The only instrument I know how to play and transcribe for is the piano.

Is it different for other instruments say the violin / guitar / bass? If so, how?

I was testing this piece for the violin the other day and my friend said she couldn't play some notes or it sounded weird?

Violin and piano are both concert pitch instruments. There shouldn't be any need for transcribing, unless I'm misunderstanding something here.

What did she really say? That she couldn't play some notes or that it sounded weird? It has to be one or the other.

If it's the former: Did you instruct her to play the melody line and ignore other notes? Was it within the violin's pitch range?
If it's the latter: Did it sound right?

What did she really say? That she couldn't play some notes or that it sounded weird? It has to be one or the other.

If it's the former: Did you instruct her to play the melody line and ignore other notes? Was it within the violin's pitch range?
If it's the latter: Did it sound right?


Err let me rephrase my question:

I basically transcribed a song for piano and then I put violin as the instrument name on the sheet. There are chords and stuff but my friend said there are no chords in violin o.o? (I know nothing of other instruments). And then at one point she said these notes are too low for the violin.

It's essentially the same as the piano music (read, no transposition). The only difference is keeping the music in range of the violin, and finding the melody in the piece and extracting the correct note from chords. You should be able to do this while playing it pretty easily by kicking the notes that are below the violin's range up an octave, and following the melody as you're familiar with.

Also, violins can play chords. It just requires a curved bow (http://www.rosewhitemusic.com/cage/texts/bachbow.html).

I basically transcribed a song for piano and then I put violin as the instrument name on the sheet.
lol. That's the funniest thing I've read in a while, thanks. =D


There are chords and stuff but my friend said there are no chords in violin o.o? (I know nothing of other instruments).
Double stopping is possible (a 2-note harmonic interval), but since the strings are tuned a perfect fifth apart, any harmonic intervals have to be fairly close to 7 +/- 2 or 4 half-steps, depending where on the fingerboard one is double-stopping and also the violinist's skill level. (This is just approximate, I know many violinists will disagree with my half-step numbers)


And then at one point she said these notes are too low for the violin.
Violin can go down to the G a perfect fourth below middle-C, unless you detune, and you can't detune much before you run into problems. So, just consider G the lowest note.


So with all that said, you should probably just figure out a way to get your violinist friend a single line melody and take away the harmonic notes. They aren't going to be able to play chordal piano sheet music on their violin.

OH I SEE LOL. Thanks guys.

One more question, what about for the guitar and bass?

I always see "tabs" for guitars, is that just like how some people tell out the chord name for piano? aka n00b way?

Whats the range for guitars and bass? And are their chords for them as well?

One more question, what about for the guitar and bass?

I always see "tabs" for guitars, is that just like how some people tell out the chord name for piano? aka n00b way?
I suppose tabs could be considered most useful for beginners, but they're useful for non-beginners too. Guitar and bass, like violin, are able to play the same note on a different string. Sheet music won't tell you which string to use, so tabs give you the shortcut by telling you the string instead of trying to fiddle around and guess which string would be the best for playing a particular note.

Of course, the best way to learn a piece of music is to learn the part by ear. I consider both tabs and sheet music to be untrustworthy unless they came straight from the composer, or if unless I'm the one who transcribed them. Even when I use sheet/tabs, I always listen to the actual music and I go note-by-note to confirm everything I'm seeing on the sheet. I usually spot at least a few errors, sometimes more, unless It's a simple low to non-polyphonic tune (such as a single-line melody, which is hard to screw up).


Whats the range for guitars and bass? And are their chords for them as well?
You can find this on Wikipedia, but I'll say it here anyway....

Range varies slightly depending on number of strings and number of frets. For a guitar, the lowest string is the E one ledger line below the bass staff on a non-transposed grand-staff. On an electric guitar, 6 strings and 21-24 frets is generally the standard, although other fret numbers are possible. As for strings, more and more recent guitars add a low B string for teh metulz. With 24 frets, a guitar would have a 4 octave range. Since frets are a half-step apart, then a 21 fret guitar will be able to do four octaves minus three half-steps. As a side-note, a classical guitar usually only has 19 frets.

The standard for bass is four strings and 21-24 frets. Like the guitar, the lowest string is an E, but the E is an octave lower than the guitar's lowest E. A low-B string is often added to make a 5 string bass, although rarely, one will have an added high-C string. A 24 fret bass will be able to go up to the G a perfect above middle-C, assuming the the highest string is G (which is standard on a 4 string). Even 6-string basses are becoming more popular, but 5 and 6's are still dwarfed by the number of 4's. Some people have custom 11-strings basses (which is crazy in my opinion).

Both guitar and bass can be detuned, although only 2-3 half-steps before the strings get too floppy. Even 3 steps is pushing it on many basses. Lowering only to D is more common. It's possible to re-string a bass or guitar with heavier strings , and those allow for lower tunings than usual (more mass gives more tension), although once restrung, it can't be tuned back up to the usual tunings, or you risk snapping the strings and/or warping the neck.

Here are the usual ranges, for easy reference (assuming E-standard tuning, 22-fret guitar 6-string guitar and 24-fret 4-string bass)- Guitar: E2 to D6 (3 octaves plus 10 half-steps) Bass: E1 to G4 (3 octaves plus 3 half-steps)


And are their chords for them as well?
Yes, and the number of notes of polyphony are only limited by the number of strings. So a 6-string guitar can play six harmonic (simultaneous) notes. A bass can also play chords, although chords generally sound muddy in the bass range, so it's normal to only have one note ringing at a time when playing a bassline. An exception is soloing, where playing either harmonics or up the fretboard (generally above the 12th fret), to achieve higher pitches, allows one to avoid having to contend with the muddiness of lower notes playing together.