I’m practicing my transcription skills - have any requests?

Hello Medium_Attempt

Thanks for taking a look at the fripp tune! - I’d love just the acoustic part if possible - but as you pointed out - it’s a bit tricky - so it’s no big deal if it’s not possible.

Oh yeah, strikingly awesome outro :love_you_gesture:

Do you also need these long notes tabbed out? I would assume that they aren’t that difficult to get down.
Whatever happens from 7:47 to 7:52 - that sounds messy. I assume this would be much more difficult to transcribe.

I can’t promise my tabs to be perfect. Perhaps I’ll be able to pin down the pitches but the fingerings and positions are really difficult to get without video footage. Or without extensive knowledge of the player’s musical habits.
Unfortunately, just by listening through casually I suspect that some pitches might be overshadowed by percussion or Axel.
And I don’t know anything about Slash’s preffered licks or positions. If there’s a live version featuring a recognisably similar playing in that spot, let me know :wink:

Anyway, I’ll definitely try to tab that bit.

No problem at all :slight_smile: I’ll do my best.
I planned to work on it today but few past days were ungodly hot where I reside and I’m unable to carry out human functionality in conditions like that. The weather should get a bit cooler in few upcoming days and I’ll get back to the business :wink:

2 Likes

Re: Slash’s solo, thanks for considering checking it out! Feel free to ignore the long notes. The solo is definitely buried in the mix - I always thought that was unfortunate. If you have time, I’d be curious what pitches you can discern in there. That’s always been my main difficulty with that part of the solo.

1 Like

@Medium_Attempt
If you are ready for a challenge I have one. The solo to Black Sabbath’s “Kill in the Spirit World.” I believe the tuning is Eb as is common of post-Dio Sabbath. It’s a blazing solo like “Lonely is the Word.”
Solo is from 2:15 - 3:00

1 Like

Hiya :slight_smile: :v:
I have reasons for my short absence but I don’t suppose anyone cares about that so I’ll just go right back to the business.

Here’s the business:

I’m not a GnR fan but wow! :eyes: This short run is totally awesome! Well, perhaps I made plenty of mistakes so I should say that what I’ve heard is awesome :blush: Anyway, awesome! :+1:

Some notes:

  • As always, I can’t be sure about positions/fingerings. However, what I wrote is playable, fun, and it sounds recognisably similar.
  • I indicated slides and legato based on how I play it. I rarely play slides or legato but in this case it makes sense and it feels quite natural to me.
  • Tempo is slow so notes are of rather small values and it may seem messy. Focus where the beat is. It helped me a lot from getting lost.
  • Second bar, second to the last note is D#/Eb which does not make too much sense but I really think that I hear it. Anyway, it’s in the middle of a triplet so it doesn’t matter too much.
  • Third bar: notice that third note is staccato. There is a short pause after it but the “pause” symbol makes it look messy.
  • Third bar, second grouping of notes: you can play legato but the last note (16th on G) should be more pronounced.
  • The last note: it made me to scratch my head a bit. I guess he simply jumps a position. I think I hear these pitches. You can try to play it at 16th on A string because four notes before that can be played as legato so your right hand will have plenty of time to navigate and switch strings.
  • Of course, you can arrange the fingerings and articulation as you wish. These are just my recommendations and I’m definitely not an authority on…on anything.

All in all, @Montreal543 thanks for the suggestion! :+1: I had tons of fun playing it.
Let me know what you think about it after you try it out :wink:

@shabtronic, I know that your suggestion came before November Rain. I tried to work on it but damn…the rhythm… :exploding_head: I’ll need some time to figure it out. If it’s even possible to cram it into some reasonable time signature and rhythmic values :dizzy_face:
Rest assured that I didn’t forget it :wink:

4 Likes

@Medium_Attempt, this is tremendously impressive transcription work! Thank you for taking a listen and coming up with that level of detail! I look forward to having a go at it tonight after work. I’m not a huge GNR fan either, but always loved this tune, its three solos, and of course the grandiose video!

Do you find that when you transcribe a song from an artist you aren’t necessarily a fan of, that you approach the transcription process differently than when you are a fan of the artist?

1 Like

@Montreal543, thanks for kind words :blush:

Nah, the actual transcribing process stays the same all the time.
The difference comes up when I’m transcribing something that I like vs something I don’t care too much.
When I get my hands (ears) on something I enjoy, I end up playing it for much longer than actually transcribing :grinning: That was the case with this November Rain run. It is really fun to play :+1:

The same problem arises when I try to compose something. I come up with something I totally enjoy and I end up playing that thing non-stop without actually finishing the tune. It’s an annoying feature of mine but at least I have some fun :shushing_face:

2 Likes

Hey @Medium_Attempt - it’s totally cool dude! Your service is free, it’s your time and I didn’t expect anyone to even contemplate tabbing that tune. It’s fantastic that you took the time to look at it, and it’s bonus if you manage to tab it, but it’s not the end of the world! - many thanks!

2 Likes

@shabtronic, thanks for being humane :slight_smile: I do appreciate humane humans. Inhumane humans is something I don’t want to be associated with.

Anyway, that piece is a challenge and I wouldn’t want to give up too fast. I really want to crack it just for my personal transcribing growth :muscle:

That being said, there’s one thing you wrote that I should comment:

Yes, I do this for free here but I landed a nice transcribing gig :star_struck: And that paid gig takes precedence over this free stuff. I think this is understandable :blush:

So I’ll come back to transcribe something from suggestions made here just whenever I’m free. Example: I was free yesterday but not before that. And I’m not free today nor few upcoming days.

Rest assured that I won’t forget this thread not only because I have some fun here but also because I strongly suspect that it might have served as my portfolio. And I’ve discovered some cool music thanks to these suggestions. And I aprreciate that this whole forum attracts humane humans :wink:
So, I’m honestly thankful for it all.
Keep the suggestions coming. I’ll definitely work on them whenever I can :slight_smile:

3 Likes

Congrats @Medium_Attempt on landing the transcribing gig - that’s awesome! Your work here is well appreciated - as proven by the length of this thread and all the requests people have continued to make! Btw, the November Rain solo phrase you recently transcribed sounds great. Probably the best I’ve seen, which includes all the other transcriptions out there on that tune (which I always thought were lacking some accuracy). I especially like the fingerings you selected, and you were able to hear a chromatic tone that eluded me for years, and that makes a big difference in how the whole thing sounds. I played back the album version and now can clearly hear it!

2 Likes

@Montreal543, thanks :blush:

I’m glad you found that November Rain phrase useful and I really appreciate the feedback. (positive as well as negative if it’s constructive)
Thanks for taking time to write it :slight_smile:

1 Like

Long time, no see. I have reasons for that but I’m sure nobody cares about them.

The stars have finally aligned and I’ve transcribed that Robert Fripp piece. And what piece that is…:exploding_head: It is really cool for practicing crosspicking and accuracy for switching strings. Awesome workout for picking hand :muscle:

At first, I was optimistic enough to notate it accurately. After some days of fury and frustration, I gave up that idea. I’m not sure whether it’s possible to notate it both accurately and readably.
So I bastardized and flat out defiled basically all the rhythms. There’s nothing saint left in these tabs.

And the pitches may be not perfect either. It’s funny (translation: frustrating beyond comprehension) how I sometimes could hear a pitch that fits some note and a semitone from that note at the same time. I thought that there’s only that one acoustic guitar playing but I guess there’s some more substance. There’s something else a bit deeper in the mix that adds some notes here and there. Anyway, the whole tune is mysterious and the tab is nowhere near accurate. However, it is readable and I could play along while watching my tabs. And it did sound at least ok :slight_smile: Be assured, you won’t be able to replicate the tune without actually listening to it. The tabs alone will lead you nowhere.
These tabs are just a rough guide and nothing more. (Keep that in mind before commenting on my primitive rhythms.)

As always, fingerings are just my personal preference. It’s is playable this way but I give no guarantees that Robert played anything in the positions I indicated. Speaking about fingerings, @shabtronic (or anyone else who will try this out) I can send you a GuitarPro file where you could easily change fingerings to your own preferred ways.

Sorry you had to wait for it so long but here it is:




I don’t think I’ll have much more free time than I had during this period of absence but I definitely want to transcribe the suggestions of dear forum members, so here I claim that I’ll do my best to transcribe at least one lick during a weekend. (No promises for work days. So basically, a lick per week.)
And please present short licks. One or very few bars would be great. (Most of the previous suggestions fit this.) I got a taste of transcribing for money and I think it’s understandable that I don’t want to spend hours upon hours transcribing for free when I could work on something for money or on advertising myself. I think I’m being reasonable :wink: That being said, I don’t have any plans to abandon this thread so please, keep the suggestions coming :v: Hopefully, you won’t have to wait for the tabs as long as @shabtronic had (sorry again :worried:)

3 Likes

OMG you did it man! that is AWESOME mate - thank you so much for that transcription!! My guitar is in pieces at the moment - so I’ll have a play with the transcription in a few days and give you some feedback. I love your story of transcribing it - ghost tones e.t.c. - probably from the friptronic synthy stuff. With this I have tried to play it in the past - switching into subconscious mode and letting my fingers float to positions sub thinks it played at - but it’s never ever worked - hence the probable non standard tuning!

1 Like

:smiley: Thanks for the comment :blush:

“Ghost tones” is a descriptive name. These sounds are really spirited away :smiley:

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention this. I arranged it for (and played it in) a standart tuning just because I assume most people use it. I don’t know too much about Robert but I seem to remember that he came up with NST (or something like that, tuned mostly in 5ths and then something else for higher strings) and I think he has used all 4ths tuning…? :thinking: Anyway, I have no idea what kind of tuning was used for this piece. If you want to see it in other tuning, it’s simple to change that with GuitarPro. Just let me know :wink:

And definitely let me know how it feels and sounds after you have spent some time with it. It’s definitely possible that I wrote something that not everyone would agree with. Especially regarding those “ghost tones” - tons of subjective choices were made by me.

And of course, fingerings/positions are debatable but it’s at least possible to play it the way I wrote it.

1 Like

Could you transcribe the rhythm guitar to the first minute or so of the incredible song? The first minute and 45 seconds would be ideal.