If you hear a fingerpicking song and want to be able to play it, a powerful and empowering way is to simply transcribe it yourself. It can be more or less tricky to figure out what is going on. However, here are 5 tips that can be helpful for you to decode a song.
First of all, you are in favor of some ear training and music theory knowledge. If this is something you wanted to ramp up and would like support with it, please contact me and I am happy to support you in developing these useful skills.
Alright, let’s jump into the juicy stuff!
1. Listen for harmony. Jot down what you hear on a music- or chord sheet. This will provide you with essential information about key, harmony, and structure.
2. Listen for the bass line. In fingerpicking songs, it is common to craft the bass line with chord notes, 1, 3, 5 and/or 8. The bass notes usually jump between one or the other in quite a structured way. For example, some common patterns for a 4/4 bar where every note is worth a quarter each (they are played on each beat), and the numbers represent the scale degree of a particular chord:
| 1 5 1 5 |
| 1 5 3 5 |
| 1 3 -4* 3 |
| 1 8 5 8 |
* -4 can be seen as the fifth below the 1/root note.