InTune

Free Estudio Brillante Guitar Tab and Headset Give-A-Way

Posted on Oct 02, 2009 by Monica.

Spanish guitarist-composer Francisco Tarrega wrote ESTUDIO BRILLANTE in the late 19th Century. This incredibly difficult etude was based on a sonatina by French violinist-composer Jean-Delphin Alard. In addition to Tarrega’s performing and teaching ability, he also arranged many pre-existing works for guitar by composers such as; Beethoven, Mendelssohn, and Chopin.

Even though he only wrote less than a hundred pieces for the guitar, the short compositions are enjoyed by many guitarists. Within the music world, many consider Tarrega to be an important founding figure for the classical guitar genre. Other works by Tarrega include how most famous work, RECUERDOS DE LA ALHAMBRA, and LAGRIMA, a popular guitar tab for beginners.

Your free download of ESTUDIO BRILLANTE includes an interactive Guitar Guru Session plus free printable guitar tab, and is available through October 31st.

Download your free guitar tab and Guitar Guru Session for ESTUDIO BRILLANT today. For more recommendations on classical pieces for guitar, we recommend browsing our selection of classical guitar tab.

Guitar Guru Headset Give-A-Way (for PC)

From now until the end of October, comment on this blog post for your chance to win a Guitar Guru headset. To enter, all you have to do is comment below telling us about the song that you had the most fun learning how to play.

What can you do with your Guitar Guru headset? From learning how to play songs from The Beatles Rock Band to our new features in Guitar Guru 3.0, a headset enhances your overall guitar song learning experience. Guitar Guru features voice command functionality for the PC, so using a headset allows you to keep your hands on your guitar while you’re learning how to play your song. We tested a bunch of different headsets for Guitar Guru yet one stood out among all the brands we tested. This Plantronics headset offers noise-canceling, excellent sound quality, and has a retail value of $24.95.

Be sure to comment on this post for your chance to win! Contest ends midnight on October 31st. Limited to one entry per customer. One lucky winner will be contacted via email by November 2nd, 2009, so be sure to provide a valid email address in the comment field. We respect your privacy, and will not use your email address for any other purpose than this contest.

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Great Song Requests and Vocal Method Book Sales in The Whole Note

Posted on Sep 18, 2009 by Monica.

From sheet music for songs from Glee to filling your song requests and adding sheet music for songs from The Beatles: Rock Band, we have had a very busy past couple of weeks. We are thrilled to announce several new songs that we’ve been working on. Some of these songs are older; some are “brand new.”

For example, we have sheet music for Meet Me On The Equinox from Death Cab for Cutie. This song is the first song announced for the movie NEW MOON, the sequel to TWILIGHT. The song Magic by Selena Gomez, on the other hand, is a song from the 70s that many of you have asked for.

Here is a list of some other great songs that we’ve been adding to fulfill your song requests:

• Send It On by Disney Channel Friends for Change
• Party in the USA by Miley Cyrus
• Bad Things from TRUE BLOOD
• Everybody by Ingrid Michaelson
• Sort Of by Ingrid Michaelson
• Need You Now by Lady Antebellum
• Fire by Augustana

For those of you that prefer Christian sheet music, we’d also like to point out a few songs that we’ve added for your requests, too.

• Revelation Song by Phillips, Craig and Dean
• Follow You by Leeland with Brandon Heath
• He Is by Mark Schultz
• More Beautiful You by Jonny Diaz
• Wait and See by Brandon Heath
• Lay ‘Em Down by Need to Breathe
• Hold My Heart by Tenth Avenue North

If you’re interested, please feel free to add your sheet music requests through our song suggestion tool.

Up to 25% Off Vocal Method Books

Are you a vocalist who wants to improve your skills? How about a singer who wants to improve your sight-reading? Whenever we talk about things like How To Find Your Vocal Range or offer some Sheet Music Sight-Reading Tips, you often tell us how much you appreciate the information. To help you become a better singer, we’re putting a great selection of vocal method books on sale.

From now through midnight, September 30th, enjoy up to twenty-five percent off select vocal method books. The price is automatically deducted from the books you want to buy; there’s no minimum purchase nor do you have to enter a coupon.

Included in our sale are vocal method books like The New Voice (How to Sing and Speak Properly) or the The Contemporary Singer (Elements of Vocal Technique) which we’ve pictured on the left. The New Voice method book has more of an emphasis on singing mechanics and is originally $15.95, but it’s on sale for $12.76, while The Contemporary Singer is perfect for vocalists wanting to appear on stage. We also recommend the book Sight-Sing Any Melody Instantly, for those of you who want to improve your skills in that area.

To take advantage of this sale, we invite you to visit our vocal method books page to browse our recommended titles.

Take 10% Off Guitar Guru Sessions

We recently had some fun promotions for Guitar Guru, like our huge $10,000 give-a-way, but we’re not done yet! From now until midnight, September 30th take ten percent off of your favorite Guitar Guru Sessions. Just enter code GG3TEN at checkout to take advantage of the savings. Limit one per customer.

You might want to check out some of the hot new Sessions we’ve added. This Guitar Guru Session of Yesterday by The Beatles has already hit our top five! With the release of the remastered CDs and BEATLES: ROCK BAND, Beatlemania seems to have literally struck a chord with guitarists. Check out these Guitar Guru Sessions for The Beatles to see some of the new Sessions we’ve added.

If you’re not sure what you want to play, here’s a few more suggestions from a broad range of musical styles for you:

• She Talks To Angels by The Black Crowes
• Get Up, Stand Up by Bob Marley
• Fridays I’m In Love by The Cure
• Jailhouse Rock by Elvis Presley
• Margaritaville by Jimmy Buffet
• Breaking the Law by Judas Priest
• (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction by The Rolling Stones

Well that’s all the time we have for this week’s edition of The Whole Note. Until next time, make sure you tighten those strings and flex your fingers!

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Musicnotes.com Launches Guitar Guru 3 with $10,000 Give-a-way in Guitar Guru Sessions

Posted on Sep 02, 2009 by Bill Aicher (Director of Marketing).

Madison, WI – September 2, 2009 – Musicnotes, Inc., the market leader in downloadable sheet music, announced today it recently launched Guitar Guru 3, the latest major upgrade to Musicnotes’ popular Guitar Guru software platform.

To celebrate this release, Musicnotes.com is giving away $10,000 in Guitar Guru Sessions starting Thursday, September 3rd 2009 at 3:00 p.m. CDT.

Guitar Guru provides an enhanced interface to help guitarists and bass guitarists learn to play their favorite songs through downloadable Guitar Guru Sessions. Currently, the ever-growing catalog features over 1,500 songs including artists such as Metallica, Jason Mraz, Green Day, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Muse, Ozzy Osbourne and more!

Some of the new features in Guitar Guru 3 include:

• Better, More Contemporary Look and Feel. New user interface includes a scalable fretboard and enhanced music notation.
• Tempo Change with Correct Pitch. Musicians can slow down or speed up audio playback while maintaining the correct pitch..
• Precision Audio-Syncing. The queue position of CDs and audio files, including MP3s, can now be matched to the Session to within 1/10 of a second. (PC only)

The $10,000 in Guitar Guru Sessions will be given out to the first 1,000 customers in $10 increments.

For more details on how you can be a part of this Guitar Guru Give-a-way, visit www.musicnotes.com/guitarguru at 3:00 p.m. CDT on Thursday, September 3rd.

About Musicnotes: Musicnotes, Inc. offers an online catalog of almost 100,000 digital sheet music titles, built on the strength of content agreements with Alfred Publishing, EMI Music Publishing, Faber Music Ltd, Sony/ATV Publishing, Universal Music Publishing Group, Disney Music Publishing, Cherry Lane Music Company, Peermusic, Word Music, EMI Christian, Bug Music and many others. Musicnotes is included in Internet Retailer Magazine’s list of the Top 500 Online Retailers and was recently selected by Internet Retailer as a “Hot 100″ site for 2009.

In 2008, Musicnotes.com purchased and re-launched MXTabs.net, turning it into the web’s first “free and legal” guitar, bass and drums tab community.

On the Web: http://www.musicnotes.com and http://www.mxtabs.net.

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Alfred Music Publishing and Musicnotes.com Partner to Honor Les Paul’s Memory with a Free Guitar Lesson Download of “Over the Rainbow”

Posted on Aug 27, 2009 by Bill Aicher (Director of Marketing).

Musicnotes.com has partnered with Alfred Music Publishing to offer music lovers everywhere a free Guitar Guru Session and guitar tab download of “Over the Rainbow” to honor Les Paul’s memory.

Now through midnight on September 2, 2009, visitors to Musicnotes.com can download a free, interactive Guitar Lesson (including matching guitar tab that’s worth $7.95) for “Over the Rainbow.” This particular arrangement was arranged by Grammy award-winning artist Aaron Stang, from Alfred Music Publishing to match the performance recorded by Les Paul and Chet Atkins and featured on the album, ‘Masters of the Guitar – Together.’

“Les Paul closed every show at the legendary jazz club Iridium in New York City with an instrumental version of this song,” said Tim Reiland, Chairman of Musicnotes.com. “This song has a very emotional meaning for musicians everywhere.”

In lieu of payment, Musicnotes and Alfred Music Publishing encourage users who choose to download the song to send donations to the Les Paul Foundation, 236 W. 30th St., Seventh Floor, New York, N.Y. 10001.

The free download is available online at http://www.musicnotes.com/free (now through midnight, September 2, 2009). Be sure to watch a video of Les Paul playing Over the Rainbow on YouTube!.

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June Deals and Summer Steals!

Posted on Jun 12, 2009 by Monica.

Summer may be the perfect time to get outside and play, but it’s also a good time to practice your instruments. Because we don’t want you to forget your music lessons, we’re offering a few deals this month that we think you’ll really enjoy. All of these sales end at midnight on June 30th, so take advantage of our June deals while you can!

Sheet Music Portfolios on Sale at 20% Off!

To protect your digital sheet music, we offer these sheet music portfolios designed to help you organize and play your favorite songs. What makes our portfolio so special? Not only can you personalize these portfolios, we’ve tested them to ensure that they’ll lay flat on your piano or music stand so you’ll be able to keep your fingers on your keyboard.

Comes with 12 clear inserts, but you can also order our portfolio refills or put in your own inserts to expand your storage capacity. Our Musicnotes.com sheet music portfolios may hold between 25 to 35 inserts; each insert can hold two sheets for approximately 50 to 70 sheets of music.

Our Musicnotes.com digital sheet music portfolio is normally $7.95, but is now on sale for $6.36 through the end of June! Order your digital sheet music portfolio today!

Grab a Guitar Guru Headset at 20% Off

Last month, we offered a special sale on every Guitar Guru Session we had in our inventory. For our June deals, we’re offering reduced shipping and 20% off our Guitar Guru headsets for the PC. Our Guitar Guru headset will allow you to work with our voice command feature available for the PC and keep your hands on your guitar!

We tested a bunch of different headsets for Guitar Guru yet the one that stood out offers noise-canceling, excellent sound quality. Your Plantronics Guitar Guru headset typically ships in one business day.

Normally, our headset retails for $24.95 plus shipping. Take 20% off our Guitar Guru headset for a price of $19.96 and get $2.95 shipping to U.S. addresses! Order your Guitar Guru Headset today!

Submit your June Entry for our YouPerform Contest!

Remember, voting for our May YouPerform Contest will end in just a few days and one lucky winner will get chosen. Hope you’re practicing one of our free sheet music downloads or any of our other Musicnotes Editions for our contest.

Prize is $100 gift certificate to Musicnotes.com, so be sure to join this month’s contest group on YouTube! and read our Musicnotes.com YouPerform contest rules!

June Coupon for 15% Off your Next Digital Order!

Last but not least, celebrate the beginning of summer with this great discount! Take 15% off your next digital order — including our Guitar Guru Sessions — through midnight on June 30th. Just insert coupon code MNSUN when you check out to take advantage of this limited time offer! Limit one coupon per customer.

Take advantage of these great deals while you can, because they’re not going to be around forever. Keep your eyes on the summer sky and don’t forget to practice, practice, practice!

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Last Chance to Take $1 Off all Guru Sessions!

Posted on May 28, 2009 by Monica.

This is your last chance to take $1 off every Guitar Guru Session we have in our catalog. Sale ends midnight on Sunday, May 31st.

We’ve got some great Sessions we’ve added over the past, few weeks to help you on your quest to learn guitar. Whether you’re into country songs like When You Say Nothing at All by Alison Krauss or modern rock Sessions like She Talks To Angels by The Black Crowes, we have hundreds of your favorite songs to choose from including your rock-and-your favorites. Choose Sessions by The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, The Eagles, The Beatles and many more!

Here’s some hot new Guitar Guru Sessions you can now try:

• Know Your Enemy by Green Day
• 1, 2, 3, 4 by the Plain White T’s
• I’m Yours by Jason Mraz
• and the hot new song Use Somebody by Kings of Leon.

Thanks to everyone who got their Guru on this past month. We hope you’re enjoying our Guitar Guru Sessions and you’ll get a lot of use out of the guitar tab that’s included with each Session.

Click Here to Browse our Guitar Guru Session Store Page.

The average price of a Session for Guitar Guru is $6.95, and each song comes with a corresponding guitar tab that is yours to keep. Every Session from our inventory is automatically discounted before you check out, so you’ll see the price (e.g. $5.95 on Sale!) when you select the Session you want to purchase.

Stay tuned for more hot, new Sessions for the songs you want to learn on guitar! If you haven’t tried out Guitar Guru yet, check out this YouTube! video describing how it works on a PC!

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Sessions to Help You Be Your Own Guitar Guru!

Posted on May 21, 2009 by Monica.

Think you’re well on your way to becoming a rock-n-roll guru? While the Guitar Guru Session for Stairway to Heaven remains our most popular Session, we’ve got a few surprises for you in our catalog that will challenge even the most experienced guitarist.

The nice thing about our Guitar Guru Sessions, is that you can choose songs to challenge yourself and your guitar playing skills. If you want to get better at playing the guitar, you’ll want to find songs that are more difficult than what you can master right now. For example, if you can play the “Advanced” Sessions that we offer, you might want to check out these Guru picks we’ve dubbed “Guitar God” for all you gurus out there.

These songs are guaranteed to qualify you as a “Guitar Guru.” Don’t forget, you get the tab along with the session so you can play these songs long after you learn them, too! Check back with us on Tuesday, May 26th for a new Green Day session and few other surprises.

Remember, our $1 off every Guru Session sale ends at midnight on May 31st, 2009 so don’t be afraid to grab an extra Session or two while the price is right. If you’ve got a song you want to learn how to play, you can suggest a Guitar Guru Session to us, too. Till next time, hope you’re having fun learning guitar!

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May Guitar Guru Sale, YouPerform Contest Voting, Free Download in The Whole Note

Posted on May 01, 2009 by Monica.

This month we’d like to help you play like a rock-n-roll guru!

We’ve taken off $1.00 on every Guitar Guru Session in our catalog, offering you the chance to learn your favorite songs! Choose from blues Sessions like The Thrill is Gone or classic rock Sessions like Barracuda.

Here are a few other Guitar Guru Session favorites that you’ve enjoyed:

No coupon code is required for you to enjoy this limited time offer, which is good through the entire month of May.

Want more Guru? Each week we’ll be getting behind-the-music to feature some of your favorite artists and performers that define what a “rock-n-roll” guru is all about. For more about how this software can help you learn your favorite song, visit Guitar Guru Sessions online or download your free Guitar Guru Session on our free sheet music page and give Guru a try!

Download Old McDonald Had a Farm for Free!

Did you know that “Old McDonald Had a Farm” has a song history spanning over two hundred years? Some music scholars speculate that the song’s history may be traced to an early 18th century opera called “The Kingdom of the Birds,” but it wasn’t until the early 20th century that “Old McDonald” evolved to the song as we know it today. Initially published in 1917, this beloved nursery rhyme has been translated into several languages and has been recorded by dozens of performers around the world.

Download free sheet music for Old McDonald Had a Farm through the end of May. Don’t forget, this song is eligible for your entry into our Musicnotes.com YouPerform Contest for May 2009. Just join our May 2009 contest group on YouTube! and submit your performance for a chance to win!

Vote Now for Your April 2009 Contest Winner!

Speaking of contests, will you help us decide your favorite YouPerform contest winner for April? We have three entries this month, and we’d love to get your vote. Hope you’re considering entering next month’s contest, we’d love to hear you sing or play!

Don’t forget to check out our Musicnotes.com YouPerform Contest rules page to find out how you can submit your video for May!

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Hot Sheets, Four Day Coupon and Give-A-Ways in The Whole Note!

Posted on Mar 20, 2009 by Monica.

Don’t try this at home! We’ve blazed through your song suggestions and the hottest trends in sheet music this week to bring you some amazing new songs! What’s new with Musicnotes this week? Well, first we’ve got “the” song everyone’s been asking for. Korean composer Yiruma’s River Flows in You sheet music is on Musicnotes.com for first-time in digital, here in the U.S.

Why is this song so popular? Believe it or not, some fans of Twilight tagged the song before the movie came out on YouTube! as “Bella’s Lullaby,” exposing the music to other fans of the series. Our interview with Carter Burwell explains a little bit about this phenomenon, because it’s not the true “Bella’s Lullaby” that Carter composed for the film.

Although this song isn’t part of the official Twilight soundtrack, your requests overwhelmed all of us here at Musicnotes. Now you can enjoy playing this hot, hot song!

That’s just one hot sheet, but we have quite a few more! Miley Cyrus has a hit single out, available on her new soundtrack from Hannah Montana: the Movie Soundtrack out in stores on March 24th. Fuel your passion for music with this hot single before the soundtrack comes out! Play The Climb by Miley Cyrus!

Calling all American Idol sheet music fans…this past week Carrie Underwood performed on American Idol at the Grand Ole Opry with Randy Travis. I Told You So by Carrie Underwood and Randy Travis is now live on Musicnotes.com.

Burning up the charts for Blake Shelton is the song She Wouldn’t Be Gone. This is the number one download for Blake on iTunes! Speaking of new hits, an artist just covered an original release and performance by UK band Snow Patrol called Run. Yesterday, we added Run by Leona Lewis.

Burning to Play those Hits? Here’s a FOUR-DAY Coupon to Help!

Through Tuesday, March 24 at midnight, take twenty percent off your digital purchase through Musicnotes.com. This limited-time discount doesn’t apply to collections of sheet music, but it can be used on Guitar Guru. All you have to do is use coupon code MNSPRING when you check out to get this hot discount!

We’ve Been Cleaning House! Here’s our Give-a-Way Recap!

This week we’ve given almost a $100 away in gift certificates through Twitter, and we’re just about to announce our February Musicnotes YouPerform contest winner! We’ve also been cleaning house — literally. One lucky winner won this amazing Irish songbook in honor of St. Patrick’s Day and our post about Irish sheet music! Another Jack’s Mannequin sheet music fan won these great, exclusive prizes: an out-of-print RARE copy of Jack’s Mannequin: Everything in Transit songbook and a gorgeous copy of Konstantine by Something Corporate. Watch for Jack’s mannequin on tour this year with The Fray!

We’ll be doing more spring cleaning in the coming weeks, so stay “in tune” and keep your ears peeled for some awesome give-a-ways and more hot sheets!

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Musicnotes.com Sells Five-Millionth Download; Growth Continues In 2009

Posted on Mar 12, 2009 by Bill Aicher (Director of Marketing).

Madison, WI – March 12, 2009 – Musicnotes, Inc., the market leader in downloadable sheet music, announced today that it recently sold its five-millionth download since the site first launched (1999). The five-millionth download was a Guitar Guru Session of Don McClean’s “Vincent (Starry, Starry Night),” and was sold to a customer in Germany.

Musicnotes also announced today its sales growth continues in 2009.  “We have seen some moderation in our rate of growth as the recession has deepened,” indicated Chairman and CFO Tim Reiland, “however our current growth rate remains strong at 20 percent year-over-year.”

One area where growth has actually accelerated for Musicnotes is its Guitar Guru product line. Guitar Guru utilizes free, interactive software for guitar players and was a featured download at www.apple.com in early February. Guitar Guru for Mac was a “staff pick” on the Apple Download Page and was on their top ten download list for much of the month, which contributed to greater interest and higher sales.

Musicnotes will also pass another milestone in early 2009, when royalties paid to publishers and songwriters will pass the $10 million mark.  “We are thrilled to provide a growing royalty stream to music publishers and the songwriters they represent,” commented Reiland. “Because our business is entirely dependent on offering our 100,000+ daily visitors the songs they want to play, talented songwriters are critically important to Musicnotes.”

About Musicnotes: Musicnotes, Inc. offers an online catalog of almost 100,000 digital sheet music titles, built on the strength of content agreements with Alfred Publishing, EMI Music Publishing, Faber Music Ltd, Sony/ATV Publishing, BMG/Universal, Disney Music Publishing, peermusic, Word Music, EMI Christian, Bug Music and many others. Musicnotes is included in Internet Retailer’ list of the Top 500 Online Retailers and was recently selected by Internet Retailer as a “Hot 100″ site for 2009.

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Sheet Music for Love Songs, Guitar Guru Headset Sale and More in the Whole Note

Posted on Feb 06, 2009 by Monica.

Celebrate Valentine’s Day this year by reliving some of your most heartfelt memories. From wedding sheet music to popular love songs that highlight the best parts of your relationships, it’s easy to mark the milestones of your heart with a song. This Valentine’s Day, remember your greatest moments with older love songs like The Luckiest by Ben Folds, Because you Loved Me by Johnny Mathis or At Last by Etta James.

If you are building new memories, there are a couple newer love songs that are still popular among many music lovers. I’m Yours by Jason Mraz and Love Story by Taylor Swift continue to be really popular among Musicnotes.com customers and friends.

No matter what you’re playing or singing, we hope you find the love song that’s right for you this upcoming Valentine’s Day. Just like there’s a time for every season, remember there’s a song for every memory.

20% Off Guitar Guru Headsets for the PC and Reduced Shipping!

From now until the end of February, save big on Guitar Guru headsets. Not only do you get 20% off the headset to bring the price under $20, we are offering $2.95 shipping to U.S.-based addresses.

What can you do with your Guitar Guru headset? For starters, you could interact with some of the songs featured on Guitar Hero. Why do we recommend an official Guitar Guru headset? Guitar Guru features voice command functionality for the PC, so using a headset allows you to keep your hands on your guitar while you’re learning how to play your song. We tested a bunch of different headsets for Guitar Guru yet one stood out among all the brands we tested. This Plantronics headset offers noise-canceling, excellent sound quality, and typically ships in one business day.

So what are you waiting for? Get your Guru on and order yours today!

American Idol Finalists Announced Next Week!

Things are heating up on American Idol. This week the contestants performed in groups of eight singing songs like Don’t Stop by Fleetwood Mac and I Want You Back by The Jackson 5. We have a big Queen fan here in the office, so she really enjoyed the performance of Somebody To Love by Queen, which was also featured in the movie Ella Enchanted. (Anne Hathaway got to sing the song for some partying giants.) Another song that stood out for us was Mercy by Duffy.

Do you know how challenging these songs are? Remember that difficulty is very subjective, which is one of the reasons why you can write reviews of the songs you love to play. Watch for a post about that next week before we get into more American Idol.

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Normally we’d tell you to stay sharp and “in tune,” but this weekend we’ll just encourage you to warm up your hearts and watch for the first sign of Spring! Have a wonderful one!!

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