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If you were any good, you'd be able to hear the parts and write them down :) My drum teacher always said, "if you can say it, you can play it". He was right and it's been great advice for transposing. It may take a lot of listenings along with trial and error but eventually you get it. After that, you can usually chart the part. It took me a week to learn the drum parts to "use me" it's taken a couple months for me to learn the parts to "Funky Nassau" and it will take longer to get down the parts to "Gringo". I only get to play three or four times a week, maybe 1 1/2 hrs. each time.
Sometimes, you can play stereo and turn the volume off either the right or left channel. It doesn't totally isolate a specific part but it gives a different listening experience. If you have a mixer board, you can further alter the sound. Another approach is to record just a section and play that over as a loop.
The drums can give you the foundation of the beat. The hi hat or ride cymbal is often on the eighths or sixteenths and the accent on the snare is often on the two and four, but not always. For me, I may learn just one note at a time. The next one may come pretty hard but I just keep going. The more you do it, the easier it gets.
It's difficult to find charts and even the ones you find may not have all the nuances or specific notes of a solo. I find some charts on drum websites. I have the chart to "50 ways". This is a legendary part for drummers. We know what Steve Gadd is doing but sounding like him is another matter. You not only have to think like the original artist, you have to have equal technical skills. Sure feels good when you get darn close but it takes a lot of tedious work. After all, you're trying to be somebody else.
Beat it to fit / Paint it to match
"If you can say it, you can play it"
Yeah Hammer! That's the one. I sat in on a vibraphone masterclass once when I was younger (I play drums, but not vibes) and the guy teaching it said the same thing. It stuck with me throughout playing music.I started playing Tabla a number of years back, which is all vocal as well as with the hands. You've got to be able to recite what you play. It's pretty wild to sit around and play drums with just your mouth!And you nailed it with Steve Gadd...I've been sitting around playing drums every night along with a bunch of Steely Dan lately (I know Gadd only plays on a few tracks, but Bernard Purdie, Jim Hodder and the others...woooo dog!) I just looked up "50 ways" online and saw the youtube clip of Gadd playing that...pretty amazing stuff. It's always great to watch someone totally in that zone.Paul
http://www.pauljohnsoncarpentry.com
Boom-chuk-a-luck-a, Paul.
That had to be Gary Burton on the vibes.
Gadd throws down those tight double stroke rolls out of no where on "50 ways".
Pretty Purdie is the man! All that early Aretha stuff, the groove master.
Tabla is out there. Saw Ravi Shankar and Jon Bonham at Newport, way back. It's when I knew I'd better find another way to make a living than drumming.
Beat it to fit / Paint it to match
if you like percussion, check out Aaron Guidry at 1995 PASIC. he now is the percussionist for Mystere', a cirque de soiliel show in Las Vegas, and he writes some of the top competitive marching band shows in the country. his little brother is julianne hough's bass player and his mama is my honey.http://www.listal.com/video/5143941
Edited 7/10/2009 10:35 pm ET by davem
Holy shhhh.........
I think my mind has been blown watching that video.
http://www.pauljohnsoncarpentry.com
yep, he was ok in 1995. he's practiced since then.
i'm not sure the video shows it well, but the top head has a hole in it that he stands a third stick in. at one point, he jams the stick through the hole to play the bottom head. that is a number he wrote in undergrad, i think. when he travelled with "BLAST" he played that number as a solo, on the stage by himself. he ended by slamming the third stick into the hole, letting the bottom head launch it into the air, playing a few more licks with the other two sticks, then catching the third stick in the air, and just stood there and grinned.
WOW, Dave, that boy has some amazing hands.Beat it to fit / Paint it to match
While I never got into transposing music, I used to be HUGE into listening to "The Wall".For awhile, I would go to bed listening to in on my headphones... then I would focus on the different parts. One night I would only focus on hearing the baseline, another night just the drums. I really was able to appreciate the qualities of each musician.
Tu stultus esRebuilding my home in Cypress, CAAlso a CRX fanatic!
Look, just send me to my drawer. This whole talking-to-you thing is like double punishment.
The Wall
Picked that for my funeral
"How can you have any pudding if ya don't eat your meat"?
I have a dire strait cd, the guitar licks are awesome on this cd, but its clutter with all this other ^%$&***( . I just want to listen to the guitar, maybe some air guitar
You nee a PRS Guitar , a Marshall or Mesa amp, and a lifetime of practice, if you want to play like Mark. LOL. Oh, and a double jointed thumb.
EAT your meat!?!
Ohhhhhhh that makes alot more sense than what I thought it said.
Tu stultus esRebuilding my home in Cypress, CAAlso a CRX fanatic!
Look, just send me to my drawer. This whole talking-to-you thing is like double punishment.
Brownbagg, I haven't done it before but I know there's a bunch of software that is supposed to help you isolate instruments from cds. I can't imagine that any would work perfectly (or even that well), but it's worth a search online to see if you can find any freeware that might help.
Paul
Gonna be a Karaoke star ?
Thats what ya need. Even that won't separate a guitar track that might be overdubbed a zillion times ALA Pete Townshend.
Edited 7/9/2009 7:03 am ET by Zorrohood
Check out guitartricks dot com
They have some sell some software that you can do that with I think
Be careful with this idea - you may run afoul of copyright law and set yourself up for a legal claim by the RIAA or the artist - they've been very, very aggressive against people who download without paying for the song.
Your idea sounds like a variation of that action.
no not download, music i own on factory cd,s
Right, I understand that. I said what you're thinking of doing is a variation of that.
When you buy music, or anything that's been recorded (i.e., a lecture, a cd of paintings or drawings, etc) you're buying the right to view them or, in the case of music, the right to listen to it.
When you buy music you do not get the legal right to change it - you don't own the music, the artist does. You bought a copy of his music - hence the name copyright.
You don't get the right to discombobulate it into its component pieces or instruments. You can't reverse engineer it and split the tracks.
The artist's copyright remains and limits what can be done with his/her creation. You can try to obtain his/her permission to change the music, but you have no right to do that without obtaining that permission.
All I'm saying is be careful.Griff
The artist's copyright remains and limits what can be done with his/her creation. You can try to obtain his/her permission to change the music, but you have no right to do that without obtaining that permission.All I'm saying is be careful.it never fails, you want to do something fun in your own home not hurting anybody and somebody calls the cops on you, freeze sucker
Life's a bitch!Griff
actually, that is true if you intend to sell or use the music for public or commercial purposes. For personal use, however, as long as the track has been paid for through "customary venues", such as itunes, as example, he is fine to do what he wants.
Now, as to what he is doing....this is not simple or easy. When I was teaching at the University level, we would have graduate students to do this. Some were very good at it, and others really struggle. Do not assume that anyone could automatically hear and write it down. One thing we did was to put it on reel to reel and slow it down. My brother would transcribe the sax solos from "The Bird" this way...now that was tough. Good luck to whoever is doing this!!
At its most basic level, capitalism offers people the freedom to choose where they work and what they do … the dignity that comes with profiting from their talent and hard work. … The free-market system also provides the incentives that lead to prosperity -- the incentive to work, to innovate, to save and invest wisely, and to create jobs for others.” -President George W. Bush
In other words, free-market capitalism is the best path to prosperity.
A program called DC Six (Diamond Cut version 6) by Enhanced Audio might get what you want if the git box is primarily on one track. I bought my copy from a partnership of theirs Tracer Technologies. These are really good people and you could probably talk to them to see how good a separation you could expect.
http://www.tracertek.com
866 260 6376
In the old analog world the answer to your question is . . . no. You can tweak the stereo channels in order to help isolate one particular voice (I use the term "voice" in the musical sense of voicing), you can fiddle with the EQ to allow you to hear one part better, you can even slow down the machine if it's on vinyl or a reel to reel tape to try and figure out the intricacies of the music, but you can't truly isolate one part. In the digital world, though, I'm not really sure what some fancy equipment might be able to do.
By the way, I'm not trying to be nit picky here but the term for listening to a piece of music and writing down one or more of the parts is transcribing not transposing. Of course if, when you're transcribing the piece, you're also changing the register or key from the original, then you'd be transposing it as well.
Finally, (and I may be going out on a limb here with regard to copyright protection) I believe that if you transcribe a piece for yourself with no intention of publishing it, you not in violation of anything.
I agree w/your last note 100% You can transcribe anything for your own use, just not market it for sale.
I suggest BB just google the tunes he is after and follow the tabulature. Often it is fraught with sloppy mistakes, but it's enough to get one in the ball park as far as chord progressions and some of the hammer ons and pull offs that may punctuate a given work.
Most of those transscriptions are worded as "authors own work and may contain errors or ommissions" and are not in violation of any copyrights.
As far as disecting a guitar track or other ingredient, he also has to consider wha other effects were used either during the recording or after when it was mastered. I mean a chorus pedal sounds like 3 guitars, and ad sustain or pitch bends, and some tracks are impossible to recreate exactly with out that same equipment.
My son says you need an equalizer
http://www.freedownloadscenter.com/Multimedia_and_Graphics/Misc__Sound_Tools/Power_Sound_Editor_Free_2009.html