Transcribing music for a guitar lesson.

[Toby Walker]

Transcribing Blind Blake. This is how I create new guitar lessons. Blake is incredibly complex and his variations make his music fascinating and a joy to master and then to teach. I use a program called the Amazing Slow Downer which enables me to capture literally EVERY note and nuance. I'm going to work on a number of his songs and package them into a lesson called 'Blind Blake, Under The Hood.' I not only want to show students how to play his music but more importantly, how to incorporate his techniques and variations into their own playing.

[Kerbie]

So, THAT'S how you do it! That's pretty cool... better than writing it out by hand. ASD is a nice program. Thanks.

[Toby Walker]

Originally Posted by Kerbie

So, THAT'S how you do it! That's pretty cool... better than writing it out by hand. ASD is a nice program. Thanks.

I've been using Finale for years now. Love it.

[JonPR]

Nice job! It's Transcribe and Sibelius for me - I've yet to get round to youtube lessons though!

[Toby Walker]

That looks good Jon! In the first set of triplets in the 4th measure, I would suggest indicating a pull-off between the G and E notes.

[JonPR]

Originally Posted by Toby Walker

That looks good Jon! In the first set of triplets in the 4th measure, I would suggest indicating a pull-off between the G and E notes.

You're probably right. It sounds to me like he picked all the notes (and in the following bar too), but it would be easier as a pull-off.
What I have left off is a tempo marking... (This one dates from a few years back, and it's time I double-checked the whole thing.)

I assume you just recorded your screen for that video? It works pretty well, and seems like an easy way to deliver a video lesson.

[Toby Walker]

Originally Posted by JonPR

You're probably right. It sounds to me like he picked all the notes (and in the following bar too), but it would be easier as a pull-off.
What I have left off is a tempo marking... (This one dates from a few years back, and it's time I double-checked the whole thing.)

I assume you just recorded your screen for that video? It works pretty well, and seems like an easy way to deliver a video lesson.

I used to try to execute that move picking all the notes but found that to be very difficult. I tried a pull-off and it worked quite cleanly the very first time.

I did record the screen using QuickTime, but I also use the same program for videoing my lessons, uploading them to Vimeo and then embedding them on my site.

[Rocky Dijohn]

This is great news. i look forward to your lesson on Blind Blake. I wonder which of his tunes will be a good "entry point" for his stye.....

[DupleMeter]

I typically pull the track into my DAW and loop a 4 or 8 bars at a time and then write them out (in Sibelius). Goes pretty fast for me...but I tend to be able to transcribe quickly.