Yes, I know I am a guitarist but I’ve loved the violin for a very long time now and have been very fascinated with violin pedagogy for some years now. In my own spare time, I do a lot of research on classical violin pedagogy. I’ve interviewed a number of violinists and violin teachers and for an instrument with such a rich pedagogical history, I was very surprised to learn that still today there are lots of misconceptions and highly contradictory information being passed around. This intrigued me greatly, and it made me want to investigate it more. I came to understand that violin pedagogy for many teachers is almost like a cultural tradition, where knowledge is passed down from teacher to student with very little independent research or questioning of why one does X […]
Author: denischang
The art of transcribing – Part 6
As always, be sure to read parts 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. I am now switching to a video format for some of these blogs. You can listen to it as if it were podcast, since the video isn’t too important in this one. In this video, I show you how I figure out music 100% by ear without any instrument or reference other than the music. This is an important aspect of ear training; it is essentially listening to music intelligently by engaging your mind. People often ask which solos they should transcribe. That’s not the right way to think about it. When it comes to developing one’s ear, one should generally go for what one likes. Since you and I may have different tastes, it wouldn’t be advisable for you to figure out […]
The art of transcribing – Part 5
As always, be sure to read parts 1, 2, 3, and 4. It’s been a while! In this one, a fellow submitted a transcription of Django Reinhardt for critique. By and large, it was a good job, but there were certain ornaments that were not correct but that are very typical of Gypsy musicians. In the Gypsy community, there are certain subtle techniques that they subconsciously do that many people outside their community miss or misinterpret. Some of them are revealed in this transcription. I often show a lot of these to my homestay students who want to work on sound and technique. What’s that you say? Homestay lessons? Want more info? Click here! One of the most important lessons to learn from Django Reinhardt is to understand how he thinks. He often thought in […]
Choosing the right guitar for Gypsy Jazz – Part 1
I get quite a lot of emails from people all over the world asking me for advice on which Gypsy Jazz guitars to buy. While it is true that Gypsy Jazz guitar construction is unique and quite different from what the majority of guitar luthiers are used to, I feel that some of the advice I would give would be the same for just about any kind of acoustic instrument. Unfortunately, the answer isn’t so simple. The good news is, nowadays, while still a niche market, Gypsy Jazz guitars are now mass-produced at very attractive prices. There are a few competing brands out there and, in my opinion, not only are they quite decent for the price, they have excellent resale value. I would almost always recommend buying one of these guitars to start out […]
The art of transcribing – Part 4
As always, be sure to read parts 1, 2, and 3. In this fourth part, we will be focusing on transcribing solos where the timing is not always in sync with the rhythm section. This can prove to be a huge challenge. It requires a strong foundation in music theory, and a strong knowledge of the idiom, which in this case, is straight ahead jazz. When I mean that the timing isn’t in sync with the rhythm section, I don’t necessarily mean this in a negative way. When it comes to good musicians, this floating time is often intentional. In this particular instance, we will be looking at a solo by Swedish jazz guitarist Ulf Wakenius. This is from volume 3 of his lesson series available at DC Music School. Ulf Wakenius is known for playing […]
The art of transcribing – Part 3
As always, be sure to read parts 1 and 2. In this third part of the art of transcribing, I want to show you one of my processes of transcribing directly from a video source. In this instance, I am transcribing directly from my video editor (Final Cut Pro X). Any video player that can slow videos down without changing the pitch will do. I’ll admit that there are way better softwares out there for transcribing than FCP X but I’m just lazy! One of the major advantages of transcribing directly from the video is that you can get the fingerings as you are figuring out the notes. In my previous article, I imported the audio portion of the video into my DAW. When would I use one workflow or the other? I generally transcribe […]
The art of transcribing – Part 2
Be sure to read the first part of this article series. Click here. In this article, I will focus on the transcription work that I do for DC Music School (I’m the owner, in case you haven’t figure it out). I am starting to be able to afford a small team of transcribers and hope that one day my business grows enough that I can hire an even bigger team of sub-contractors! For anyone that is interested in potentially working for me, I can’t guarantee work but I’m always happy to expand my list of potential transcribers. Just so that no one’s time is wasted. I can only hire people who are very familiar with Sibelius, and have a strong knowledge of notation conventions. Otherwise, please read this article and watch the video below to see if […]
The art of transcribing – Part 1
Hello folks! This year, I’ve pretty much been transcribing every single day. As many of you know, I am the owner of DC Music School, where I produce videos for many wonderful musicians. I get them to play a bunch of stuff, and then I transcribe it. The vast majority of people using this site are incredibly patient and understanding that making transcriptions is an extremely long and mind-numbing process. To these people, I say THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! I can’t say it enough times, how much I appreciate your support and your patience. Many of you know that I have sacrificed a huge chunk of my personal life and musician career in order to transcribe. However, there’s also the 0.1% who send me messages asking when the TABs will be ready. I […]
Gypsy Jazz Guitar Technique: Wasso’s Waltz
Would you like to live in Montreal and study guitar with me? click here! Click here to watch a performance of this waltz. It’s not often that I have time to practice guitar, but I was hired to create a backing track for a waltz by Dutch Gypsy musician, Wasso Grünholz. So I took the day off yesterday from my usual routine to practice and record this challenging piece. I went the extra mile by recording the twin lead parts so that I can share my transcription with you guys. For those who don’t know him, Wasso Grünholz is the uncle of Stochelo Rosenberg (the brother of his mother). He is related to many of the best Gypsy musicians; his father was Latscheben Grünholz, whose brother was Piotto Limberger. Piotto’s grandson is Tcha Limberger. In Gypsy […]
iRealBook: the double-edged sword
We live in an incredible era for musicians, where we have instant access to an incredible wealth of information that wasn’t available just 15 years ago. All this, thanks to various technological advancements. I can only wonder what further innovations await us! Every previous generation of musician uses the same line with the latest generation: “back in my day, we had to do X to learn to do Y”. For instance, a 35 year old musician today would tell a 20 year old: “when I was learning music, there was no YouTube, I had to learn from CDs”. The previous generation would say: “In my day, there were no CDs, I was learning from cassette tapes”. The one before that would say “I kept wearing down my records from repeated use”. There’s a famous story […]