Saxophone Journal 57

The Influence Of Digital Technology On Transcribing

Andrew Clark

Rock ‘N RollSaxophone

Happy New Year to all! New Year’sis always the time when people

are making resolutions, some moresuccessfully than others. I sometimesuse this time of year to get my studentsto make a simple resolution about theirplaying. I, myself, try to set some goalsat this time of year. When I was attend-ing Berklee in the mid 1980s, I made aresolution to learn how to transcribe. Ihad just inherited a Marantz taperecorder with a pitch wheel and half-speed and I was determined to use it. Iwill share with you what I havelearned since then about transcribing.

DIGITAL TECHNOLOGYOne of the most important develop-

ments in music in the past ten yearshas been the influence of digital tech-nology. The introduction of the com-pact disc, sampling, and many othermanifestations of this technology arenow common place in today’s musicspectrum. What does this have to dowith transcribing? Very simply, itmeans that when you turn on the radioor play a disc, you are hearing musicthat is in tune. This is very importantto anyone wanting to learn to tran-scribe. When I began transcribing,compact disc players were out, butthey were expensive and the discs werehard to find. When you put a record ona turntable, the pitch would not beconsistent from album to album, oreven turntable to turntable. This iseven more noticeable with tape record-ers. I’m sure you all realize that there isa difference in tape speed (often times,a very dramatic difference) from onetape deck to another. This was a daunt-ing challenge for the musicians I wentto school with. My roommate was (and

still is) a great guitar player who couldplay many amazing solos note for note,but he would have to re-tune drasti-cally from song to song. This is a timeconsuming process. Imagine what weas saxophonists would have to dousing the old limited technology. Com-pact discs will always play at concertpitch (A=440hz) so you know that ifyou hear it on your own disc player, ora radio station, or your friend’s discplayer the music you are listening to isin tune. This is a major element inlearning to transcribe, making surethat you are in tune with the song youare trying to play with. I mentionedthat I have a Marantz tape deck with apitch wheel. This is how I overcamethis obstacle of getting the recording toplay at concert pitch. Another impor-tant feature of this tape deck is half-speed. Half-speed plays the tape sothat it sounds an octave lower andplays half as fast. This is a crucial aidfor figuring out fast licks in a solo. So,now we know that the first step totranscribing is making sure the selec-tion is playing in tune.

WHAT TO TRANSCRIBEThe next thing we need to consider

is what to transcribe. Sometimes youmay find that you are assigned a par-ticular tune to transcribe by a teacher,or perhaps a band you’re playing withgives you a tune to learn. If you’venever transcribed anything from arecord before, pick something that’saccessible to your range as a musician.When I first began transcribing, Ipicked out blues solos to start with.Blues is an easier idiom to transcribefrom than others (like bebop) becausethe song forms and note selection will

be easier to figure out. My earliesttranscriptions are of Sonny Stitt, Can-nonball Adderley, Charlie Parker, andothers playing a 12-bar blues.

TRANSCRIBING A SOLONow, let’s talk about the step-by-

step process of transcribing a solo.First, you need to transcribe the songitself and not the solo. Write out thechord changes for the song you areworking on. If you’ve never figuredout the chords to a song, then defi-nitely pick a blues tune or a one chordjam (like Shotgun by Junior Walker) sothat you will have a more productivepractice session. Picking a complexjazz standard at first can be verydaunting and it may leave you feelingconfused and frustrated. Figure out thebass lines of a song first to get the formof the song and the chords mappedout. This will give you a framework towork with when figuring out the solo.

Now that you have a chord chart puttogether, count up how many measuresof music you are going to transcribe. Ifit’s a 12-bar blues, pick how manychoruses you want to figure out. If it’sa short solo on the bridge of a tune,count up how long it is. This frame-work is very important for organizingyou’re efforts.

Now we get to the hard part, what isthis person playing? Here’s where theequipment you’re using becomes acrucial factor. You are going to have tohear short phrases played over andover to get them in your ear and out ofyour horn. If you are using just a com-pact disc player, many of them have aloop feature that will play a shortsegment repeatedly. This is very use-ful, but it will only play at regular

January/February 199658

speed. If you are using a tape recorder,at the very least, it must have cue andreview. Cue and review is fast forwardand rewind respectively that workswhen the play button is engaged,which makes a buzzing sound whenit’s used. If you don’t have this featureon your tape deck, it’s going to be alonger and more arduous chore tofigure out licks in a solo. If you have asampler, you can use that as well and itwill also give you the option of playingthe selection back at half-speed, downan octave for figuring out those fasterlicks.

THE CHORD CHARTSo, you’ve got your chord chart

written out, your playback device isset up to play this selection in smallsegments over and over, now what?This brings me to an important piece ofadvice I learned from my first collegeteacher at SUNY Fredonia, Dr.Laurence Wyman (no relation to ex-Rolling Stone Bill), “If you can’t sing it,you can’t play it.” Truer words werenever spoken! Take the very first lickof the solo you have chosen and listento it over and over until you can singalong with it exactly. You don’t need abeautiful voice to do this. You justneed to sing the notes in tune and inrhythm. The shorter the phrases youselect, the better. Then, using you’reknowledge of the chords behind thesolo, find these sounds on your horn. Itmay take a long time to get just onephrase correct at first. Be patient andyou will get it. Transcribing is likeanything else in life, keep at it with anorganized approach and you willimprove.

THE FINAL STEP: WRITING OUTWHAT YOU HEAR

The final step is writing out whatyou hear. I’ve found that the mostimportant thing to figure out first isthe rhythms. Some soloists are veryfree with their rhythmic approach toplaying and you may find that somelines are hard to fit into a specificrhythmic notation. I think you willfind that 90% of what you hear can beaccurately written out. To figure outthe rhythms of a phrase, I sing itslowly while tapping out the tempo. Iwill use a simple conducting pattern tovisualize the beats of the measure

while I’m singing the phrase (for thoseof you who know how to conduct a 4/4 pattern). This is very important inwriting out the phrase. Once you havethe rhythms accurately written out, it’svery simple to fill in the appropriatenotes.

TO SUMMARIZELet’s summarize this transcribing

approach. First, make sure you havethe proper equipment to play yourselection on. Next, figure out the struc-ture of the song (chords, arrangement,number of bars or choruses, etc.), thenlearn to sing each phrase one at a timeaccurately, which is the single mostimportant step. Finding the notes andsounds on your horn is next. Finally,you need to write it all down so thatyou will remember what you havefigured out. I mentioned in lastmonth’s column that I had played outof the Omnibook in the past (and thepresent and future like any other dedi-cated saxophonist!). Maybe you can tryto pick a blues out of that book, findthe actual recording of the solo, andtranscribe it yourself using the book asa reference. You may find that yourinterpretation may differ from JameyAebersold’s, and that’s okay as long asyou’re sure you are playing the soloaccurately along with the recording. Idid a transcription of Bob Berg’s soloon Mike Stern’s composition MoodSwings, and while at the Berklee book-store one day, I saw a Trent Kynastonbook which had the same solo in it. Iwas very happy to see that 95% ofwhat I had written out was exactly thesame! So, this may be an approach thatworks for you as well. Learning to playby ear is just as important as learningto play by reading music. When I’m ongigs with a band for the first time, theskills I’ve developed by transcribingmusic become very important. Beingable to play by ear gives me the abilityto play with others on tunes I’ve neverheard and make it sound like I’ve beenrehearsing with the band for days.These are the kinds of skills that makethe phone ring and the calendar fill up,if you know what I mean.

So, now you can go dig into thatlong list of rock and roll sax tunes andfind some hot licks to transcribe! Ithink you’ll find that once you getstarted, it’s like doing crossword

puzzles. You use the clues of the songform and chords to figure out what thesoloist is doing. After awhile you’llhear these things coming out of yourplaying, which is where the real satis-faction of transcribing comes from.Speaking of satisfaction, I believe itwas Keith Richards who said, “I al-ways steal from the rich, musicallyspeaking!” So get out that blank musicpaper and get to work!

I think next we should discuss stagegear. In the rock n’ roll world, amplifi-cation rules. If it’s too loud, you’re tooold! So, we as saxophonists must find away to be heard and to hear ourselvesamidst the crushing din of guitars,bass, and drums. I’ve assembled myown little arsenal of gear to help inthat struggle to be seen and heard onstage. I’ll discuss mics, effects, amps,monitors, and the like, so stay tunedand keep rocking!

I can be reached via e-mail atSAXATTACK@aol.com. §