Chapter 12:Transcribing What You Hear
many measures long the melody is, and how it’s broken up into phrases. Once
you can dissemble a melody into its component parts, you should focus on each
part separately.
On what pitch does this part of the melody start? On what pitch does it end?
On what pitch does the middle of the phrase end? If you try to pinpoint indi-
vidual parts of the melody, it should be relatively easy to connect the dots and
fill in the empty spaces with the proper passing and neighboring tones.
Once you’ve written out the entire melody—including both pitches and rhyth-
mic notes—remember to verify your accuracy by playing back the melody
you’ve written. Compare the melody you play with the melody you first heard;
the better you get, the closer they’ll match up.
Hearing Keys
Once you can notate a melody, you should be able to determine what key the
song is in. For example, if your melody incorporates a B—but no other flat or
sharp notes—it’s a good guess that the song is written in the key of F. (As you
probably remember from Chapter 4, the key of F has a single flat.) If the
melody has an Fand a C, you’re probably in the key of D.
Another way to determine the key is to fix the home pitch of the melody. If the
melody keeps resolving to G, chances are you’re in the key of G. (Unless, that
is, the melody is minor—in which case, you could be in the key of G minor.)
Test your guess by using your instrument to play a major scale in the designated
key, while the original song is playing. If all the notes fit, you’ve guessed right.
If not, try a related key—a key one or two steps away on the circle of fifths.
Hearing Chords and Chord Progressions
Lesson 6, Track 41The last piece of the puzzle concerns the underlying chord structure. You need
to hear when the chords change, and what they change to.
When determining chords, it helps to listen to the song’s bass line. If you listen
to the notes the bass is playing, 9 times out of 10 the main notes—all embellish-
ment aside—will be the root notes of the underlying chords. For example, if you
know the song is in the key of C and the bass player plays, in successive meas-
ures, C, A, F, and G, it’s a good guess that the chord progression is C-Am-F-G.
You should also listen carefully to determine whether you’re hearing a major or
a minor chord. Remember, major chords are happy sounding; minor chords are
a little sad.
Once you’ve figured out the chords in the song, you should test your chord
transcription against the melody you’ve previously transcribed. Make sure the
notes of the melody fit within the chord structure; if not, you probably need to
rethink a few chords.
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If you’re having
trouble hearing the
chords, you can
always try to figure
out the chords from the
notes of the melody, which
you learned how to do
back in Chapter 10.Tip