Transcribing..Arranging...

[Bern]

...the process ?
Which are the primary considerations for you when transcribing and arranging, trying to capture the essence of a song ?
I'm interested in your mindset and approach regarding, perhaps, alternate tuning, staying close to the original music, etc.

[Doug Young]

Bern, I think of "transcribing" as accurately notating someone's arrangement, where you want to communicate it note-for-note, hopefully with correct fingerings, etc. The way someone transcribes a piece for publication in a book or magazine. I'm right now working on transcribing a Martin Simpson piece, and the value of doing it is partly to be able to play it, but even more so to understand exactly what he's doing. I use Transcribe for that, and go at it note-by-note. I can always change it later for myself, but while transcribing, I want to know exactly what he's playing, and catch every nuance, so I know why the piece appeals to me, and why Martin's such an amazing player.

Arranging's a whole different thing. There, I start with some tune I'd like to play, certainly not based on any other guitarist's arrangement. With an arrangement, the sky's the limit, from mimicking an original arrangement of a pop tune, to playing in a different style, reharmonizing, etc. Laurence Juber's one who's good at reproducing all the original parts in a Beatles arrangement, for example. I heard an interesting discussion by Ed Gerhard on arranging Beatle tunes, where he said he tried to look at it as just the tune, just the melody, the same way you might know a traditional tune. (Think of the Celtic melodies, where we only have the melody, and don't really know chords, tempos, etc) He ignores the Beatle's own recorded "arrangement" and does it is own way.

I think there's value to either approach. In the past, I've tried to do the "emulate as close as I can" approach to pop songs, which still comes out very different if you're making an instrumental solo guitar arrangement of a piece originally done by a full band. But lately, I find myself preferring the other approach, where you create something much more unique. I recently arranged a Beatles tune where I just started with the melody and never bothered to pick out what the chords are, I just did my own harmony, and the results are at least "different", and that certainly makes it "mine".

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by Bern

...the process ?
Which are the primary considerations for you when transcribing and arranging, trying to capture the essence of a song ?
I'm interested in your mindset and approach regarding, perhaps, alternate tuning, staying close to the original music, etc.

Hi Bern...
For me arranging is in this order:

1. Melody (I have to like the song or I'm not playing it)
2. Chord progression (actual and variations)
3. Form (verses, bridges, refrains)
4. Original version - (essential key licks or chord changes/inversions)
5. Listening to at least two or three variations by other artists
6. Determining best key to play it in for fingerstyle chord solo play (range)

I don't transcribe my arrangements.