Life Is a Highway - Rascal Flatts
Hi guys, so I'm trying my hand at transcribing a bit more recently. I have found it so valuable even though I don't consider myself very good at it in yet. Like lots of guys the dots have come after and while I think I've got a good ear, I would love to see what you guys hear in the (first 30 seconds) of this song.
There are of course a lot of guitars going on, to keep it precise I am wondering how you would transcribe the octave guitar part along with the 5 chords in the prominent Rhythm guitar.
Bit of an experiment, please any constructive criticism on my chart and hope to hear/see what you have (and how you would write it !!!!)
Here is a great website I use if you don't have Amazing Slowdowner. https://www.dkthehuman.com/slowtube/
Some initial thoughts/queries I have about mine
Bars 1-4, It sounds like they are muting the G & E strings for the octave, marked by percussive X marks -
when I put these in it seemed very hard to read so I left it with just the G string muted. There must be a better way ........
This is how it looked with both string mutes added in but seemed too messy for my eyes although I would consider it more correct.....
Bar 4 - Slide & Vibrato
Not sure if the slide in beat 3&4 are notated properly. I think the note slides off on the very last 16th note of the bar here but not sure how to notate since the first beat of bar 5 is a rest..... I understand that on the recording this lick happens over the top of the octave, but for this exercise.....
Bars 5-12
Cheers guys
Greg
Hi Greg,
what a fantastic track to transcribe and your questions show that you are an experienced player since you are raising all the points that make transcribing expressions in guitar parts tricky to write and read.
Without listening to the track but looking at the work you have done, a few things come to mind that may be worth considering. Those are conventions that help recognising other players certain expressive techniques and help with reading busy lines.
Split the 8th note rest into two 16th so each beat is exposed separately, often when we learn to read we learn 1 beat patterns that we can recognise like words when reading a book. It also helps with keeping time since we can connect our eye with our inner timing.
If the notes are ghosted (muted) you can write the X in brackets (X) but alternatively you can write PM... and a dotted line. However that can be a little busy if the actual octave part is not muted. In this case a simple written instruction is totally fine: PM all percussive strokes for example.
3. If beat 3 and 4 the first two 16th are played as a slide you would write a diagonal line up or down.(see pic 3) The way notated would be a hammer on and pull off. (The slur indicated legato).
4. The other thing that can really improve the playing is by having the style and general guitar tone mentioned. i.e Rock (left hand side above or below the tempo), and clean guitar (between the two staves or above if space).
Keep up the great work and really looking forward what other guys have to say on this.
Stay safe,
Pete
This is a huge help thanks Pete & makes loads of sense now you explained the Legato as well .... onto the next one !!