Transcribing, is it worth the effort

Twang

@matthewkanis So what practice method would you put at number1 in order to achieve this?

matthewkanis

I think there are many roads to this destination. Joe Pass was a caged guy, Pat Martino uses shapes from diminished and augmented chords, Christiaan van Hemert created a very effective method, etc...Most of the players that I really love all say that they have never given any thought to modes or scales, perhaps that is significant. As to which is the "best" I think this really depends on the person learning. Some people are visual learners, some people are hands on and don't learn by seeing. I just fight the good fight every day and adjust my practice as I grow. Perhaps, whatever method keeps the players hands on the guitar is the best method for them. I imagine we can all agree that staying motivated and inspired and practicing for hours every day, whatever the method, a person will improve. What is the #1 practice method for you?

mac63000

@matthewkanis this is spot on:

I have my regular warm up and technique routine, then I pick out some lines, run them through the cycle of 4ths with the metronome, then work them into tunes surrounding them with lines that have become natural and spontaneous. Some of the lines I practice become natural and spontaneous and most others are lost into the universe. But I still consider this valuable time spent on technique and timing. I am very open to everyone's opinion on this matter because I believe we all have the same goal: to play what we hear and what we feel in the moment with all the dexterity that is required to do so.

Especially that last line. How everyone gets there is going to be a different path. I think dedicated practice is really what's missing from my routine and especially in term of knowing lines and being able to play them over different pieces. I think most of what I pick up goes into the "lost in the universe" bucket and not a lot sticks if I don't commit to learning things and practicing them.

bbwood_98

A couple of comments here:

1. reading/writing music is helpful for a few reasons; but the biggest for me is being able to communicate what I desire other musicians in the group to do quickly without hours of rehearsal (which is a super rarity here in BKLYN) - what my changes are; what hits/lines I need them to do and so on. Having said this, one could do without.
2. Transcribing is a good thing, but remember the Idea is to develop vocabulary so you have things to say. Think of it as learning to speak 'jazz' or 'Django' or whatever you want to call the language. We learned our speech first by imitation, and the same goes for music, try to figure it out and understand what it could mean, and then take it for your own so you can improvise a story, a paragraph, a legal brief, whatever you need to say. I find transcribing useful to develop vocab; and as a technical exercise it can't be beat. However you do it is great as long as you are developing ideas within the language.
3. The technical descriptions of things doesn't matter to me. Caged, stephane W's Chord shapes, van hemert's adaption/compilation of the best of the best). Just have something to say, and get it out of the instrument!
4. Transcribing is not an excuse to play a whole solo in a concert setting (except as a tribute/arrangement idea)- it's jazz and you need to have the ability to create statements that you own. . . Trotting out the old tired lines and troupes is barely acceptable at best.

Ok, I know there are a few contradictions in there, but hey . . . jazz is life, and life is complicated!

Good luck; I can't wait to hear you all play live again someday soon!

Twang

Some great comments here thanks!

@matthewkanis I don't know what my number 1 method is. I have issues with confidence regarding practice. I constantly have doubts that I am practicing effectively which is why I start these threads! 😁

Lango-Django

Very nicely put, bbwood_98... hey, arent you the guy who sent me the ES-335 that I took to Samois a couple years back...? Whatever became of our Spanish friend...?

For me, transcriptions were a way to get started, but what I really enjoy is trying to walk my own walk and speak in my own voice, even though it may not achieve transcription-worthy status...

There are few things as thrilling to me as imagining a melody or lick or line and then actually managing to play the same thing I just imagined!

Much the same thing as when I used to play my first instrument, chromatic harmonica when I was a kid... this is back when you could buy a Hohner 10-hole for .... hmmm, well I can’t remember the exact amount, but it was about ten bucks..l

No offense to Django the Son, or any other members of my personal Trinity, but I don’t really want to sound like them, and they don’t really dig me trying to sound like them....

Will

littlemark

I should be practising. 😒

juanderer

It's only worth the effort if you take the effort to make it worthy.

I'm starting to sound like Robert Fripp...

ChrisMartin

I agree with the idea that transcribing is good practice; just a shame it took me so long to find that out, and then only recently thanks to a similar discussion on this forum. I too had been guilty of being (too) reliant on tabs, the only good thing to come from that was that I knew many were inaccurate or in the wrong place on the neck and I did find it useful to then find all of the alternate positions.

I had picked up a few of the easy things by ear ok, but always thought Django would be beyond reach. Yes, for me it can all be a very slow process but that is part of the pain of learning I guess.

Now, just for the hell of it, I am going to try to transcribe some Amos Garrett and see how hard that is !

billyshakes

https://www.djangobooks.com/forum/discussion/comment/102597#Comment_102597

To sound like Fripp, you might have to loop that mantra with some delay.

It's only worth the only worth the worth effort if you take the effort to take the make the only worth it effort It's only worthy to take the worth. 😎