Riffstation Play: Interesting Concept

[TapperMike]

Generally I don't get into "instant transcription" software.

I have but never fully realized the downloadable version, now a new version is available that transcribes songs on the fly from youtube.

 

http://play.riffstation.com/?v=XonFZjuyc6E

 

Then again remembering my youth as it was, back then all we had were our records and our ears.  Okay not entirely true we did have fake books that usually had poor transcriptions often in the wrong key.

 

This has been a fun little web app for me.  Simply pull up a youtube listing and riff station does the rest.  When you don't want to get serious about transcription and just want to knock out songs quickly and easily this is proving to be a wonderful...toy.

Edited July 23, 2014 by TapperMike

[john]

Hey

My issue with such things is not how it affects me, a seasoned old player that creaks while rock in' lol, but I can't help but think how much of an issue such software could be for new players. Training our ears is one of, if not thee most important lessons that we learn, and tools we develop as a musician. Such apps can seem like a timesaver, but tbh if you train regularly you can pretty well get the gist of any song within the first listen and a good deal of any detail you missed on the second.

More of an issue are the various other gifts that a well trained ear can give a songwriter. Although I can see convenience, and I am sure there are some benefits you could gain in using an app like this that are less obvious, I wonder about the effects it would have on long term development. Just a thought

Cheers

John

[TapperMike]

All very valid.

 

What's funny is that my ear training developed due to poorly written sheet music. I'd read a song and play along with it and a little voice in my head would be saying "This isn't right, why isn't this right?" I thought transcribers must have some super power and were so skilled beyond all else that they couldn't be wrong... Well I thought wrong and the more frustrated I became over not sounding like the record the further along the path to true ear training began.  But I didn't stop reading all sheet music as a result and part of that ear training and experience and general listening helped me when "interpreting" sheets.  The riffstation app is far from truth all the chords shown are "foot in the door" chords forms not to be taken literally (same with bad fake books) 

 

I used to teach guitar.  I was let go because I couldn't hold on to enough students. Back then working in a music store meant you taught by the half hour and part of your earnings went to pay the room rent for that half hour. Teachers were a dime a dozen and no cost to the store owner. However it was income added to his business.  There were those types of students who needed little inspiration and mostly some guidance / instruction. They would take what you taught them, come back in a week, be happy to show off how they mastered it and showed me how they were using it.  There were students who applied themselves less and needed much more inspiration but caught on over time and you could see progress and pride follow. Then there were what I call "wish-a-be's"

 

Wish-a-be's those below wanna be's would show up and would retain nothing from the last lesson. Would want to watch you play more while not participating and would never practice the material I'd have to offer them.  I never felt my role as a teacher was to be a babysitter.  A few of the teachers I knew were exactly that.  They would keep the student on charging the student every week even though the student refused to apply himself/herself.  And hey, it's money. But I would often turn away these wish-a-be students and it left me with too few students to teach.  These students would have everything available to them (at the time) and use little to none of it to better themselves.

 

The same goes on today.  There are apps that promise to do everything including "write the music for you"  like cringe... songsterr. No it won't make them songwriters or performers or "real musicians" mostly it's something that is there to pass the time.

 

Now that I've played riffstation for a day or two here's my takeaway.

 

There are songs that used to be part of my repertoire back in the 70's they were some of the first songs that I'd ever played. They helped me get my act together with rhythmic patterns, changing chords, developing a sense of melody and singing. I played those songs everywhere.  Brought my guitar to high school, played on the grounds. Brought my guitar to parks, met girls singing those songs. played them at my girlfriends, campfires, and trying out for bands.  Many I haven't played since the end of the 70's.  All that time playing those songs that were eventually replaced with other songs and... I couldn't remember the early ones.  So I saw a video on youtube.. plugged it into riffstation it was instant recall. As soon as I saw the chords I remembered the song (for the most part) And happy to play and sing along.  It was great fun for me.  I don't have the records for those songs anymore nor do I have the sheet music.  Although way back when I had both.  Could I have easily found the score or a video online and sat down to figure out the song without riffstation.  Well yes.  As easily and having instant gratification,,,no.

 

On the negative side of things the display is not laid out like a sheet.  Big pill button boxes sliding by aren't the same as being able to see the sheet in front of you.  So while I could play along with the display I couldn't retain as well when I walked away.  That's a very negative.  For me, the purpose of learning a song is to learn the song all the way through well enough to perform it without looking at the sheet. After that other qualities can come from it which can enhance one's writing skills or other skills.

 

So it's a nice little program that could be used effectively to enhance one's repertoire if one already khat to look for.  Same as the crappy sheet music many have to endure. Even more advanced tools such as guitarpro http://www.guitar-pro.com/en/index.php and same with any tool for learning songs much depends on the development of the musician learning the song and the transcriber.  Some G-pro songs are quite terrible in regards to accuracy while others are amazingly true to form.  Having the education/discipline to know the difference takes time effort understanding.

 

Does this make me lazy as a musician to use such a tool? I've got ears, I've got experience, I've got knowledge. Maybe, it does.  Then again maybe it doesn't as I do have wisdom which I apply when working out a song and I do have to apply that.  And maybe it doesn't because I do take the time to walk away from the monitor and see what I've really learned along the way and faced with that empty moment of what goes here it forces me to think out what I'm missing.