Greetings Everyone,

I have some questions for the distinguished panel regarding solo transcription study. How should I go about learning them?
Should I:

1-Learn one at a time, five at a time, 20 or whatever?
2- Should they be learned in every key and position on the neck?
3-When should I consider myself to have mastered any of them?

I have learned many solos but only as far as learning the notes/licks etc. but now want to go back and master them and would appreciate any advice or tips on how you folks would approach this endeavor. Thanks for the help!

I'm not understanding. Give me an example.

Greetings Uderoche,

I’m new to the posts and you and Pebber and others may have covered this already but I would appreciate if you can tell me exactly what methods you employed when studying solos. How would you personally go about this?
Specifically and for instance: Should I work on only Crossroads (Cream) or also work on 10 other solos at the same time(Axis: Bold As Love (Hendrix), Bury My Body (Shuggie Otis), Kansas City (Robben Ford), My Mood (Chris Cain) etc... Would It be more beneficial and productive for me to work on one solo until I've mastered it and then move on to the next or take on multiple solos. Also when can I consider it "mastered". When can I know that I've perfected the chops necessary to execute the solos?

Thx

Also Pebber had mentioned in a posting somewhere that he learned an album by Johnny Winter, 3 Hendrix records, a couple of Jeff Beck, McLaughlin etc... Was wondering how he absorbed this body of material. What specifically he did to master these songs/solos. A breakdown of his methodology for attaining those goals...and for yours Uderoche with whatever stuff you learned note for note.

way i do it is stick with one song or a solo at a time. more easier to digest and understand whats going on behind it. and it really helps with building your style too. tried more than one song per time approach didn't work as well as studying one at a time. might work differently for others. i don't know. and i don't use tabs. pick it up by ear. put it down see how other guys in youtube play it. and do modifications if needed. and i video/upload it. i've been told over 100 times to record what i learn, finally got to it last year. i really enjoy doing cover videos more than playing with the band i play in now. mainly because i get to play what i like i guess.

I understand now. I stay on the same solo, constantly drilling it, breaking up the parts I am having problems with, constantly drilling those, every day for hours, trying to put it together piece by piece until I can do it or until I get sick of it. When you get sick of it, move on to another solo and come back to that one.

Also, it depends on how much time you have to practice a day. If you have 8hrs a day to practice you could possibly be working on 8 different solos...1 every hour? Just depends on what your goals are.

Ok thanks guys. I have been trying the 15 solos at a time approach and will try the one, maybe two at time route. They are stylistically similar solos but I think I will focus more on less material. What I try to shoot for is one day solo study, next day improvisation,alternating every other day (practice time varies but is usually about two hours weeknights and usually at least twice as long on the weekends). Lately I have been trying to incorporate more scale exercise practice because I've found that my right hand technique/dexterity is not what it once was and also rhythm practice which is a much neglected art. Thanks for the feedback.

hahaha gotta stay focused... lol Learn one, then move on. What you learn from mastering one will probably help out a lot in others, etc etc.


Of course, when I have a gig or a new band project it really isn't uncommon to have 40 new tunes dumped on me, ranging from Brad Paisley to Bob Dylan, Hendrix to Merle Haggard, Metallica to Mozart. It pays, so whatever. hahaha

Being able to sightread, and solfege helps a bunch... A college course on relative pitch/sightsinging might be really helpful...?

Thanks for the feedback everyone

The power of concentration is a mighty thing for sure. I went through a splurge of figuring out note for note lots of solos but instead of completely mastering one at a time I would then lustfully move on to learning another and another( which in and of itself is a fun addiction/obsession). I had to put the breaks on and now must go back and really get them under my fingers. This I love as well but want to integrate this into a comprehensive format so I'm not lagging behind in any one area...

yeah do concentrate on transcribing a lot, one song at a time. As for your second question about learning them in different keys not many replies.
Personally I don't move every song into a different key, but i do watch the chord scales and chord progression in a song closely in case I need/want to.
Some I learned in three, some in four.
Some I get liking in the key I learn it in and don't dream of changing it.
Others I change the key just to hear it sound different.
Some keys are just cooler than others.

All that changes when in a band though, vocals have there favorite keys as well.

Experimenting in different keys is what I reckon.

No. I (probably we) just check in often to see if there's any new pearls of practicing wisdom from you Pebber.

Hi Elysian,

I haven't been posting as regularly as I would like. The forums have really help me and I feel the need to contribute back into it. So, let me first say that this might not be the best way of doing it but its my current strategy.

I'm currently working on transcribing some lead sheets for an ensemble that I'm playing in now. The music ranges from Jazz to Country and Pop songs from the 70s. We play mostly in retirement homes, coffee houses, and weddings. But you might get something out of this approach. I'm not a proficient shredder/improviser (I don't know if shredder is the most appropriate word...) like Pebber, uderoche, FRaKh, or Scottulus but you might be able to apply some of what follows.

Here's what I have been doing so far:

1. I get the recorded version and put it into a program that lets me slow it down without loosing pitch. There are a few out there that are pretty good. The one I have lets me map out the song by measures, and even type in lyrics if I need to.

2. Once I got the basic form down (ex. AABA or whatever it could be) I get a pad of music notation and start notating the chord symbols and melody down section by section (intro, verse, chorus, coda, etc...). When I come across something really difficult I just skip it and try to finish off the song.

Note: As I'm writing down I don't care how pretty it looks on paper I just want to get it down as quick as possible.

3. At this point and time I may have played through the song anywhere from 10 to a 100 times. Depending on how difficult it was for me. Also, time-wise... it could of taken me anywhere from 30 mins to and hour to do this. Sometimes even longer over a couple of days. Usually, because my ears need to rest.

Note: I work in a warehouse during the day (8 hours) and the fans there are pretty loud. Sometimes the techs it the back are taking things apart and it can get really loud. I try to avoid loud noises as much as possible during the day just so my ears have enough time to recuperate.

4. My last step is that I take my rough notes and put them into a notation program to clean it up and make it more presentable to the others in the group. The singer usually lets me know what key she wants it in before hand.

That's pretty much it. I hope this helps.

:D

Thanks for the input John. Sorry for the late response. I use Transcribe! software for slowing down and isolating different sections Im working on. Extremely useful compared to the old rewinding of tape a million times. Yes Im old enough to remember tape. As far as protecting your ears: I ride the subway to and from work and despite loving music at least as much as anyone anywhere I do not put headphones on my ears and listen to music because you have to have the volume up very high to hear the music properly as the train is very loud when in motion. Needless to say there are many people who do who will have future hearing issues. Instead I put earplugs in to protect them. I don't know if this is practical or safe in your work environment but it's worth considering.