This year saw a big increase in the number of people using Soundslice to share lessons and transcriptions. We were wowed by the quantity and quality. Perhaps all that time spent at home was good for practice?

As always, we collect our favorite shared transcriptions in the “Featured slices” playlist, which we also highlight on our Instagram channel. Here are the top nine slices of the year, measured by Instagram views.

9: Coltrane’s “Giant Steps” — @joliveiramusic

João Oliveira both transcribed and performed this marvelous solo.

8: Sierra Hulls’s “Old Ebenezer Scrooge” — @dschorer

Here the great Sierra Hull played through a Bill Monroe transcription.

We hope to see more brass transcriptions (like this one!) in 2021. :)

7: Andrea Motis’s “Lullaby of Birdland” — @emelieh19

6: Johnny Smith’s “Basin Street Blues” — @timguitar

Here Johnny Smith does a few Django-esque licks on prime time.

5: Nate Smith drum solo — @TateKinsella

Sometimes the subdivisions are so good you don't even notice that they're “odd.”

4: Minor 2 5 1 licks — @chrisgotsoul

Chris Campbell of Jamaica has been sharing some jazz guitar chord progressions with really nice embellishments. This one in particular got a lot of love.

3: Street performance from Los Hermanos Vargas — @guitarrasinlimites

These Chilean street performers (Los Hermanos Vargas) playing “Ranchera Para Mi Tierra” stole the show.

2: Oscar Peterson’s “Let’s Fall In Love” — @elbeau25

There were so many good Oscar transcriptions this year!

1: Jesus Molina live at NAMM — @fgreene

We weren’t surprised to see Fred Greene’s transcription of Jesus Molina at the top of our social media viewership for the year. This amazing performance is somewhere between a Pixar filmscore and a Herbie Hancock improvisation.

A big thank you to all the musicians who have been sharing their hard-earned transcriptions during quarantine.