| LearnJazzPiano.com archives: transcribing chords | |
| nate_smith -- 02/23/2007, 09:04:23 -- #33278 | |
| well we finally transcribed the melody of a tune now we want to figure out the chords is there an easy way of doing this? thanks, nate | |
| Whacky -- 02/23/2007, 10:24:55 -- #33278 | |
| There are a few ways of going about this. How easy it is depends on your level of ear training and expereince. Here are a couple of thoughts. Can you determine the tonal center? In other words can you tell what key it is in? If so, you may want to practice building chords on each of the scaletones of that key and see if you recognize any of those chords as being in your tune. As for chords you don't recognize, try listening for the individual tones that are making up the chord. If you can decipher those, write them down or arrange them on the keyboard in different ways to see if you can create a stack of thirds. Often times the bottom note of your "stack" is the name of the chord. This is sometimes easier said than done because players are not always using all the "voices" of the chords. In fact in jazz, most players do not use all the chords' voices...Oddly enough, we call that "voicing" Ear training is a life long journey for some - If you are one of those, just learn to enjoy the ride. If you are having trouble, try to get together with a friend or teacher who has a better trained ear than yours and "prime the pump" so to speak. | |
| Barry -- 02/23/2007, 10:25:20 -- #33278 | |
| It's always harder doing harmony than melody at first. Start with the bass - listen to the note that the bass plays on the first beat of the bar. Often (but not always) it will be the root of the chord. Once you have the bass note, you then have to determine what the chord quality is - is it major, minor, dominant etc. If your ear can't tell you straight away, play the different chord types with the record and you should be able to hear which one it is. It'll probably be slow going at first, but the more you do it, the more attuned your ear will become and eventually you'll be able to hear progressions straight away. 15 years ago, long before I started playing jazz I was in a soul band and I remember spending 3 hours working out the chords to 'Another little piece of my heart' by Erma Franklin. It took me about an hour to figure out a part went from Bb to Bb7! Yesterday a pupil asked me about a pop song they wanted to learn (I'd never heard it) so I asked them to put the CD on. On the first listening I wrote out the chord sequence for the whole tune. No matter how hard you find it - stick with it. You will improve. | |
| Barry -- 02/23/2007, 10:26:54 -- #33278 | |
| Wow, the Dr beat me to that reply by about 25 seconds! | |
| Jazz+ -- 02/23/2007, 13:23:36 -- #33278 | |
| +1 Start with the bass notes. | |
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