River Hip Mama

Transcribing is a lot of work, which is why I charge $$ to do it. 

Why not attempt it yourself? instead of a lot of money, you'll gain a lot of knowledge. It'll still be a lot of work but it will pay off handsomely.

First, figure out what key it's in.

Second, assume that Charlie might play in second, third and first positions, all in the same solo, so have those harps ready.

Third, map out where he plays. Minutes and seconds, but also how many verses - one, two, more? Maybe some partial verses during the intro our outtro. Mark the beginning and ending of each of these.

TIP: To make life a bit easier, follow this by breaking each verse up into four-bar sections. Every 12-bar blues verse (if that's what it is) is made up of three of these:Tone one that starts on the I chord, the next one that usually starts on the IV vhord, and the final one that usually starts on the V chord. Note the start and end time for each of these sections.

Fourth, load the song into an audio editing app, such as Audacity (free on all platforms). This will allow you to work on precisely defined segments of the recording, which is a huge time saver. You may also be able to place bookmark flags for each section. You can also slow the song (or aa segment) down to make picking out the notes easier. And you may also be able to loop a section and play along to make sure you have the right notes.

Fifth, start at the beginning and find the first note on the harp that will play in second position (unless you know or have a strong inkling that he's using another position). Now go from there for each section of the tune.

How do you write down what you hear?

Every count of 4 beats is a bar (or measure) and each bar ends with a barline - just a simple vertical line. 

On a piece of paper, mark out four bars per line across the page, with three lines (four-bar sections) per 12-bar verse. Mark the time at the beginning of each line.

Now, use hole numbers with arrows, circles, or whatever you prefer to note blow and draw, along with things like bends, slaps, shakes, and so on. If you're wondering what symbols to use, why note use the ones that are in my music notation font, Fletch Diatonic. Here's the user manual: Fletch Diatonic user manual

How do you indicate how long notes last? Just space them out in what seems like the right proportions. If you know rhythm notation, that's a plus. Or you could use Joe Filisko's system of horizontal braces with notches to indicate divisions of the beat, like this: Filisko's notational symbols

If this seems like too much work, you can always pay, but accuracy does not come cheap.