I’ve been working on a phrase from Antonio Hart’s saxophone solo on Sketches of Selim by Anthony Branker & Ascent.
And this one has been kicking my butt.
I had to slow the recording way down just to start catching some of the notes and rhythms. Even then, getting the phrase under my fingers and making it sound anything like the recording has been a challenge.
But that’s exactly why I enjoy doing it.
Transcribing is like leg day for musicians. It’s not always pretty, but there’s a lot to gain from doing the work.
Transcribing Works More Than Your Ears
When people talk about the benefits of transcribing music, ear training is usually the first thing that comes up.
And for good reason. You’re listening closely, trying to recognize pitches, rhythms, and musical ideas without having everything spelled out for you.
But your ears are only part of the equation.
Transcribing challenges you to develop your ear, rhythm, phrasing, articulation, tone, and technique together.
You’re not just figuring out what somebody played. You’re trying to understand how they played it well enough to reproduce it yourself.
And that involves a lot:
- Your ear: Learning to recognize pitches, intervals, rhythms, and musical ideas by listening.
- Your rhythm and time-feel: Hearing where notes sit against the pulse and trying to reproduce that placement.
- Your articulation: Paying attention to how notes begin, connect, and end.
- Your phrasing: Understanding how a musician shapes an idea rather than simply playing a sequence of notes.
- Your technique: Finding ways to execute phrases that might not come naturally under your fingers.
- Your tone: Listening closely to the sound, attack, dynamics, and character of each note.
What’s interesting is how these things start revealing each other.
You might hear a phrase correctly but struggle to play it because the fingering is unfamiliar. Or you might get all the notes right, only to realize that something about the rhythm still doesn’t feel like the recording.
Sometimes it’s not even obvious what’s missing.
You play the phrase. Listen back to the recording. Play it again.
Same notes. Different feel.
Now you’ve got something to investigate.
And that’s where a lot of the learning happens.
Something I Wish I’d Done More Often
Looking back at my earlier years playing bass, I spent a tremendous amount of time studying technique, scales, harmony, and music theory.
All valuable things. And I wouldn’t suggest abandoning any of them.
But I wish I’d spent a lot more time learning music directly from recordings.
After nearly a decade away from playing regularly, I’ve been spending more time transcribing short phrases. And I’m finding that this work is helping me make progress in ways that years of primarily studying technique and theory didn’t.
It’s not that those skills suddenly became less important.
It’s that transcribing gives me a reason to bring them together.
I can understand the harmony, recognize the notes, and have the technique to play them. But none of that automatically means I can make a phrase sound the way I hear it.
I still have to listen. Experiment. Adjust.
And sometimes go back to the recording because what I thought I heard wasn’t quite what was happening.
There’s a lot of musical information in those little details.
Not just the notes on paper. Not just the theoretical explanation. But the sound, the feel, and the way the musician puts everything together.
If you’ve spent years practicing individual skills but still feel like something is missing when you play, spending more time learning directly from recordings might be worth exploring.
And sometimes, that means sounding like 💩 for a while.
That’s part of the process, too.
You Don’t Have to Transcribe an Entire Solo
One thing I’ve come to appreciate is that you don’t need to transcribe an entire solo to benefit from the process.
A couple of measures can give you plenty to work on.
Find a phrase that catches your ear. Something that makes you want to stop the recording and hear it again.
Slow it down if you need to (although I try my hardest at first to not default to slowing things down). Sing it. Figure out the notes. Try to match the rhythm, articulation, and phrasing as closely as you can.
Then pay attention to what challenges you.
Maybe it’s an unfamiliar fingering. Maybe it’s a rhythm you wouldn’t normally play. Or maybe you’ve figured out all the notes but can’t quite capture the musician’s time-feel.
Whatever it is, spend some time with it.
You don’t need to solve everything at once.
And don’t rush past the details just because you’ve figured out which notes to play.
There’s a difference between knowing the notes of a phrase and being able to play it with the same feel.
That’s worth spending time on.
If you’re looking for more guidance on the process, I’ve also written about how to transcribe jazz solos without losing the music.
Want to develop your ear, phrasing, and musical ideas? Explore more in Musical Vocabulary.
Get Your Reps In
I still practice technique. I still study theory. But I’m learning to make more room for the music itself.
And one of the things I enjoy about transcribing is that it gives me a chance to work on so many aspects of my playing without separating everything into individual exercises.
I’m just trying to learn a piece of music that caught my ear.
Of course, that doesn’t mean it’s easy.
Sometimes the notes come quickly. Other times, I have to listen to the same few seconds over and over just to get close.
But that’s the work.
Whether you’re just starting to learn music by ear or you’ve been playing for years, there’s something to gain from spending time with the recordings and musicians who inspire you.
You don’t have to sound great right away. You don’t even have to finish the phrase in one sitting.
Just keep listening, experimenting, and getting those reps in.
Don’t skip leg day.