How to Transcribe: The Lead Sheet

So in this next part on tabbing stuff out and transcription, we’re going to look at the “Lead Sheet”. Firstly, what even is a “lead sheet”? …and how does it help you to transcribe? Well, it doesn’t directly tell you how to transcribe, and nor does it improve your skills. However, if you read on I’ll tell you just why “lead sheets” are so important for transcription.

What is a “Lead Sheet”

If you’ve ever come across this term before, it’ll probably be in a Jazz context. No, we’re not going to have to study Jazz to be able to transcribe (although it wouldn’t hurt…). There is a reason, though, that Jazz guys like to use lead sheets- because they’re designed to outline the main parts of a song.

In a Lead Sheet, you will have:

• The Main Melody (aka “head” in jazz circles)
• The Chords
• Sometimes there will also be the part (or all) of the bassline
• …and sometimes you will find some of the main riffs written out

Why is that important?

The whole reason I’m bringing this up is because it’s exactly the way you need to think when you’re tabbing out a full song. When you listen to a song, almost everything you hear will fit into one of those sections: melody, chords, or riffs. The main exception to this is the drum part- just be aware that if you hear drums, that’s rhythm, yeah?

…sorry maybe that’s not too clear…

What I’m going to do is: break everything down into sections of a full piece. We’ll go through:

• transcribing the melody
• then figuring out the chords (or riffs)
• then we’ll look at transcribing the rhythm (drums etc.)

Of course, you can start with whichever one of those sections you want- but just be aware that they all come together to create the final piece. After we’ve looked at each element individually, we’ll work on getting the structure of the song (“verse – chorus – solo” pattern etc.)

Until then, next week’s post will be on working out the melody (including tips on improving your interval recognition and listening skills!).
Rob.

June 3, 2011 at 4:44 pm | Developing Your Ears, How to | No comments