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Question About Transcribing

alright, it seems the general consensus is that transcribing solos significantly improves one's own improvisation. i've notated one solo; it was awhile ago, and i constantly finding the good ideas from that solo appearing in my own solos, which is definitely a good thing. however, my question is this- is it the actual listening, transcribing, and notation of the solo that helps learn from it, or is it equivalent to practice playing a song transcribed by someone else, i.e. my oscar peterson stuff.

needless to say, i'm lazy (of course, i'm a jazz pianist). so if i can avoid transcribing i would like to, but i assume it would help my ear, too.

thanks a lot, homies.

zz

by DoubleZ on 09/02/2006, 09:21

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sorrry -- just to be clear, are you asking *why* you should be transcribing (like everyone else)?

no, it's not the same to just play some john mehegan bs or some hal leonard stuff as though it were a written piece of schtick. get the ears right, learn the language. for some stuff, you can learn voicings from prefab (probably wrong) material, but usually people like to *know* what they're talking about, which means actually listening to the music, not somebody else's possibly-wrong take on it.

LJP Like

by on 09/02/2006, 23:25

ohh yeah, that is true; a lot of times in "oscar peterson: note for note" i totally disagree how the rhythms are notated. notes that are clearly ornaments are written in literally as like 64th notes and such, which just complicates things. i'm going to try notating a good solo and see if it helps me more than playing them.

thanks a ton, dawg.

LJP Like

by DoubleZ on 09/03/2006, 06:54

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Question About Transcribing

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by on 09/02/2006, 23:25

by DoubleZ on 09/03/2006, 06:54

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Question About Transcribing

There are 2 comments, leave a comment.

by on 09/02/2006, 23:25

by DoubleZ on 09/03/2006, 06:54

Reply to Thread

Jazz Piano Notebook Series

"Latinesque"

LJP Jazz Piano Blogs

Most Recent Discussions

Articles

Top Sheetmusic Picks

Jazz piano education is cool.

Rock on. Follow your passion.

Sign In