# Ear & transcription

TAB tells you what someone else heard. Working a part out yourself is slower the first time and faster every time after.

## The method

1. Pick something short — two to four seconds.
2. Sing it until you can sing it without the recording.
3. Find the first note. Hunt on one string, fret by fret.
4. Follow the shape: up, down or the same; step or leap.
5. Then the rhythm — count it against the beat ([Reading · rhythm](reading.md)).
6. Write it down as TAB, then play it with the recording and fix what is off.

Re-entrant tuning adds one trap: the G string is higher than the C string, so one pitch can live in two or three places. Hunt on one string first.

## Drill 1 — Match one note

A note plays somewhere in frets 0–7. Sing it, find it on the neck. The same note an octave away does not count.

## Drill 2 — Up, down or the same

Two notes. Get the direction before the distance.

## Drill 3 — Copy a phrase

A short line from the C major pentatonic (C D E G A) in first position. Work it out, then reveal the TAB.

## Then a real record

Pick a tune whose melody stays in one place on the neck. Loop the first phrase, run the method, write the TAB on paper, and only then check a published one.

## Ready when

- Find a single sung or played note on the neck in under ten seconds.
- Get the direction of two notes right nine times out of ten.
- Write out at least one real melody by ear and play it with the recording.