A Beginner's Guide to Transcribing Music
Transcribing music isn’t as scary as it sounds, I promise. Most beginners think that they have to know music theory, know how to read sheets, and get every detail about the music right in order to make a valid transcription, but that’s not true at all. Whether you are working on strengthening your ear, learning how your favorite composer writes, or just want to know even more about your favorite song, just focus on a little bit at a time. Pick a song you know and love and follow the steps I have for you here!
First Steps
Figure out the time and key signatures of the tune first. Most likely, you’ll pick a tune in a simple time signature and won’t need to do too many key changes. After that, accept that you will make mistakes. I once had a college professor tell me that the composer's best tool is the eraser; this applies to transcribing as well. Nothing is precious. Be ready to use that eraser or delete button.
Some other things to keep in mind:
Use your voice, dangit. Your body is your best tool to figuring out those notes and rhythms.
Use your instrument, too (keyboard or guitar would be best). Keyboard is a little easier since you can just push down a button with one finger.
If you’re using staff paper, I recommend The Musician’s Notebook. This is a very high-quality notebook that is super friendly for any kind of music study or writing. (and 8-Bit Music Theory has a great version!) Of course Sibelius, Finale, and Musescore are awesome resources, too.
If you don’t know music notation, use your DAW to record yourself. That way you can still have something visual with that MIDI roll.
Don’t worry about getting it perfect right away; just focus on getting a line down. You can always double-check later.
Also, I recommend starting with one of these musical aspects:
The Melody
The Bass Line
The Chord Progression
The Melody
Melodies are the easiest starting point since it’s the most memorable part of the tune. Get that first note down and start listening for those intervals. It’s much easier to hear the relationship between the notes rather than trying to guess if that’s an “A” or a “G”. Listen for those major thirds and perfect fifths.
Solfege is a really great tool for this! If you learn to hear what “sol” is in the key you’re in, you’ll be able to simply recognize that you’re hearing a fourth or a fifth without even thinking about it in those terms. So if you haven’t practiced your scales using solfege, start now and apply it to your transcribing!
Sometimes those melodies have tricky rhythms, so here’s a silly little tool I use. If a melody is very syncopated, I tap my four fingers to figure it out. Each of my fingers represents a subdivision of sixteenth notes. My index is the first sixteenth note, the middle is the 2nd, ring is the 3rd, and the pinkie is the 4th. I tap them one at a time while counting “1-e-&-a 2-e-&-a” etc. This way I can keep track of whenever those notes are happening without having to memorize the tune (I use this a lot for transcribing anime openings, since those melodies can be super syncopated).
The Bass Line
Bass lines are another easy way to start transcribing a tune. The rhythms won’t (usually) be too complicated, and you’ll only need to worry about one note at a time. Slow songs especially are a good first choice since that bass line won’t move much at all. A greater challenge would be the bass line of something like “Jump Up, Super Star!” with that walking bass line. (It’s really fun though and you should try it!)
If the mix is muddy, I like to put the track into a software called Transcribe! It allows me to not only slow down the piece, but also raise the tune up an octave. It’ll sound awful, but I’ll be able to hear those bass notes a little clearer. This is also a great first step in figuring out the chord progression. That bass note will give you a lot of information about what harmonies you can expect. Speaking of...
The Chord Progression
This could be tricky if your music theory knowledge is limited; however, that’s no reason to not go for it. Even if you don’t know the name of the chord, you can still figure out how to play it on your instrument. If you’re not sure of what you’re hearing, go for the bass note first, and then try to figure out if what you hear is major or minor. It’s possible that it’s neither of those things, but those are going to be good first assumptions usually.
Also, use this as an opportunity to learn chord symbols and Roman numeral analysis if you don’t already know them. Knowing chord symbols will shorten the time it takes to make a transcription. Roman numeral analysis will help you study the relationship chords have between one another.
Listening to chords is a great way to start learning piano or guitar! As a teenager, I was obsessed with Kingdom Hearts. (Whomst amongst us weebs wasn’t?) I particularly liked the track “Neverland Sky” from the Peter Pan world. At that point, I was already a capable pianist and my knowledge of theory was good enough, but (and I’m not sure why) I decided to figure out the chords using the guitar that I didn’t know how to play. I took the time to use my ear rather than just make guesses on the keyboard while looking up chord shapes. I don’t think I fully appreciated it at the time, but this really forced me to hear the function of chords and their relationship to one another.
You can do it!
Start with any of these musical elements, forgive your mistakes, and don’t be afraid to ask for help! There are lots of musical resources out there and people who have a lot of free material out there for you to use!
Happy transcribing!
SYDNEY KJERSTAD
Sydney Kjerstad is a video game composer in many different styles, but some of her favorites are pop and orchestral. She’s a strong believer in collaboration and enjoys working with artists/developers of all kinds.