Transcribing: What it means to me

Transcribing. It's a topic that is almost as fuzzy in definition as it is polarizing in the jazz community. Some say to do it or fail. Others say they rarely or never have, and have been successful without it. Many more aren't really sure what it is, why they should do it, or even what the word "transcribe" even means!

After years of trying to come to terms with transcribing, I have finally come to a conclusion about what it means to me. First and foremost: the concept is much more important than the word itself. I dislike the word "transcribe." It's simply too vague of a term, and that vagueness makes the subject so cloudy for most of us. Instead, I think of the concept, and the concept is simple. The concept of "transcribing" is nothing more than finding an answer to a musical question.

Here's an example. Lets say you are interested in the rhythm guitar style of Steve Jordan, something that is not covered in books, videos, or other instructional material. You want to know what chord voicings he plays on a particular song so that you can incorporate some of his ideas into your own playing. "Transcribing" is how you do that. You find a recording that has something you are interested in learning and learn it, by ear. The question here is: What kind of chord voicings does Steve use on this tune? The answer? Whatever you are able to pick up off the recording- hopefully, a few nice sounding chord forms!

There are endless questions to be answered trough transcribing. How do I get that feel? Whats that voicing he uses there? Whats that rhythm he just played? As long as you have a question, recorded music has an answer somewhere. Having a large record collection or knowledge of what to look for online can really help build a library of possible answers to your musical questions.

Transcribing can be tough, especially at first. I don't follow the popular belief that one should just transcribe for transcribing's sake. That's pointless. You need to have a goal in mind, and something you are truly interested in learning in order to commit to transcribing. Anything less will result in being burned out pretty quickly, as happened to me when I first heard I needed to transcribe solos. I learned a few commonly transcribed horn solos, spent much of my precious practice time on them, and really learned nothing from them. Have a goal first!

You might be wondering if learning tunes by ear is transcribing. Well, not for me. I do learn most of the tunes I play by ear, but I'm rarely listening to find out exact chord voicings or how a certain player soloed over the chord changes. Transcribing and learning by ear are closely related, of course, but for me transcribing is looking for specific answers, learning by ear is not. Let me give another example: Learning by ear is hearing an overall structure, melody, and chords to a tune. Transcribing is finding out what exact notes and chord forms Carmen Mastren played on Lazy River with the Bechet-Spanier Big Four. Transcribing should be very specific!

That's how I think about transcribing. Its a way to get answers to musical questions that WILL come up throughout our journey as musicians. Knowing what you want to learn, what recordings you will learn from, and what you will do with the material learned are all part of transcribing and all part of becoming a better, more well rounded musician. Transcribing is powerful. That one little chord or series of notes you learned will have applications far beyond being an answer to a question. What you transcribe WILL become a part of your playing.