Professional Documents
Culture Documents
by Julian Bradley
WHAT DOES ‘TRANSCRIBE’ MEAN?
BEFORE WE BEGIN Throughout this book I use the word ‘transcribe’ often.
‘Transcribe’ means to identify notes and chords by ear.
PERFECT PITCH VS RELATIVE PITCH Whether you end up playing those notes at your
There are 2 ways to play music by ear - perfect pitch and instrument, or whether you just do the brain work and
relative pitch. Perfect pitch is the ability to recognize keep it to yourself - the process is called ‘transcribing’.
specific note frequencies - memorizing the sound of C, RECOMMENDED LISTENING
C#, D, etc. Few people have perfect pitch - you either It’s important to practice transcribing on the right level of
have it or you don’t, and generally speaking, you can’t music. For this reason, I’ve listed appropriate level songs
learn it. I do not have perfect pitch. throughout this book as ‘recommended listening’. These
Relative pitch however can be learnt by anyone, and is songs span a range of styles and tastes, but all make
taught at most universities / music colleges. In this book I perfect transcribing practice and feature the concepts
teach relative pitch. Relative pitch works by memorizing covered in this book. When a song title is underlined,
the sound of notes and chords within the context of the the text is a clickable link which will take you to the
key - the sound of the root, 2nd, 3rd, the I chord, the V band’s official video on youtube.
chord, and so on - all of which sound the same in every
GOOD SPEAKERS
key. But at the end of the day, you don’t know which key
It’s important to listen to music on good speakers which
the music is actually in - which is rarely of importance
allow you to hear the bass clearly. Since hearing the
anyway. The nice thing about learning relative pitch is that
bassline is essential to transcribing a song, avoid listening
you learn the rules of music at the same time - whereas
to music on laptop speakers, which cut out the bass and
perfect pitch doesn’t do that, it just hands you the answer
makes things unnecessarily difficult. Listen through proper
on a plate.
speakers or headphones instead.
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PA R t o n e COMING UP:
3 pillars of ear training
ear training fixed key learning
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THE 3 PILLARS
of ear training
How does playing music by ear work? There are 3 aspects
involved: 3. Interval recognition. Once you’ve identified a
1. Knowledge of Scale. Before listening to anything, familiar note or chord by ear, the final step is to track
you must memorize and understand the 7 note scale that where the music moves from then on, by listening to the
nearly all western music is written in. This means learning intervals it moves by - up a step - down a 3rd - up a 4th -
and so on:
the notes and chords which exist within the key like the
back of your hand - which chords are major, which are
minor, where the half-steps occur, and so on. This is 2/3rds
of the work, and attempting to transcribe music by ear
without studying the terrain beforehand is useless.
2. Note / Chord recognition. Learn to recognize a
few notes and a few chords by ear - hearing one of these
tells you where within the scale the music is. You don’t And that’s the gist of transcribing music by ear - 3 skills
have to learn all notes and chords by ear - in fact you only used in combination. In this book I cover each fully and
need to accurately identify one note or chord to pin point show you effective practice methods to master each.
your location within the scale:
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- nearly all are built using the same few notes and chords -
FIXED KEY LEARNING the one thing changing is usually the key signature.
Only when you line up every piece of music into the same
key, do you see that 95% of music is written using just 7
notes and 6 chords. Whether it’s a pop song, a country
2. Notes and chords sound the same every time you play
song, a tv commercial, or a Hans Zimmer film soundtrack
them. An essential part of playing by ear is learning the
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unique sounds of notes and chords within the context of these sounds in one key, then you’ll be able to notice
the key - the unique sound of the root, the 2nd, the 3rd, them in every other key - but first you must learn them in
the V chord, the vi chord, etc. All the time you spend one key.
playing in one key, the memories of these sounds builds up
I call this accelerated learning method ‘Fixed Key Learning’
- C sounds like the root every time, D sounds like the 2nd
- restricting my own playing to one key is what lead to my
every time - but as soon as you change to a new song in a
own accelerated ear development, and I’ve noticed the
new key, each note takes on a whole new sound within
same results in my students - the ones who tell me they
the new context - C now sounds like the 5th, D now
play and think mostly in one key have far superior relative
sounds like the 6th, and all the memories that had been
pitch than those who play in all keys.
building up are quickly smudged away, and replaced with
new ones. But your brain doesn’t know which ones to Prioritize training your ear first, because ear training is
trust, so ultimately each note ends up being a muddy mix king. Once you’ve made progress in ear training, it’s a
of memories - none of which stick: much simpler task to become fluent playing in other keys,
which can be learnt in a matter of weeks.
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STAYING WITHIN THE KEY
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So I’ll cross the first answer off my list, and come up with
a new theory. In our key of C major / A minor, the correct
answer actually looks like this:
If you play a note outside these (a black note) then you’ve So in my first answer I had the wrong starting note - the
changed key. If you’re transcribing a song by ear and its Bridal March melody actually starts on G, not C. When
melody seems to come out of the white notes, even for a played starting from G, it stays within the 7 notes of C
single note (a Bb, or an F# for example) then your answer major / A minor.
is wrong - the melody is somewhere else in the scale and
you’ll need to come up with a new theory - one which fits
within the notes of C major / A minor.
For example, say that I’m transcribing the ‘Bridal March’
melody (‘here comes the bride’), and I come up with this:
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MAJOR & MINOR ARE IRRELEVANT
THINK IN TERMS OF KEY
You might think that the first step when transcribing a
song would be to determine whether the music is major And the 7 chords found in the major scale are the same 7
or minor - but this is rarely necessary. Rather than chords found in the relative minor scale:
thinking narrowly in terms of ‘major’ or ‘minor’ it’s better
to see the bigger picture and think in terms of ‘key’. ‘Key’
refers to the 7 note scale that 95% of western music is
written in. Within these 7 notes both the major scale and
the minor scale exist - but the word ‘key’ refers to the 7
notes from a neutral perspective - it’s neither major or
minor.
This is why you can transcribe every major song and
C major scale and A minor scale are both made
every minor song within the same key - the major
from the same notes, and are called ‘relative’ major and
sections are in C major, the minor sections are in A
minor scales. The only difference between them is their
minor. Otherwise we’d need 2 separate keys - one for
starting notes - C major starts from C, A minor starts
major songs and another for minor songs.
from A:
MAJOR / MINOR = IRRELEVANT
Only a very small proportion of songs (2%) stay sounding
major throughout - think of nursery rhymes like ‘Mary
Had a Little Lamb’ or ‘Jingle Bells. Listen to these as
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though they’re in C major, and think of the 7 notes When the music is sounding major, I treat C as the root
starting from C. of the scale, and visualize all notes starting from C. And
when the music is sounding minor, I treat A as the root of
And an equally small proportion of songs sound
the scale, and visualize all notes starting from A. And I
exclusively minor - think of songs like Dave Brubeck’s
slide back and forth between these 2 perspectives
‘Take 5’ (the A section), ‘Cry Me A River’, or any rap song
continually:
which sustains a minor chord throughout. Listen to these
as though they’re in A minor, and think of the 7 notes
starting from A.
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INCREASED AWARENESS NUMBERING FROM BOTH PERSPECTIVES
Relative major and minor scales are always the same Within our key of C major / A minor, each of the 7 notes
distance apart, for all 12 keys - the relative minor scale can be numbered from either scale’s perspective - you
can always be found starting a minor 3rd below the major could number C D E as the root, 2nd, 3rd of C major
scale. I’m always aware of a major scale’s relative minor scale. But those are the same exact notes as the 3rd, 4th,
scale, and a minor scale’s relative major scale. If someone 5th of A minor scale:
says ‘C major’ - the first thing I think is ‘C major / A
minor’. If someone says ‘F major’ - I think ‘F major / D
minor’, and the same for all 12 keys. I can’t think of one
without the other - both are the same thing:
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RECOMMENDED LISTENING
observe the swaying major / minor effect:
what a wonderful world louis armstrong
Try Pink
Halo Beyonce
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answer - ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ - which prevents their brain
LISTEN / THINK / CHECK from having to work or improve - the same way that
relying on a calculator prevents you from improving your
arithmetic.
The most important concept in this book is to restrict
your playing / thinking to one key. The 2nd most LISTEN / THINK / CHECK
important concept is to practice ear training the right This is how to practice transcribing music by ear:
way:
Ear training is practiced predominantly AWAY from your listen Think Check
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recording - but just play your answer and your ear will
adjust to the new key within a few notes.
The goal is to think like this every time you hear music -
not just when you sit down to practice ear training. Every
time you hear music, start dissecting every note and
chord as you hear it. When listening to the radio, when
you’re at a coffee shop or restaurant, when you’re
watching a film, when a car drives by playing music, when
someone’s ringtone goes off - your brain kicks into
‘transcribe mode’ every time.
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MAJOR & MINOR ARE IRRELEVANT
PART I SUMMARY Determining whether a song is major or minor is rarely
necessary. Most music sways back and forth between
fundamentals sounding major and sounding relative minor, every 2 - 3
chords - C major - A minor - C major - A minor. So
FIXED KEY LEARNING instead of thinking narrowly of a song as ‘major’ or
The fastest way to develop relative pitch is to restrict ‘minor’, see the bigger picture and think in terms of key -
your playing to one key, for a sustained period of time. ‘C major / A minor’ - a song in C major will probably
Doing so reduces the amount of visual distraction spend just as much time sounding like it’s in A minor -
encountered when switching keys. It also ingrains the both share the exact same notes and chords.
sound of each note and chord, which sound the same
LISTEN / THINK / CHECK
every time you play them within that key. Once these
Avoid transcribing songs using your instrument - doing so
memories have built up, you’ll be able to notice these
has no long term benefit for your brain and only prevents
same sounds in every other key - but first you must learn
your ear from developing. Instead, practice transcribing
them in one key.
songs away from your instrument using a 3 step process:
Throughout this book, I teach all concepts within the key
Listen - listen to the music as many times as you need.
of C major / A minor. Live, breathe, think, compose, play,
and transcribe all music in this key, at least for the Think - use the techniques in this book to dissect every
duration of this book. When transcribing music by ear, note and chord.
make sure every note and every chord is built entirely of Check - check your final answer by playing it at your
the white notes. Anytime you play a black note you know instrument.
you’ve broken out of key and need to test a new answer.
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PA R t t h r e e COMING UP:
6 PRIORITY INTERVALS
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then you can learn the sound of all 12 intervals. However,
THE 6 PRIORITY INTERVALS half of these intervals are rarely used - how often does a
melody jump by a 7th, or a 6th? In fact it’s rare to hear a
melody jump beyond a 5th in a single leap.
When a melody moves from one note to the next, an
interval is created between those 2 notes. ‘Interval’ refers The tritone is also rarely used, since it’s hard to sing and
to the distance between 2 notes - it’s a way of measuring sounds creepy.
the size of any gap. If you know at least one melody note Crossing these off the list leaves us with just 6 intervals -
(using techniques from the previous section), then you can
most melodies are built entirely from these which I refer
identify all other melody notes by tracking the intervals
to as the ‘6 priority intervals’, because they’re the priority
that note moves by: to learn by ear:
PRIORITY INTERVALS
Within the octave there are 12 intervals which exist: When transcribing melodies by ear, most of the time
you’ll be choosing between these 6. And in the rare
instance that a melody jumps by one of the non-priority
intervals, it’s possible to identify the leap using the 6
priority intervals, added together in various combinations
Each has its own size and sound, and can be learnt and - to be discussed soon.
recognized by ear. If you enjoy the challenge (like I do)
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DESCENDING INTERVALS
What about descending intervals? Don’t we need to learn
each interval ascending and descending? No. Many
musicians go through the trouble of trying to learn
intervals ascending and descending - but the truth is you
never have to identify a descending interval by ear, if you
don’t want to. When you hear the melody descend by a
leap, just sing the 2 notes repeatedly and think of them
backwards, in reverse order - bottom note - top note.
Then measure the interval as an ascending interval:
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Learning intervals this way is called ‘musical association’ -
LEARN INTERVALS BY simply associate each interval with a famous melody that
SINGING THEM features that interval in its first 2 notes:
else. By the time you can sing an interval, you’ve learnt it. Half-step Jaws theme
Humming and whistling are just as good. In this chapter I
Whole-step Happy Birthday
show you a range of singing exercises, varying in difficulty,
designed to ingrain the sound of intervals and make Minor 3rd Greensleeves
intervals fun and creative. Major 3rd Kumbaya
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Focus on the size and sound of the interval, and forget
about the reference song that you used to find the notes -
the goal is to learn intervals without relying on the
musical references all the time.
EXERCISE 2: HALF-STEPS / WHOLE-STEPS Once you can sing this scale, you’ve well and truly learnt
Of the 6 priority intervals, the half-step and whole-step the half-step and whole-step.
are the most important - most melodies move by step
SIGHT-SINGING
more than any other interval. Ingrain the half-step /
My favorite exercise of all is ‘sight-singing’:
whole-step by singing your favorite exotic scales:
Play a starting note on your instrument, C for example.
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Sight-singing is the one exercise in this book where I
encourage you to come out of key, and actually works
best if you travel freely through all 12 chromatic notes at
random. The trick when doing this is to focus on one
interval at a time. You must completely forget about the
past, as any previous notes lingering on in your memory
will distract you from the interval at hand:
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And here’s a melody you could sing to ingrain the 6
priority intervals:
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intervals is the easiest part, and feels intuitive - you don’t
THE STEPPING-STONE have to give much thought to it.
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For example, say you want to identify the interval in the Or say that you want to identify the interval in ‘Riders On
first 3 notes of Gershwin’s ‘Summertime’ with 100% The Storm’ by the Doors with 100% precision:
precision:
FINDING THE 5 TH
I’ll often double-check a 5th (to make sure it’s not a 4th,
which sounds similar), by singing up a major or minor
chord - both add up to a 5th:
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up the scale in step, adding up the whole-steps and half-
steps to find the complete interval.
QUESTIONS
Look at the following stepping-stone combinations and
workout the complete interval for each:
whole-step and half-step - well you could resort to singing ! 5. major 3rd + minor 3rd + whole-step
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ANSWERS:
! 1. 5th
! 3. 4th
! 4. major 7th
! 5. major 6th
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COUNTRY SONGS JAZZ
highway don’t care tim mcgraw summertime george Gershwin (melody)
sure be cool if you did blake shelton pure imagination jamie cullum
somewhere with you kenny chesney don’t stop the music jamie cullum
CLASSICAL
canon in d pachelbel
four seasons recomposed max richter
www .E A R T R A I N I N G E X P L A I N E D . com
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ROCK SONGS 60’S 70’S 80’S SONGS
miss you rolling stones Money Pink Floyd
When You Were Young The Killers learning to fly Pink Floyd
Brave New World Iron Maiden In The Air Tonight Phil Collins
I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For U2 out of touch hall & oates
www .E A R T R A I N I N G E X P L A I N E D . com
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GUITAR BASED SONGS R’N’B SONGS
Save Tonight Eagle-Eye Cherry My Love Is Your Love Whitney Houston
fields of gold sting version It’s Not Right But It’s Okay Whitney Houston
Everything Lifehouse
www .E A R T R A I N I N G E X P L A I N E D . com
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DANCE SONGS POP SONGS
days go by dirty vegas The power of goodbye madonna
Be Mine Robyn
handle me Robyn
www .E A R T R A I N I N G E X P L A I N E D . com 70