Song Help Request Your stratigies transcribing a melody line

Edspyhill05

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What stratigies do you find effective to transcribe a melody line of a song? There are songs I want to learn that do not have sheet music or lead sheets published. It is easy to find the chords.

Ed
 
My poor and simple strategy is to pick a key first and then try to find the melody by ear... It's definitely hard work, but very rewarding and fun!
 
I’d start with asking about the song...it is pretty likely that someone else has transcribed the melody (even if not for Ukulele), and while you can transcribe things, note by note and rhythm by rhythm, it is always better to start from something and improve it/edit it.
 
I started transcribing the odd tune that I couldn't find by the "one note at a time" method. Slow and monotonous, but it taught me one good thing ... "there had to be a better way"!

Having learnt to read music, in a basic fashion, for the ukulele, I now know which notes to expect (and therefore which notes to avoid) in the basic keys ... C, D, F and G. So, having established my "start point" for the tune in question, I have a reduced number of notes to "guess at" and can get most tunes in a couple of passes ... "moody" key changes etc. not withstanding ;)

Getting this result actually onto staff notation does take a bit more work, with the timings of each note etc. needing to be considered, but at least I've got something to refer back to that I can understand :)

So, in a nutshell, learn a few scales, so you know where the notes are, then you'll be better equipped to guess which notes are likely to be needed ;)

YMMV :music:
 
I think doing this task “the hard way” is the best way to go forward. Lately fortune cookies have clever fortunes. “The kind of advice we do not like to take often turns out to be the best.”

The song is “Buckskin Stallion Blues”. I’ll use Amazing Slowdown.

Thank you to all for your advice and suggestions.

Ed
 
I've come to this thread rather late, but I transcribe a lot. So I thought I'd share. Here's what I do:

1. I try to find the first note of the melody by pecking around on the ukulele.
2. From there, I just go up or down the neck as the melody dictates and find the rest of the notes. At this stage I usually just stay on one string...usually the G or the A.
3. Once I have the notes, then I convert it to a multi-string arrangement so that the notes are more clustered and convenient to reach.

Even though I practice my scales and modes a lot, I don't use them in transcribing. I always notice after the fact if a song stays in a pattern, like the minor scale or the pentatonic minor scale. However, I never use the pattern at the onset.
 
Follow all the above advice first.
If everything else fails:

if a song has words and you can sing fairly well trying singing it slowly into an app that is used for tuning your instrument. You should be able to coax out key notes important to your melody. Obvs if you can't sing in the right key this won't work. If you have missing notes that make no sense, just keep trying different ones until it sounds right. I have not tried this on instrumental pieces but it could work.
 
Follow all the above advice first.
If everything else fails:

if a song has words and you can sing fairly well trying singing it slowly into an app that is used for tuning your instrument. You should be able to coax out key notes important to your melody. Obvs if you can't sing in the right key this won't work. If you have missing notes that make no sense, just keep trying different ones until it sounds right. I have not tried this on instrumental pieces but it could work.

Thanks. I wonder if a piano would make it easier. I will try to work it out.

Ed
 
I can recall doing this before my ear was more developed. I would look for a note and play what I thought it should be. My ear was good enough to tell me if it was (a) the note I was after or (b) too low or (c) too high. If it was (a), I'd look for the next note. If it was (b),I'd look for a higher note. If it was (c), I'd look for a lower note. Eventually I'd find the right note and go on to find the next note. As your ear develops, you'll be able to find more notes in a row and eventually, if you can whistle or hum a tune, you will be able to play it (or notate it).
 
I listen to the piece over and over until its in my head. I then map out the phrases on music paper and label them. Next, I then pay close attention to the bass line and can usually hear the basic chords that way and write them on my chart. Once the phrases and chords are inked out, I figure out the melody, phrase by phrase. Most songs have repeating phrases or variations on a couple phrases so after a two or three phrases you're almost home. I pencil out the pitches on the chart and add the fine points of rhythms afterwards. Once I'm satisfied with the results I type the notes and chords into Finale and add TAB, chord boxes, etc., making a lead sheet.
 
I head over to Ultimate Guitar dot com, and key in the name of the song to see if anyone has allready transcribed the song.

No point in re inventing the wheel, take what has been done snd refine it to your needs.
 
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