The Art of Transcribing For The Guitar
- Part II
by Richard DeVinck
In this second installment we will focus on the actual
process of transcribing music -- particularly for the guitar. Although
degree of expertise and equipment might vary from one transcriber to
another, this article will focus on the general procedures used by all
transcribers of guitar music.
Transcribing, simply put, is the process of notating one's own interpretation
of what one hears on a recording. Obviously the transcriber must have
some knowledge of notation, whether standard or tablature (see The
Art of Transcribing for the Guitar - Part I). Some, but not
all, have acquired this ability to notate by attending schools of music
like Berklee, Julliard, or in my case, U.C.L.A.'s music department -
while others are self-taught.
It is naturally assumed that the transcriber has a thorough understanding
of the style of music and instrument that he or she is transcribing
for. Expertise in the style of music at hand is often attributed to
more unstructured/unacademic means. That is to say that many transcribers,
especially those who specialize in popular styles of music (non-classical),
have acquired their expertise through years of "gigging" -- being self-taught
in that particular style.
As stated earlier, the equipment used by transcribers can vary. Usually,
the difference has to do with the fidelity (high or low) of the sound
equipment. As a transcriber you are only as good as your musical background
and your equipment. This includes foremost a good set of headphones.
Headphones are usually preferred over speakers simply because they are
the best reference monitor and can filter out much ambient noise. In
other words, they make the transcriber more "intimate" with the recording
at hand. A good equalizer helps in "extracting" certain frequencies
from a recording. Since each instrument has its own frequency range,
it is possible, with the use of a good equalizer, to make that particular
instrument more audible than instruments of lower or higher frequencies.
In general, boosting frequencies around 6kHz on an equalizer tends to
bring out most guitar parts.
Often it is desirable to notate in the score a particular electronic
effect that is being used in the original recording. In other words,
the timbre or "color" of the original recorded guitar part is often
described with terms like "w/distortion", "w/chorus", "w/wah-wah", "w/clean
tone", etc. This means that the transcriber must have some knowledge
of what these particular effects sound like -- especially when transcribing
rock guitar. Each effect can give the illusion of more happening in
the music than is actually being performed. For instance, distortion
from an amplifier or guitar processor can bring out the certain prevailing
overtones of a vibrating string -- the octave, 5th, and 3rd respectively.
Sometimes a performer of a heavily distorted guitar can give the impression
of playing a full chord by just playing the fundamental bass note of
the chord. What the listener hears is the root, 5th and perhaps 3rd
of the chord because of the overtones being enhanced by the effect.
Throw in the use of a Harmonizer (an effect which creates harmony at
any interval) and you can see where the problem of interpreting might
occur.
Before the digital age most recordings were on vinyl or tape. Reel-to-reel
tapes were often preferred by transcribers because most reel-to-reel
recorders had the ability to play back at half-speed! If you
have ever had to transcribe the lightening-fast solos of folks like
Eddie Van Halen or Joe Satriani, you can appreciate this little feature.
Granted, playing back music at half-speed brings everything down in
pitch one octave. The transcriber must then compensate by transposing
what he or she hears up an octave in the score.
Now that we are in the "digital age", reel-to-reel tape recorders have
become obsolete (along with the revered 8-track) and compact disks and
computer software have replaced those archaic means of recording. Now,
with software or digital devices that cost less than a new pair of shoes
from Macy's, one can loop or isolate musical phrases in a recording
and play them back at half, quarter, whatever speed -- at original pitch,
no less -- with the click of a button or mouse. And all this with the
audio clarity and high fidelity of digital. And you wonder why the 8-track
fell out of favor?
The age of software has also given us a newer means of actually notating
what we need to notate. {In my fatherly voice} "When I was a young man,
we used a pencil and paper to write with." Well, that is how it was
before music notation software turned any transcriber into his or her
own publisher as well. Yes, with the click of a mouse you too
can print your own musical scores which can rival the slick editions
of the major publishers. Like everything else, there are purists who
insist that pencil and paper are still the preferred means of notating.
(Actually, I agree with them - at least in regards to being less time
consuming.) Yet one cannot dispute that a score printed from computer
software looks a heck-of-a-lot better than the chicken scratchings of
most transcribers.
Inputting information into a software program musical score can be done
in three ways. Like any other program, you can use the mouse or computer
keyboard to input information into the score. One can place notes on
a staff or change from the key of C major to A major with the click
of the mouse. The second way you can write notes on the staff is with
MIDI-compatible software and a MIDI trigger instrument. O.K., I will
discuss what MIDI is for those of you who don't already know (you who
still own an 8-track).
MIDI is an acronym meaning Musical Instrument Digital Interface. What
does this mean? Well, simply put, MIDI is a universally standardized
musical language that is spoken between your software on your computer
and the MIDI instrument you are playing, like a keyboard synthesizer.
In essence what happens is that every time I play something on my synthesizer,
it sends that information in all its many nuances to the computer and
my computer software then interprets that information (all digital
information, of course) and displays it on the screen in musical notation.
With a click of the mouse I can then play back what I just played on
the keyboard. This works by the computer then sending that information
that I had just sent it back to the synthesizer -- in effect, playing
the synthesizer itself. This is all done at the speed of electricity
(is that the same as the speed of light?). By the way, there are MIDI
adapters or pickups for just about any instrument so folks like myself
who don't play keyboard very well can join in on the MIDI game. Pretty
neat, huh?
Finally, the third way one can input information into a software program
musical score is by actually scanning a pre-printed musical score. That's
right, there is software that will read score scanned on a scanner and
format it for you and show it to you on your computer screen. And, of
course, you can then print, fax, or e-mail the newly formatted score
just like that -- with the click of the mouse, of course.
Well, this subject of transcribing has taken on a dimension that I had
not anticipated and deserves a third installment which will be in a
future journal. In Part III I will do a more in-depth analysis of transcribing
practices and include musical examples. I hope this installment has
been of some interest to you.
Mr. DeVinck is a classically trained guitarist and board member of
the Carmel Classic Guitar Society. He has transcribed guitar songbooks
for publishers Hal Leonard, Warner Bros., and Creative Concepts.
