The other day, longtime reader and provocateur Mark Spahn asked me (in a blog comment) what I meant by "transcribe," as in "I've transcribed 25 songs in the past year." Here's my answer. The first thing I do when I'm ready to transcribe a song is open a Word document and put the relevant song information at the top, as a title. (This requires a bit of research.) Then I locate the lyrics of the song in question on the Internet. I copy and paste the lyrics into the Word document. Then I put headphones on and play the song several times, checking the accuracy of the lyrics as I go.
When every word is in place, it's time to add the chords. I do this piecemeal. Many songs have "guitar tabs" on the Internet, but they're not always accurate. (Some are quite bad.) There is also sheet music, which is often helpful. After checking many sites, including YouTube (for lessons, cover versions, and band performances), I figure out the chords. When I do, I add them to the Word document in the proper places, usually in boldface type immediately above the lyrics. Finally, since there are different ways to play a given chord, I list the chords (as they are to be played) at the top of the document. This ensures that if I put the guitar down for 10 years (God forbid), I will be able to play the song immediately upon picking it up. If there are notes to be played, I add them as well.
So what does the transcription look like when I'm finished? Here is the song I completed today. It took me weeks to get to this point, and it may not be exactly right yet. But it sounds pretty good. I do not exaggerate when I say that the song has been playing in my head nonstop for weeks, even when I'm sleeping. I have a perfect version of it in my head. Check out this video, which I consider magical. The band comes out of the darkness, plays a magnificently perfect version of the song that makes my eyes tear up, and recedes into darkness. This is as close to religion as I get.
