drop 2 harmony.
In this lesson we explore general improv concepts such as: arpeggios, approach patterns, enclosures and turns and chord tone soloing.
Practice Tips
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It’s important to remember that these 2 features are an additional aid, and so try not to become completely reliant on them. They are useful if the harmony has changed,
- Also remember that these features will just give you the notes and harmony. The main purpose of transcription is to absorb the rhythm and phrasing and to do that you need to use your ears and play along with the record.
I agree, Hayden, that the process of transcribing music is both very useful and very, very educational. Before I joined PianoGroove, I came across Finale Music Notation software (I found a free version on the internet that is very simple but also easy to learn). That helped me write out, in full, chords and/or solos, licks, runs, etc. Very, very useful to do this slowly, understand the process fully and, as young folks say “own it” at the end. Makes playing and improvisation later on so much easier.
I think I understand how Transcribe works and put it on my list of things to turn to next. In the meantime, I am relying on transcripts you post, or others that can be found on the internet, to study them thoroughly and apply whenever appropriate.
Hello Hayden, i have many problems using Transcribe, i tried to analyse some records such as My foolish Heart, Bill Evans version or My Sentimental Mood of The Duke with Coltrane but the software gives different chords than the sheet music (and i have the same key as they play in) and if i try analyzing the same chord several times, the software gives me a different chord each time. I really don’t feel comfortable with this, do i really need to use this software to improve my ear or can i transcribe solos without it ?
Cheers, Guillaume
Hi Guilaume,