HOW TO TRANSCRIBE A SOLO - A STEP BY STEP GUIDE (for all instruments) 

Even though as an older musician l already know how to transcribe, l really enjoyed watching this and agreeing with the sage advice being given to other players. Great teaching!

Thank you so much Scott, you have been a blessing. I’m learning so much!

I don't normally write music down when I'm learning a song but will start to do it cause that way it is more concreted in my playing. Thanks again Scott.

Brilliant ....shows people how much work goes into this process...thankyou.

Great video, thanks so much for sharing this approach. I've been procrastinating doing this for years and watching this video makes me feel confident that I can do this with persistent effort.

Thank you once again Scott. Outstanding video. It doesn't matter if you are not a singer, you're an outstanding musician and instructor. Keep up the good work. I'll continue to watch your videos. I have told many of my saxophone friends to watch your videos. 👍🏼

Brilliant, Scott. Thanks for sharing your expertise. Love your teaching style!

Love it! Thank you for posting this vid! ♥️

Another amazing tutorial Scott. Thank you for taking the time to share this with us. Btw your singing wasn't that bad. Also, what a cool desk 👏👏👏

Thx for this step for step lesson Scott! I have taught myself a lot listening then playing along, always memorized it because my barrier is notation. Your video gave me a number of useful tips to put it to paper as well.

THAT ADVICE AT THE END TO PICK UP THE STYLE OF PLAYING IS REALLY IMPORTANT....all beginners and intermediates should learn that the certain style and sound give the notes we hear the soul we love

I watched this vdo 1 year ago, I was not enough mature to do it as I was a beginner tenor sax player. I watched it again today as I started to transcribe some jazz standards and I really appreciated. I m right now transcribing Happy people from Kenny Garreett, i love it. Thanks for all Scott and be well.

Excellent teaching ! Thank you for PURE GOLD !

Thanks for the wonderful step by step lesson

Your really so helpful Scott, hats off to you man 👍

Yea! :-) Thanking you most kindly, Scott, surely this is the game-changer that will now manifestly, and freely, begin to open the floodgates - forasmuch to upload my ears to the Uni-verse. You beauty!

Fantastic video! I'm a classical player and I'm trying to do some transcribing myself!

Lately, I've been hearing from a lot of professional, acclaimed musicians that one of the best things you can do to develop your ear and overall musical improvisation agility is to transcribe. This made me come back to this tutorial. Thanks Scott. I guess I found me something to tack onto my continued development, Scott. I will try to do a bit of this once a week. Happy new year, Scott! :-)

amazing stuff! What a great skill

Thanks for the vid. Great post. Super helpful. Love that song...album. Again..Thank You.

Thanks, Scott. I am using these techniques for songs that I like, but never expected to be able to learn them. Now I can!

Fantastic. Thanks heaps. Keep up the great instructions and examples.

Great lesson! THANK YOU!

Great Lesson! You have broken down the process into manageable pieces that seems doable to even my old and addled mind!

Fantastic stuff Scott - a great lesson!

AnyTune Pro+ and Tonal Energy. There is more on those two apps below: I’ve already commented on this video once and am back to it again because it’s a great one. I’ve been struggling with transcribing but have had a desire to do so due to there just not being sheet music available for much of the stuff I’m transcribing. Thanks Scott. I suggest that a great add on video to this would be figuring out what time signature something is in, because outside of standard 4/4 I have no idea. And I imagine many people out there with a very - very - basic knowledge of music theory are the same way. As a result, for me, I haven’t tried to write what I’m doing out in musical notation. I just make note of each of the phrases / notes on some paper as I figure them out to Lee from forgetting them as you described. Also, somebody commented wanting to know about programs to loop and slow down music. I use an app called *AnyTune Pro+ which is great for that as well as many other things. I also use the *Tonal Energy* app to help me figure out notes. Basically play the music through speakers and watch what notes pop up. It certainly isn’t perfect but it will get you close regarding a starting note and the intervals for passages you just can’t seem to figure out on your own.

Dude , You are the best. You are the saxophone communicator...keep on teaching

Great instructional vids as always!!!

Scott, you deserve way more views!

Very helpful, Scott. The Coltrane and Adderley solos would definitely require slowing down - speaking for myself of course! 😊

Thanks a lot Scott. Really helpful lesson :D. Greetings from Mexico

thanks for this. this is pretty much how I do it.

Thanks. Good lesson. Easily explained.

This video is something I want to get to!

Great video! Very informational.

Excelente. Muchas gracias. Saludos desde Buenos Aires.

Transcribe is an excellent program for this task

I appreciate this

I had a mini disco that did that but you are 100% correct

Hi Scott. Love your videos. Your voice is fine. To speed this exercise up I would just use a tuner.. No guessing on the note. So I sing the notes into the tuner and then I go to the next one.

Good job .very lucid

Very lovely information

This is very good video. Thanks.

Scott, love your down to earth style. Great video for how to transcribe regardless of instrument. Love when teachers empower us students how to practice, transcribe...etc.. Helpful tip regarding youtue videos, you can feed a youtube link to an app like MusePic to loop through portions of a video. Only caveat is you can't slow the tempo.

Thanks for this !!

Thank you for the articulation tips, very helpful. Dm,tenor sax

Awesome. Subscribed.

Great Video!

Awesome!

I downloaded a free app from I tunes years ago called, "Gassistant." It does everything you need however you'll have to hunt and peck to find out how to use all the features.

Ok thanks so much

Great video. The looper suggestion is key. I get frustrated when I try to transcribe because I don’t use a looper and I have to try to rewind to get back to the phrase that I want.

thanks from Argentina

Scott, can you elaborate on what you mean by swallow the note. I think I can hear what you’re doing, but have no idea really how to do it? Love your videos and step by step style (in order of importance) of teaching various topics. It makes it very easy to understand and build on. Thanks for the great content.

Thank you

Any chance you might do a tutorial on how to do that very rapid down or up gliss that you do - Bb down to F maybe - it sounds so good when it is done properly.

beam me up scottie 👍🏼

Anytune Pro is a brilliant app for ipad.

Hi Scott , really enjoyed this lesson .Can you define what is swallowing the note ? In UK we use the term a ghost note is this the same? Also I have done quite a bit transrcribing more so on piano that sax and I always start by slowing it down first however I notice you suggest only do that at the latter stages. Is my way a bad way to do it if it works or do you think it holds me back?

Compared to me, you are a great singer:) thanks for sharing.

Thanks again Scott!! I don't need to sing with my voice to find a pitch. I use my horn for that. However, I was clueless about writing down the rhythm. Thanks for the clues. BTW, your voice does not suck. My teacher at Jazzwire, Jeff Antoniuk is a great sax player, as are you. He too thinks his voice sucks. I betcha you'd both make good singers. I use Audacity to loop with.

What is the app you are using ? Thanks Scott All the best from France !

Limited reading and writing musical knowledge unfortunately. I can transcribe in my head right? Or is it imperative to be competent theoretically?

Absolutely love this lesson! Would have been cool to know the chord or chords that he was playing over right from the beginning. Thank you so much!

Wow. Awesome. How would I get a song that I want to transcribe on a app I choose, or does the app already come with some melodies to transcribe??? I don't know! Sorry for the crazy question

Thanks so much for this awesome tutorial Scott. I just have a question. Once you figure out the melody, the metric and the style, how can you use such material as a resource to improve your harmony knowledge, licks and all that stuff to go from copying someone else's improvisation to develop your own and personal style. Thanks a lot! Greetings from México

Transcribe ( sevensthrings.com) is an excelent and not expensive software to use when transcribing music

If we know on what scale the tune is, you'll try less "wrong notes" to figure the wright one!! Therefore, knowing the harmonic grade of song is basic to transcribe!

What about figuring out the key the piece is in? Or the chord progression? I have watched a few on-line teachers, and I like your style of presentation

What about how to play a standard American song on Alto and tenor sax at the same time, in harmony you know ?? To play the song with a friend in a party Can you ??

Can you please say again which app you use? Thanks.

I love your instrument. Do giveaway boss to fans

Excellent. I searched RU-vid on “Transcribing”. One video was 75% on recommending transcribing but almost no instruction. Another video included nothing about the writing part of the process. [ Of course, I have no right to complain. Those videos were free. ] Your video, however, was RELEVANT and USEFUL. And your approach was pleasant. By the way: I was removing wallpaper and had this one piece that absolutely wouldn’t come off. So I pointed your singing at the wall and it peeled right off. Just kidding. Your singing was fine. :)

Oh I almost forgot to mention in case some of my colleagues may be looking for a good looping app I got this one for free on android and it works pretty well. It's call: "Music Speed Changer" Hope this is helpful for you all!!

Ive got some better idea for me, if i want to transcibe some solos, use a looper and tuner for sax on the same timer (low speed and note each sound step by step)

I don’t play jazz but isn’t finding the key important? Or is it not in jazz

Thanks garage band also let you loop and slow the tempo, the pitch seems remain the same ;)

Hi Scott, have watched all of your videos which I think are very helpful, my next challenge is transcribing. Do you need to go through the whole song note for note working out every single one because of the chord changes meaning there is no actual consistent key signature which means that the next note could be any chromatic note. If you were transcribing a vocal melody would you try and work out a key signature to narrow down the choice of notes to try and if so how would you try and find the key signature. Many Thanks

Can anyone point me to a solo that’s fairly modal but maybe not too difficult?

Great lesson. There is a famous open source software called Audacity for those that like free stuff like me.

Its hardWORK

Which program do you use to select just few notes and repeat them? Thanks.

😆👍

What does “swallow”the note mean? Accent?

Personally, I prefer to transcribe the entire solo by ear and THEN write it down. I find it cuts down on total time doing the transcription because you're already intimately familiar with it when you begin your dictation

Great tutorial to help with my retirement plans of taking up the sax again ( after 45 years)

Does transcription count as plagiarism?

I wish I could do the same thing with a JJ Johnson ballad. But i don´t have until 2030

I can find the notes but getting the timing written down on paper 🥴

i have perfect pitch so half of it becomes easier for me i think

If you have a minute ,take a peak at my book ,primacy. Unfortunately I’m not able to get to. Post office to send copy

just use Audacity

You dont have to sing well..your saxophone voice is perfect !!!

Weird.......!

Great lesson, thank you!