John Hendow

This past weekend I spent 10 hours transcribing and practicing my guitar parts for the upcoming DMQ Halloween Show. We are adding six new songs plus bringing back some favorites. For the new additions I had to start the with the song in the original recorded key and transpose it to an appropriate key for our vocalist. Whenever I am faced with this kind of task, I’m very glad that I studied music in college, and that I have some technology to help make part of the work a little easier.

1. The first step was taking each song from its original CD and converting it to MP3. This is really just for convenience as the file size is much more manageable during all the steps that follow. I used iTunes to rip the CD tracks to decent quality MP3s.
2. Then I imported the MP3s into Sony Vegas. Although this product is aimed at digital video editing it also has good multitrack audio editing capabilities, and it’s on my main computer at home so it’ s fairly convenient for quick work like this. There is a handy plugin that can change the pitch of the songs without changing the audio duration. Once this is done, I export the edited file as a new MP3.
3. Then I open up MuseScore, a free notation program that is becoming my favorite tool for writing charts. It has the capability to handle complex multipart scores, but I primarily use it for creating standard notation charts for my guitar parts. Once I had written out the parts in MuseScore, the next step was proofing the chart. The software can actually play the notes, which isn’t great-sounding given the weak MIDI implementation in my computer, but at least the notes and durations are right.
4. Finally, it’s woodshed time! I spent about six hours working through my charts, programming tones, and practicing the mechanical execution of the parts.

Some of the songs we are doing were originally recorded in “guitar-friendly” keys, allowing the player to use open-string voicings for ease of performance. In the keys we’ll be playing, these parts suddenly become quite challenging with awkward chord voicings and difficult stretches. I don’t like to use a capo and have never owned one! If I can’t get smoothly work out the performance aspects of these guitar parts, I might consider retuning a guitar especially for this set.

The guitarist who recorded the parts on these original recordings typically plays a Gibson Les Paul through a Marshall amp. His tone is pretty distinctive. I will use my Les Paul for this set, but since I play a Boogie Lonestar (voiced more like a vintage Fender Twin), I’ll need to use a pedal to emulate the big dark tone of a Marshall. It’ll be the ZVEX “Box of Rock” that will help me dial this in.

We’re also working on costumes for the artist being featured this year. We always have fun preparing this material and I’m sure this year’s show will be blast. Come on out and join us for a night of fun music!