How to go about tabbing a song

Rocker

I am trying to learn the outro solo of Ride On by Christy Moore. It is recorded in the key of C minor AFAIK, I want to get the notes down on paper with the aim of transposing to the key of E minor. I did extensive Googling but any hits were no help and some were wrong anyway.

Is there an easier way than playing a couple of notes of the track, pausing the replay, finding same notes on my guitar and writing them down. Then go back and check the accuracy of my hearing and redo or continue on....

All help and guidance much appreciated. Thanks.

JAYJO

If you carry on doing what you are doing imo you will learn a lot more than just the song you are after.

Roland

Rocker said:

... Is there an easier way than playing a couple of notes of the track, pausing the replay, finding same notes on my guitar and writing them down. Then go back and check the accuracy of my hearing and redo or continue on....

That is the easiest way, and as @JAYJO says you will learn about transcription as you do it. There is software you can use to write it down, and play back what you’ve written to check your note durations, but it’s more effort to use.

Grunfeld

Rocker said:

Is there an easier way than playing a couple of notes of the track, pausing the replay, finding same notes on my guitar and writing them down. Then go back and check the accuracy of my hearing and redo or continue on....

That whole process can be made massively easier with dedicated software. 

It takes the hassle out of the "click, play, write, pick guitar up and put it down" rigmarole.

It does not actually tell you what notes to write or anything, your ears still have to do that.

Transcribe! -- currently about €34 -- worth it if you're going to do any transcribing or learning.  Brilliant.

mrkb

Agree with using Transcribe- you can loop sections (at any speed), remove other frequencies to isolate the guitar better, it will suggest notes from selected audio sections - makes learning to transcribe much easier.

mistercharlie

I use AudioStretch on the iPad. It’s a playback and slow-downer app, and the big touch-screen makes it easy to narrow in on tricky parts, and to slow them down.

Transcription is an amazingly useful skill to have. It’s not only about picking notes. You’ll also learn to identify chord types, and to quickly recognize scale and arpeggio shapes. It’s invaluable imo, and doing it ‘manually” will not only teach you more, but in the end you’ll be quicker than any machine. 

Rocker

I worked on the piece yesterday by "playing a couple of notes of the track, pausing the replay, finding same notes on my guitar and writing them down".  The solo is played on a slide guitar and my notation has lots of bends.  TBH I did not get the notation anywhere near 100% accurate but the result is close enough to sound fairly right.  It now comes down to the issue of timing - it is quite a slow piece, probably the slowest I ever tried to play.  Getting that right is my next challenge.

As I indicated in the OP, the song is in C minor and I want it in E minor.  This is easily achieved by sliding the requisite notes 'up' the fretboard, though I will see if it can be played closer to the nut.  My cousin sings the song in E minor and I want to surprise him when we get together to play [murder?] a few songs.  Thanks again for all the suggestions guys.  The task as I went about it is a bit of a slog but at least I got the result I needed.