Taurus vs. Stairway to Heaven - analysis w/ sheet music transcription

Hello,

Being a music teacher and having transcribed music for major publishing companies, I thought I would share with you a brief analysis of a small section of these two pieces of music.

Disclaimer: This post is not about any legal or moral implications, whatever they could or could not be. It's merely offering a strictly objective comparison of the first three measures of the acoustic guitar part of both pieces.

For measures 1-3, "Taurus" has 33 notes played on the guitar.

For measures 1-3, "Stairway to Heaven" has 27 notes played on the guitar.

During those three measures both pieces have the exact same pitch played at exactly the same time a total of 9 times.

I'm not near a scanner, and don't feel like busting out the music notation software. But here's a quick handwritten sketch of the two guitar parts. (sorry it's just a cellphone picture).

The top line is "Taurus"

The bottom line is "Stairway to Heaven"

Any notes that occur at the same time for the two pieces are circled in red.




Hopefully this is readable. Maybe tomorrow I can present something neater, if anyone is interested...

 

Just wondering, is the score legible on most computer monitors?

Also, I think I was able to transcribe all the correct notes for "Taurus". Any corrections are welcome.

 

I can read it just fine. Thanks for taking the time to do this!

 

Thanks Doc. Good job.

In the late 60's one guitar player sees or listens to another guy playing something very interesting, he tries to fix in his brain what the other guy is playing, then he picks a guitar and tries to play those licks. Licks are going to be different, because the guy is interested in getting that feeling he has just admired and because his technique is very different from the other guy's. A couple of weeks later he goes to rehearse with his band and the singer asks him 'Got anything new?' and our guy shows him a run of chords or a little arpeggio he tried at home, maybe with a little melody. The singer thinks that's it's great and they start to develop something very promising. Then the drummer adds something while the bass player looks for apt scales and glissandos. Then the manager arrives, listen to some new music and says 'Great guys, this seems promising. The label is waiting for a new record soon. Keep up the good job'. The singer puts down some lyrics and the song begins to write itself.

If the song manages to become one of the most iconic songs in the history of rock music, people will debate if it's plagiarism or not for the centuries to come.

 

arent you an octave too low for the guitar part on Stairway??

 

Great question. Guitar music is usually written an octave lower than the actual concert pitch. If you saw a transcription of Stairway in, say, a guitar magazine, it would be written an octave lower than I have it rendered here.

For my transcriptions of both pieces, everything is written in concert pitch--like the notes would sound if you played it on a piano. It could have been written with everything transposed an octave lower. The conclusions from comparing the two pieces would still be the same.

Hopefully this explanation is clear.

 

actually, if this was in a guitar magazine, it would be written an octave HIGHER than what you have it as. for sure. I am saying your version is an octave too low. your first "A" there, written as it is, is the open 5th string on the guitar. well, thats an octave too low, as the first note of stairway is actually the 4th string, 7th fret....a full one octave higher than what you have written. I was a music theory major in college so I also have a little experience.

dont know about Taurus, didnt listen to it recently. if you played Stairway as you have it written it would sound weird I imagine. But for sure its an octave too low...I wasnt really asking in my first post, it was rhetorical. I should have stated it instead.

 

Yes, sorry correction. I meant to say 'higher'.


To clarify, my transcriptions are written in concert pitch, just to show the comparison between the two pieces.

If I was writing these parts for a classical guitarist to sight read them, I would have written them an octave higher, because guitar is commonly treated as a transposing instrument. (traditionally, every note on the guitar is written one octave higher than it actually sounds. The note that matches middle 'C' on a piano is written as a treble 'C' in guitar sheet music.)


Hopefully I can find some time and rewrite both parts transposed, if you feel that would be easier for guitarists to read.

 

Very interesting info. Thank you for the work put in. It looks to me that the main area of concern comes down to those first 3 notes, and the similar tempos.

 

Beyond the first three notes, there are a lot fewer red circles than I would've imagined. I believe the Badfinger song "Walk Out in the Rain" (recorded in 1969, released January 1970) also contains these same three notes at the same tempo right before the final word "rain".

Something I wanted to add to the now closed "Spirit finally threatening to sue Jimmy Page" thread: I don't think anyone mentioned the suit Mark Andes and Dennis Carmassi have brought against the RRHOF for using their images to promote Heart's induction:
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertai...ers-sue-rock-roll-hall-fame-article-1.1802176

I'm speculating had there not been a Heart/RRHOF issue we would not be hearing Andres' attorney talking about Stairway.

 

well, it's the same descending chromatic bass line-used for centuries.

 

more notes should be circled as they are in the same pitch class (A's and F#'s)

 

Hello. My name is TJ and I am working on a youtube video that discusses various arguments regarding this case. I would like to know if I can use your picture of the written notation similarities and differences between the two pieces of music in my video?

Please let me know. And thank you for your attention.

PS
I previously did a guitar demonstration on youtube regarding the similarities and differences between these two pieces that you can see here

 

Sure. I'm completely fine if you want to reproduce the picture. I posted it on a public internet forum purely for conversational or educational purposes, and this was long before I was aware of any legal litigation whatsoever regarding authorship of the two pieces.

I believe the transcription to be reasonably accurate but make no guarantees and have no opinion regarding moral or legal implications about the subject matter.

Thanks.