Almost every video of something I transcribed, somebody says it's great but a bit off or it has wrong chords. I change chords because it makes it sound different and cooler and I'm starting to think me changing the chords and adding things is making people not want to play my sheets. Could it be true?

Nrmally, you'd try to edit your music to a point that you're happy with before premiering it, but it's certainly not unheard of for well-known composers to continue editing, and editions throughout composers' lives often have small differences.
Essentially, the player wouldn't mind. It's not as if the player is effected by your changing it afterwards. Feel free to continue changing it, but do get to a satisfactory point beforehand.

Normally, you'd try to edit your music to a point that you're happy with before premiering it, but it's certainly not unheard of for well-known composers to continue editing, and editions throughout composers' lives often have small differences.
Essentially, the player wouldn't mind. It's not as if the player is effected by your changing it afterwards. Feel free to continue changing it, but do get to a satisfactory point beforehand.

Oh no, you misunderstood me, I meant substituting different chords than the original song had. Like if the chord progression in the original's chords were slightly different than the arranged version. I heard people say they were wrong chords and I'm like, if it sounds good, why is it 'wrong'?

I personly dont think so. I absolutly love playing altered music, wether by mistake or on purpose. I constantly make mistakes when trying to play music without the sheet music (as i guesse many would) and i find that the alternate chords sound better than the orriginal some times.

you can do many things, like change the chord from a happy Major to a sad Minor, and you come up wth an awesome version of your favourite song. plus it's fun ^_^

Listen to the Vitamin String Quartet arrangements- they add things left right and center (though arguably they still keep the underlying harmonies). I follow the same thing in my arrangements.

If you add something that the performer doesn't like, they can always edit it out themselves. If I have ever played an arrangement and thought to myself "I don't like the alteration, or that part sounds 'wrong'", then I have worked out what I feel it "should" have been and played that instead. The beauty of arrangements is that they lend themselves to this a lot more easily than compositions. (Even compositions are open to performer modifications- look at Horowitz with Pictures at an Exhibition or the Liszt-Saint Saens Danse Macabre).

Almost every video of something I transcribed, somebody says it's great but a bit off or it has wrong chords. I change chords because it makes it sound different and cooler and I'm starting to think me changing the chords and adding things is making people not want to play my sheets. Could it be true?

Kentaku_sama, this can be simply solved by telling your viewers in your video descriptions that you are playing a slightly modified/altered version of the song. As long as you do this, people won't bug you unless they are being cynical.

Also, when you alter music, make sure it sounds good enough to compare to the original. If not, people might take it that you hit the wrong notes during playing.

As for downloading & playing your sheet music, do remember that people would naturally prefer to have the most accurate transcription of any song. This means that every modified note in your transcription might make people turn away from your sheets. As long as it does not sound close to the original, people are going to have second thoughts.

As for downloading & playing your sheet music, do remember that people would naturally prefer to have the most accurate transcription of any song. This means that every modified note in your transcription might make people turn away from your sheets. As long as it does not sound close to the original, people are going to have second thoughts.

They are very close to the original, it just bugs me when people call an alteration that sounds good and still sounds like the original a "wrong" chord. Though I believe the reason people don't play my music is the difficulty of them. :heh: I don't know, is there anyone else on here who has never had their transcriptions played and put on youtube before?

I guess some people prefer transcriptions over arrangements? I don't know. I used to be an accuracy-freak, but not anymore. Because I want to go for the emotion of the song rather than strict note for note transcription. Some people are like that. I've had one transcription of mine played on Youtube before. Granted it was a transcription. The Zelda medley I'm working on changes some of the chords on purpose. It doesn't sound wrong, and according to music theory, it shouldn't be wrong. If people hate it, tough luck.

According to you I think there's some psychological effect going on here. People have gotten used to the original song that if they heard a slight change in chords, they'll :blink: then :what: and maybe :death: or maybe they're just :spam:

As a listener, I tend to find that unless I'm very familiar with the original song, I won't notice a changed chord unless the modified version either sounds interesting or odd. A more foolproof approach may be to include both the original progression as well as your variation within the same arrangement (first pass with the original, then your variation).

I think one problem is that the people who enjoy playing 'accurate' arrangements will be going for pure transcriptions, while those who enjoy variations are most likely making up their own arrangements, so creative arrangements don't get played as much. Heheh...

Well that's dumb <_<

I wish that some of my favorite YouTube pianists would release the sheet music for their arrangements like you do, which often sound absolutely amazing, sometimes even better than the original. As long as it doesn't sound awful, I'm openminded to the change.

You think my transcriptions are amazing? Thanks :D

One of my friends does this too me a lot. I'll start working on a piece, and he'll ask me to show him what I have so far. I'll play it for him, and he'll start freaking out saying I'm playing it wrong. Except I'm changing the peice to best suite how I think it should sound, so there is no "Wrong". It really bugs me, and sometimes I just want to kick him in the throat for it. He's too obsessed over everything being perfect. If the song sounds better, why freak out? O.o

Transcriptions shouldn't be a note different than what the original is. Or else, it isn't a transcription. You wouldn't transcribe a Charlie Parker solo, and then change it, now would you?

If you alter a piece of music, just call it an arrangement. People will tend to like you more. ;)

I do call it an Arrangement, not a Transcription. I use those words very carefully. He just doesn't know the difference and it drives me freaking insane. I think I'll just tie him to a chair, put some tape over his mouth, and make him listen to my arrangements all day. He might stop after that. :/