Transcription of Marc Ribot : La Vida Es Un Sueño

Here is a transcription and recording I made of La Vida Es Un Sueño by Arsenio Rodriguez, arranged by Marc Ribot. The transcription is of the guitar (Ribot) and bass (Brad Jones) parts of the studio recording of the La Vida Es un Sueño. I did this transcription as an exercise to study Ribot’s playing. Here are the files for the transcription:

• pdf sheet music (531KB).

• Notes on the transcription.

• Audio recording (mp3) (ogg) of me playing the introduction and first verse, up to where the band enters. This is just one guitar and one voice. I tried to make my accent in spanish as rough as Ribot’s, but I failed. If I did it again, I’d do the voice straighter or crookeder… or different. The part of the arrangement that is really Ribot-like comes after the first verse, so it’s not in this recording. But, the bass and guitar for the entire are in the transcription above.

• LilyPond source files lveus.ly (19 KB) and lveusbass.ly (1.3KB). These contain an encoding in a text file of where and when to put your fingers. These were processed to produce the sheet music and the midi file.

• Midi file (7.5KB), generated from the transcription.

You can buy the original Ribot recordings (and gear!) on his website. The CD is Marc Ribot Y Los Cubano Postizos. I also love the disc of solo guitar Don’t Blame Me of mostly show tunes done on a toy guitar. The original versions by Rodriguez are great, but as someone said, you have to use your imagination because the recording quality is terrible.

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