So I get the urge to expand my keyboard/piano repertoire. Currently I only know November Rain and a few simple songs. I’m mainly into rock music so that’s what I want to play, whether new or classic. I search all over the internet for tabs, but find nothing but guitar and drum tabs. Hey, the music store has to have some, right? Of course, but they’re all either classical music, really old stuff from the 50’s or earlier, or pop music that I would be embarassed to play. What’s the deal? If I look at guitar tabs, there is a lot of stuff that would suit my taste, but right now I’d prefer some ivory keys. Does no one want to learn how to play Journey or Nine Inch Nails or the like on the piano? I know it’s not the most popular instrument in that genre, but it’s not very rare either. I guess I’m supposed to figure it out myself.
The following is going to sound like a paid advertisement. I promise it’s not.
I recommend downloading MidiNotate. Then, go searching for the web for midi files of your favorite songs and use the software to transcribe them into sheet music. You not only get instant sheet music, but also a band to back you up!
I downloaded the program about five years ago and ended up buying the registered version (for about $30). It’s well worth it. Seriously.
Try Powertabs. You can download powertabs off of the site or from other places if you google “powertabs”, and when you install the software you can see both the tablature and sheet music for a song. You can also make a midi file into a powertab somehow, although I have yet to try this.
The music store SUCKS for sheet music. You’ll find 30 different renditions of the Pocahontas soundtrack before you find Nine Inch Nails or Journey. Do the MIDI thing - I use noteworthy composer, but I think I have a limited free version, so whatever was suggested before is probably better. MIDIs are really everywhere - I know you probably thought they were cheesy & useless, but they’re freakin awesome.
You can also learn the basic piano chords and play off lead sheets (chord files). Figure out how to make all the major and minor chords, and a few sevenths, and you should be able to play a lot of songs. Develop your musical ear, and learn some chord and scale theory, and you’ll be about where I am.
If you are looking to buy sheet music, there are plenty of online stores that sell it, like 8notes.com or even amazon is better than the local music store. IMO rock transcriptions tend to suck, and often you can’t judge a book by its cover. ‘Easier’ versions of rock songs, (dumbed down to chords & bass or transposed into G or C, BLEH) as opposed to actual transcriptions, are rampant.
Noteworthy Composer is good for creating and altering midi files, but I find MidiNotate to be better for transcribing them and creating ready-to-print scores. I enjoy both programs, though.
Unfortunately, MidiNotate’s trial version expires after a fairly short amount of time.
Interesting idea. Transcribing a MIDI assumes that the MIDI is accurate though, and I’ve heard some that sound awful. It may have simply been that it was instruments that can’t be MIDI’ized very well though. I don’t think you can bend a guitar string in a MIDI file. I think I’ll give that a try.
I personally recommentd MIDI Illustrator, it has a friendlier interface and it´s very easy for example to transpose notes from one staff to another which is very useful with MIDIs since it´s hard for a program to determine which notes are for the left hand and which are for the right.
Check out the Sibelius site. It’s a composition suite and folks who use it are able to publish their work on their own Sibelius page. Some of it is for sale, some folks just give their stuff away.
Some midi files are better than others, true. But as far as how close a song is to the “real thing”, if you’ve got a good ear, you can compensate. The cool thing about the programs mentioned above is that you can change the instrumentation. I have found that can make all the difference between a crappy-sounding midi and one that sounds close to the real thing.
I tried out MidiNotate. It’s really great for my purpose. I downloaded a MIDI of Faithfully and if the piano part isn’t accurate, it’s pretty damn close. It’s not far from what I was figuring out just by ear. If I ever learn the whole song, it’ll be a miracle, but at least I have something to learn now. I may check out some of the other programs, but at this point I’m happy with what I have. I may add a second song to my repertoire yet.