Set-Up For Learning Stuff Off Recordings

[BbAltered]

Hello. Yesterday I did something I don't do much of: I spent some time learning some piano licks from a recording. I know a lot of other pianists do this, but I do very little of it. I think this is a productive use of my piano time, and think I should spend more time doing this.

 

So I looked thru the music files I have loaded on my iphone, and started with Ray Charles recording of Mess Around. About 30 minutes later, I figured out how he plays the first introductory piano chorus on that recording. (Really, Ray? Boogie-woogie style LH octaves in the key of Eb? C'mon! Even Dr. John plays that kind of thing in C.)

 

I would like to hear from others what they do to learn stuff off recordings. Do you use a portable digital device like an iphone? What to do you about sound quality or amplification? Is there a way to keep the screen active to get at the playback controls? Anyone using a CD player or an older device?

 

What equipment do you use for learning piano parts off of recordings?

[DJkeys]

I have had luck using a program called Transcribe. I use it on my iMac because it is just too hard for me to operate apps on a smart phone, the screen is just too small. Transcribe is inexpensive and allows you to slow down the music without changing the pitch. It also allows looping, EQ and other things. The software developer is also very proactive in writing new updates:

 

https://www.seventhstring.com/

 

-dj

[Morrissey]

I use YouTube. Pretty much everything is on there at this point, and they have the same feature DJ describes whereby the tempo can be slowed without affecting pitch.

[analogika]

Free app called Virtual DJ. Mac or PC. Actually a - duh - DJ app, but it works well for my porpoises.

 

Load the song in there, set loop points, and slow it down without changing the pitch.

 

The latest version will also let you selectively mute stems - kill the drums, the bass, or the vocals to make it easier to hear the keyboard parts.

[BbAltered]

I use YouTube. Pretty much everything is on there at this point, and they have the same feature DJ describes whereby the tempo can be slowed without affecting pitch.

 

Sure - but doesn't this mean you have to keep getting up from the piano to futz with the computer? Do you have a laptop right at your piano? What I'm looking for are solutions that allow me to start and stop playback and hear clearly as I sit at the piano.

[ElmerJFudd]

In the 80s when I was a kid it was a boom box on top of the family room spinet. A finger on RW and another on stop.

 

These days a laptop or iPad is immensely better. Apps can slow down playback without alerting pitch and some can suggest what the harmony is, some can even convert to midi. But the more dense the recording the less effective it is.

[denkom67]

I have had luck using a program called Transcribe. I use it on my iMac because it is just too hard for me to operate apps on a smart phone, the screen is just too small. Transcribe is inexpensive and allows you to slow down the music without changing the pitch. It also allows looping, EQ and other things. The software developer is also very proactive in writing new updates:

 

https://www.seventhstring.com/

 

-dj

 

Plus one for Transcribe. I used to use one called the Amazing Slow Downer, but Transcribe is a lot better / easier to use for only a few dollars more. If you use Ableton Live, this is also pretty easy to do with warping. With both Transcribe and Live, you can add named markers for different sections of the song; loop it between those markers; etc.

[ElmerJFudd]

Another is called anytune

https://www.musical-u.com/learn/whats-the-best-program-to-transcribe-music/

[Lou_NC]

I am an EE by trade, but I like to keep things as simple as possible when I make music. So I use an old iPod playing MP3's for this kind of thing, and run the audio from the earphone output to a vacant input in my trusty Kawai MX-8SR stereo rack mixer. (Yes, there are iPod's still in use these days......!)

 

There have been songs that have really stymied me, and in those cases I'll resort to loading the original MP3 into Audacity on my PC, slow it down as much as needed so that I can play along, and either play it from the computer 1/8" audio output jack into the mixer, or make a custom "slow" MP3 and play that using the iPod into the mixer.

 

Lou

[Docbop]

Transcription software helps by letting setup loops to repeat, change tempo, and transpose. Some you can set filters to help isolate instruments. Transcribe is software I've used off and on for years. There are newer transcription apps today like AnyTune that can access iTunes and Spotify so you don't have to have a copy of the tune. There is a newer tool called SoundSlice that includes notation software as will as tempo and keys controls. SoundSlice has a Free browser based version with basic feature set or full version for I think $5 per month subscription and a teachers version too. SoundSlice can real XML notation files so you can see the it move thru the music and make changes if necessary.

 

Click to go to SoundSlice website

 

Transcription gets controversial on if someone should slowdown things when transcribing which is also part of ear training. Also writing out the transcription versus just learning playing it with the original recording. I agree playing with the original is the most beneficial part because you learn the phrasing. One name progressive/avant garde sax player I been lucky enough to hang some with has been transposing Charlie Parker since he was a kid going deeper and deeper into the fine details of Parker, but from what I've seen doesn't write things down.

 

Transcription is the key to learning it teaches you so much and trains the ear. Plus as Bill Evans told his brother who kept asking how he played a certain piece and Bill refused every time. I don't to deny you the pleasure you'll recieve when you finally figure it out yourself.

[Stokely]

I usually learn tunes using my DAW (Logic pro) with software instruments, even though I don't use software live. I generally just play songs from youtube, and I have computer audio routed to the interface just like Logic.

 

Since the stuff I'm learning is relatively easy pop/rock stuff, 95% of the time I'll pull up the chords/lyrics from Ultimate Guitar, making sure to transpose if they used a capo (or if we are in a different key, we have a female lead so sometimes we are.) Unless the song is really simple, I'll copy/paste the lyrics and chords into a google doc, and then edit it (usually removing most of the chords, for example if the verses are all the same I'll just keep chords on the first one etc). I've got quite a large collection up there at this point, I can refer to them at practices, share them with band members etc. I must say that a lot of musicians don't really embrace tech like this, but I find it handy to refer to sheets especially if they have notes like "play turnaround twice here, 8 bars total"....makes for quicker learning as a band if there is a reference.

 

Once I know the song pretty well I'll transfer to my actual keyboards to make sure I have patches set up for it if necessary.

 

I don't normally even attempt to get things exact unless something is a "signature part", but sometimes I do want to get it pretty close. If my ear can't pick things out quickly, I'll find tutorials on youtube. Examples: foreplay/longtime, solo from Call me the Breeze, riffs from Sweet Home Alabama

[BbAltered]

Thanks guys!! Good stuff. It looks like a laptop is in my future. Like DJKeys, I am finding the iphone interface difficult to manipulate.

[bfields]

On my phone and tablet (both Android) the default music-playing app is not great for this. For some reason it's very hard to seek accurately, for example if I want to skip back a couple seconds and hear a lick again.

 

I mostly use youtube on a laptop, and for looping I position the mouse at the start point and click very carefully.... Low-tech but it mostly works. It's worth knowing the keyboard shortcuts for play/pause, speed control, etc. And it's worth paying for a subscription to turn off ads, if that's in your budget.

 

If I expect to work on something longer, I load it into "Transcribe!" I've never found the EQ that helpful--maybe I just haven't figured out how to use it. Slowing down is helpful though not to the degree I expected--the occasional fast run aside, most things I can either hear at speed or not at all. Speeding up is sometimes handy for counting bars and mapping out structure. Doubling speed (and letting the pitch go up an octave) can help with bass lines. But the main thing "Transcribe" helps me with is just navigating through the song quickly.

 

My keyboard is right next to my desk, so I can have one hand on the keyboard and one on the laptop.

 

Everything's plugged into a mixer, but just plugging the laptop into the keyboard's line in would work too.

 

Listening closely to songs is absolutely one of my favorite things to do. Even when it's something I thought I'd hate, I almost always learn something fun. Sometimes I feel like I play covers mainly to have study partners. It's like a book group, but for music.

[timwat]

I've pretty much always used Amazing Slow Downer on Mac.

 

It provides slow down independent of pitch, which helps me learn fast passages in solos and such.

 

To learn changes quickly, it helps to double the pitch and keep the tempo the same, as everything goes "mickey mouse" and the bass (now an octave higher) jumps out to the ear.

 

I've also always transcribed what I'm hearing to standard notation - used to use pencil and manuscript, and then migrated to Finale and then Sibelius. This helps my skills in deciphering tempos as well.

 

Anyways, that just me. I'm sure there are other tools out there, some of them free, for whatever platform you want to use these days.

[analogika]

ISince the stuff I'm learning is relatively easy pop/rock stuff, 95% of the time I'll pull up the chords/lyrics from Ultimate Guitar,

FWIW, I stoppd doing that long ago, because they're always. always wrong, and I'll usually spend way more time fixing all the gummed chords written up by some bloke wif a gittaah who found a voicing that will fit but has nothing to do with what the music is actually doing, than I would have had I just written out the whole thing by myself.

[GovernorSilver]

I use my Vidami pedal with Youtube most of the time. I didn't believe what big difference it would make to be able rewind the video, to loop a section of the video, and slow it down by using footswitches, without taking my hands off an instrument. It does save time and that saved time adds up... a LOT.

 

https://vidami.com/

 

And I too have learned to distrust transcriptions made by other people, especially if they were done by a guitarist - takes one to know one! Guitarists are notorious for not having great ears.

[dongna]

Happy Transcribe user here...

[Cabo]

Transcribe. I've used it for years.

It does a bunch of helpful things, in addition to what's been mentioned.

 

- The navigation (to move around a song) and speed buttons are much quicker and more precise than using YouTube.

 

- It's super easy to tune the song if it's slightly off.

 

- I like the EQ Bass Remove tool -- taking out the bass usually makes it much easier to hear and see the keyboard parts.

 

- Being able to highlight an area and see the notes played in the keyboard section is super helpful for transcribing.

 

- Using the "Out Of Phase" checkbox can be helpful -- it can separate instruments and sometimes will remove lead vocals, while allowing you to still hear background vocals.

[ElmerJFudd]

Here"s a video demo they share on their website.

 

[video:youtube]

[zxcvbnm098]

Damn, that's pretty slick!

[mynameisdanno]

Another vote for Transcribe! for macOS or Windows. Dig into the help and learn a few of the keyboard commands.

 

If it's something complicated that I'm really trying to transcribe note-for-note, I start by listening through once and using S, M, and optionally B keys to create section, measure and beat markers (if the song is long / slow and I'm in a hurry, I've been known to speed up to double speed for this step). Then turn on the navigation bar (in the View menu) so you can see a roadmap of the tune and quickly jump to or select whole sections for looping. At that point you can calculate a tempo based on the markers if needed, then do all your playing / looping / jumping to the next phrase / scrubbing back and forth with keyboard commands. Very quick once you learn it. My usual process if I'm really trying to nail something note for note is to switch back and forth between Finale and Transcribe!, leaving the section I'm working on looping in the background as I write it out, then quickly switching back to Transcribe to jump to the next phrase. All this is done away from an actual keyboard instrument, except maybe I'll plug in a Keystep so I can use Speedy Entry in Finale if it's something really involved. I transcribe the whole thing first, and then print it out and take it to the piano to get it under my fingers.

 

If I'm just charting a tune somebody's hired me to overdub on and I just need to get the chords, I'll just let it play through once or twice and quickly make a Nashville chart with pen and paper, usually not bothering to lay down section markers or loop sections unless it's something super complicated. The C and R keys are very handy for quickly scrubbing the playhead back while you do this, and the on-screen keyboard is handy to get a quick pitch reference.

 

I also have Transcribe set as the default application to open all audio filetypes. Works great as a utility audio file player, and keeps my iTunes library from getting cluttered with random stuff.

[elif]

Am a satisfied Transcribe! user.

[analogman1]

Transcribe rocks! Works great on Mac.