transcribing jazz voicings

[Root_of_it_all]

hi
ive read it is really good to transcribe and so i tried doing some jazz today. ive been transrcibing simple stuff for years but jazz chords are more complex. so i took 2:31 from Michael BUbles version of Can't buy me love but the chords are so srunchy i just cant work out what the pianist is doing. its the same with a lot of jazz. in this case, i worked out the top (most prominant note) note of each chord, and the descending bass line, but i just couldnt put the other notes together to make chords that sound anything like the recording. any advice?
thanks

[Antonio Mazzei]

i have only one book of Buble, but that song isnt here.. i can share you a voicing paper that my jazz teacher made, its a good helper.. ill scan it later for you.

[DougN]

When transcribing jazz, you should look at the bass line first, which you did, as well as the melody. From that point, you should ask yourself, what type of progression is the bass line outlining? Start simple! Think ii V I. I can't say that I'm familiar with the piece you are describing, but if you know some jazz theory about chord progressions, you could probabally figure out the basic structure of the song, than go from there.

[Liquid Shadow]

Part of it is that you just have to be familar with jazz harmony too. Like if someone was playing a Bb13 chord voiced as Bb and F in the left hand and then G, Ab, C, and D in the right, I would probably never have figured it out before I started playing jazz. You sort of develop an ear for that stuff just from experience. And it's not like I could call out the chord just by hearing it, it would take a few seconds to figure out the exact voicing and whatnot...but like I said, it's just experience.


You're on the right track though. Once you figure out the root of the chord and the top note of the voicing, then you just start filling in the rest. Try to figure out the chord function and what type of chord it is. Is it a dominant function? Or passing chord into something else? etc etc etc. Also major vs. minor and all that. Then you have to try to find any extensions of the chord...9ths and 13ths and such. Sometimes that will be the top note...a 13th always sounds neat if you have the rest of the dom7 spelled out below it.


Also, any alterations to the chord tones and extensions. Flatted 13th and/or 9th, or a sharp 9. Dominant 7th chords are augmented sometimes too...or also contain a b9 (which resolves down to 5 of the chord it is dominant to...nice sound there). Diminished chords too. And then you get into slash chords and polychords and all that craziness...stuff that you will rack your mind trying to explain the theory behind and give a name to.

[Root_of_it_all]

thanks guys. yeh ive been studying jazz and playing jazz piano for almost 2 years now and know the harmoies. as far as im concerned the piece is in Bb min, and the bass line goes quickly from a Bb to (this is where the chords begin): Ab, G, Gb, F and then Bb. i cant work out the chords on them. i know that on the F the chord , ithas like a b9 a b13 and i think a +9 so it is baiscally an alt, which makes sense as we are in Bb minor, and then the next chord on Bb is Bb minor. but im stuck on the Ab G and Gb, because the piano chord that the pianist is playing, sounds the same each time, but he could be subtly changing it, and its quite srunchy and so hard to work out. i mean i can definetely hear an Eb note on each of the chords above the Ab, G and Gb bass. and the brass play an Ab on each of those chords. just dont know where to go from there.

[Root_of_it_all]

i have only one book of Buble, but that song isnt here.. i can share you a voicing paper that my jazz teacher made, its a good helper.. ill scan it later for you.
id appreciate that antonio!!:smile:

[Liquid Shadow]

If you can record just that section of the song and post it I can try to help out. I don't own any of his material so I don't have it available to listen to on my own.

[tuggy]

if you didn't work on jazz before, try some jazz harmony books, and get a real book. It's all about training your ear, after a while it goes like this: "hmm, nice b13 chord".