Tradlessons.com

I have a system I use to learn tunes that works very well for me, thought I’d write it down in case anyone else would find it useful. I happen to use a Windows XP based system, but a similar procedure would work for Mac since all the hardware and software I use is cross-platform.

I’ve been using “Transcribe” by Seventh String Software as my primary tool for learning tunes for many years. It is now up to version 7 and available for Windows, Mac, and Linux systems at:

www.seventhstring.com

Price is very reasonable at $50.00, with even lower volume pricing, includes free updates.

It is able to slow down tunes without changing pitch, or change pitch without changing speed all at very high quality. The user interface shows a waveform of the tune. You can select sections of the tune with the mouse, and drop markers using the keyboard while the tune is playing to help with isolation of A/B/C sections:

Step 1: Find a recording of the version of the tune you want to learn either on CD, online recording, YouTube video, or on iTunes. The goal here is to end up with a .mp3 file of the tune.

Best case scenario is you find a version in a non-protected .mp3 or .wav file.

If the tune is only available on iTunes, since the audio file is protected you have a few options to get an unprotected .mp3 version of the recording:

Option 1: Export the tune to an audio CD, then rip the audio CD back to non-protected .mp3 format

Option 2: Run audio recording software and record the output of your computer sound card while playing the file in iTunes. This generally requires that you start recording before launching iTunes, as iTunes will disable the ability to start recording once it starts running. Save the file as a .mp3 or .wav file.

Option 3: If you have an iPod, transfer the file to the iPod, plug the headphone output of the iPod into the line-in input on your sound card, then record the file in realtime.

If you don’t already have an audio editor (I like Sony SoundForge), check out Audacity, an open source sound editor available for both PC and Mac:

audacity.sourceforge.net

Step 2: Launch Transcribe and load the .mp3 or .wav file

Step 3: If the tune isn’t in concert pitch (i.e. Eb flute or flat concertina or pipes), use Transcribe’s transposition feature to adjust the coarse pitch and fine tuning to match your practice instrument.

Step 4: Play the tune in Transcribe, and while it is playing, use the “S” key to drop section markers at the beginnings of each of the parts of the tune.

Step 5: Now that you have adjusted the tuning and set markers, save the Transcribe settings for the tune using the “Save” option on the “File” menu.

Step 6: Set the playback speed to 50% (or 70%) by clicking on the preset tempo buttons at the top of the Transcribe window. Enable looping by clicking the loop button at the top of the window.

Step 7: Click on one of the markers you previously set, the display will scroll to the marker. Click in the waveform at the marker position and drag to the next marker and release. You have now highlighted one section of the tune.

Step 8: Click “Play”. The section of tune between the markers will play and repeat forever. Adjust the speed as required. If your mouse has a scroll wheel, you can hover over the speed display at the top of the window and change the speed by moving the wheel.

Step 9: Repeat steps 7-8 for each of the sections of the tune. You can also select through multiple sections of the tune or repeat the whole tune if you’re doing well.

Step 10: After doing this for as long as you can tolerate, I’d suggest a minimum of 10-15 minutes, save your settings and go do something else for a while.

Step 11: Come back after a few hours, and try to play the tune without the recording. If you’re like me, you will probably not have a clue how it starts at first. Just keep trying, play a few notes, just keep at it for at least 5 minutes before giving up. Once you can get it started, probably 50% of the tune will come back to you.

Step 12: Repeat steps 7-8 for each of the sections of the tune for another 10-15 minutes, and go away for a few hours or overnight.

At this point, just keep periodically reinforcing the tune by practicing the tune a minimum of daily until it becomes second nature.

I’ve had great success using this method for learning tunes, hope you’ll give it a try.

Cheers,

Michael