Songscription Blog & Music Transcription Resources

Explore Songscription's guides to music transcription, sheet music, MIDI, piano roll, and AI-powered music learning, plus product updates and company announcements from the Songscription team.

Everything about getting notation you can read, edit, and print: making sheet music from a song, simplifying and arranging it for your level, and exporting a clean score to PDF or MusicXML.

Sheet Music

Resources6 min read

What Is a Guitar Pro File (.gp and .gpx)?

A Guitar Pro file holds tab, standard notation, and playback together in one editable document, which is why so many guitarists prefer it to a flat PDF. Here is what is inside a .gp or .gpx file, how to open one, and how to get a Guitar Pro file from a recording.

Resources7 min read

Transposing Instruments Explained (With a Full Chart)

A transposing instrument reads its music in a different key than it sounds, which is why a trumpet and a piano playing the same written note do not match. This guide explains what makes an instrument transposing, why it happens, and gives a full chart of the B-flat, E-flat, F, and concert-pitch instruments.

Tutorial6 min read

How to Transpose a Song for Trumpet

Hand a trumpet player a concert-pitch part and it comes out a whole step too low. The trumpet is a B-flat instrument, so it reads in a different key than the piano. Here is the interval the trumpet needs, why concert pitch is wrong, and how to get a part in the right key without doing the math.

Tutorial6 min read

How to Transpose a Song for Clarinet

The B-flat clarinet reads a major second above concert pitch, so a piano part handed straight to a clarinetist sounds in the wrong key. Here is the interval the clarinet needs, how its registers affect the result, and how to get a part in the right key without transposing by hand.

Tutorial6 min read

How to Transpose a Song for French Horn

The French horn in F reads a perfect fifth above concert pitch, a different interval from the B-flat and E-flat band instruments. Here is exactly how far to move a part for horn, why concert pitch comes out wrong, and how to get a readable part without working out the interval yourself.

Tutorial7 min read

How to Transpose a Song to Fit Your Voice

If a song sits too high or too low, the fix is not to strain, it is to change the key. Here is how to find a key that fits your range and get the sheet music and chords in that key, not just a pitched-up recording.

Tutorial8 min read

How to Arrange a Song for Harp

Harpists arrange constantly, because most of the songs people request were never published for harp. Here is how to arrange any song for harp, from picking a harp-friendly key to handling pedals, levers, and glissandi.

Resources7 min read

What Is a Piano Reduction?

A piano reduction takes music written for many instruments and condenses it onto two staves a single pianist can play. Here is what that means, how it differs from an arrangement, and how to make one.

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