Resources•6 min read
What Is the Circle of Fifths? A Plain-English Guide
The circle of fifths arranges all twelve keys in a ring so each step is a perfect fifth. Here is what it shows, how to read it, and the everyday jobs it makes faster.
Songscription Blog & Music Transcription Resources
Explore Songscription's guides to music transcription, sheet music, MIDI, piano roll, and AI-powered music learning, plus product updates and company announcements from the Songscription team.
Everything about getting notation you can read, edit, and print: making sheet music from a song, simplifying and arranging it for your level, and exporting a clean score to PDF or MusicXML.
Sheet Music
Resources•6 min read
Chord Inversions Explained: Root, First, and Second
A chord inversion is the same chord with a note other than the root in the bass. Here is what each inversion is, how they are written, and why players use them constantly.
Resources•6 min read
What Is a Chord Progression? Common Ones Explained
A chord progression is the sequence of chords a melody sits on. Here are the Roman numerals, the progressions worth knowing by name, and how to find them in a song.
Resources•6 min read
Funeral and Memorial Songs to Sheet Music
To get sheet music for a funeral or memorial song, transcribe the recording you want to play. Here is how to prepare the right version, in the right key, for the service.
Tutorial•7 min read
How to Turn a Melody You Hum Into Sheet Music
The tune in your head becomes a real recording the moment you hum it into your phone, and from there it can become notation you can read, edit, and share. Here is how to turn a hummed or sung melody into sheet music, even if you cannot play it on an instrument yet.
Tutorial•7 min read
How to Get the Guitar Chords to Any Song
Most guitar players learn songs from chords, but the chart you find is often wrong, missing, or in a key that fights your voice. Here is how to get the guitar chords to any song straight from the recording, then shape them into the capo position, voicings, or key you actually play in.
Tutorial•7 min read
How to Get the Ukulele Chords to Any Song
The ukulele makes almost any song approachable, but only once you have the chords in a key that suits its four strings and your voice. Here is how to get the ukulele chords to any song from the recording, then pick uke-friendly keys and simple shapes.
Resources•8 min read
How to Read Chord Symbols (Cmaj7, G/B, sus4, and More)
Chord symbols pack a whole chord into a few characters, and once you can read them you can play from a chart for any song. Here is how to read chord symbols, from plain triads to sevenths, extensions, suspensions, and slash chords.
Tutorial•7 min read
How to Transpose a Song With a Capo
A capo lets a guitarist change a song's key without learning new chord shapes: clamp it on a fret and your open chords sound higher. Here is how a capo transposes a song, which fret raises the key by how much, and how to find the position that fits your voice.
Resources•6 min read
What Is Concert Pitch?
Concert pitch is the shared reference that lets a band play in tune together, and the reason a trumpet and a piano reading the same note do not match. Here is what concert pitch means, which instruments play at it, and why transposing instruments do not.
Tutorial•8 min read
How to Arrange a Song for Guitar
Arranging a song for solo guitar means fitting the melody, the harmony, and a bass line onto six strings and two hands. Here is how to arrange any song for guitar, from choosing a guitar-friendly key to balancing chord-melody and fingerstyle, starting from a transcription you can edit.
Tutorial•8 min read
How to Arrange a Song for a String Quartet
A string quartet gives you four voices (two violins, a viola, and a cello) that can carry almost any song. Here is how to arrange a song for strings, from splitting melody and accompaniment across the parts to writing in each instrument's range and clef.
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