Hi, how do I start music transcription?

[eliza1976]

I love some pop songs from the radio, I wish to transcribe into piano music.

But how do I do that? Where should I start? What are the things I need to know??

[Bob]

Figure out whatever you can.

Melody.

Form.

Key.

Meter.

Lyrics.  That should be a doable one and give you a clear view of the form right away.

Is there a bassline?

(Can you cheat?  Is the music available?  Is there a MIDI file out on the internet?  Not that that's transcription, but it can get the results you want.  And it can help you along if you get stuck.)

[pianochick93]

What I used to do was to work out the melody, in whatever key I could. Then I would experiment with  chords into the left hand until it sounded right.That's about the furthest I got, because by the time I finished that, I was over the song.

[notturno]

It also helps if you can slow down the music to replay the tricky bits.    There are a number of programs that will do this on your computer.  The ones you pay for can usually slow down the music by 100%.  Winamp has a plug-in called "slow me down" that will slow the music down by 50% and keep it at the same pitch.  It is also free.

You'd have to convert the song to MP3 format first.  Just one bit of advice; when you convert a song from one of your CDs to MP3 format you'll want to set it to record at the highest bit rate, or highest quality.  Otherwise the music becomes a little garbled when you slow it down. 

Learning by ear is rather difficult at first, but it gets easier with experience.  It also helps you to develop an intuitive feel for how the different parts (melody, harmony, vocal lines) fit together, which helps when you want to write your own material.

[eliza1976]

HI, thanks for the above replies.

I have a Grade 5 theory cert, does that help?

or should I learn more than just classical piano? Should I take up Jazz piano, blues, etc?
or simply pop piano will help me alot?

[faustsaccomplice]

just get down the bass line and melody.  from there you can fill in the rest, and if you're off a bit, it will still sound like the piece in question.  but if the bass or melody are off...