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.

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!

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.

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.

Want Musicnotes.com News Faster? Subscribe to our RSS

We understand that you lead a very busy life and may not have time to keep up with sales, music news and other interesting topics. We invite you to subscribe to our RSS feed for InTune, Musicnotes.com’s official blog. You can do so in a few different ways that works best for you.

If you’re interested, feel free to visit the instructions on how to subscribe to InTune, Musicnotes.com blog RSS feed.

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!!

The big news this week is that Guitar Guru is now available for a Mac or a PC. In celebration of our ability to reach out to Mac users who have requested Guitar Guru, yesterday we mentioned a limited-time one week only, buy one session get one free coupon for Guitar Guru.

The great part about this “new” release, is that Mac users who prefer to learn guitar through Guitar Guru Sessions can now download In the Hall of the Mountain King on our free sheet music page and enter our Musicnotes.com’s YouPerform Contest! The more musicians the merrier!

Are you a fan of Guitar Guru Sessions? Here’s something new, too! Check out Guitar Guru on Facebook!

Our Equipment is Sizzling! Hot NEW Sheet Music from Keane, FIREPROOF, Ben Folds, Sarah McLachlan and more!

The band KEANE released a new album recently called Perfect Symmetry. We added Spiralling sheet music to our site, and are happy to announce that there might be more on the way. Perfect Symmetry has been described by the band as “the best thing” they’ve done.

“I think by a million miles it’s the best thing we’ve put together,” says Chaplin. “I can’t wait for people to hear it.” SOURCE — KEANE official website

As we had mentioned in last week’s The Whole Note, we received several requests for John Waller’s song from the movie FIREPROOF. The song While I’m Waiting has been arranged and the sheet music is now available on our site.

If you love music from Ben Folds, you’ll be happy to know we’ve just added the song Kylie from Connecticut. Featured on the album Way to Normal, this arrangement is perfect for piano players, guitarists and singers alike. Love the song? Be the first to write a review of this new sheet music from Ben Folds.

Also new this week is sheet music for the song U Want Me 2 by Sarah McLachlan, Trans-Siberian Orchestra sheet music, Angel by Natasha Bedingfield and much, much more!

More Off-Stage News here at Musicnotes.com!

Musicnotes.com Breaks a Personal Record! — Our talented production staff has broken a personal record this week — the most new arrangements and digital sheet music in a single week. Look for hundreds of new sheet music releases late Tuesday; we’ve got a ton of musical surprises in store!

YouPerform Contest — This week we added detailed notes on how to upload your video to our Musicnotes.com contest. With two weeks left in the contest, add your video now for a chance to win a $100 gift certificate!

New! Musicnotes.com on Facebook — We’ve updated our Musicnotes.com presence on Facebook with a brand new page. Check out Musicnotes.com on Facebook and let us know what you think.

Want Musicnotes.com News Before Anyone Else? — If you don’t have a lot of time to read, and want to know what’s going on before anyone else, we recommend subscribing to Musicnotes.com on Twitter or any of our Musicnotes.com new sheet music releases through RSS. We offer eleven RSS feeds to choose from on our New Releases page, so feel free to subscribe today and get updates specific to the sheet music you want to play!

Holidays, Halloween and Beyond — Our ghouls are still wandering around in the shadows here at Musicnotes.com, delighted that you’ve embraced our new Halloween sheet music page. Some of our jack o’lanterns are burning a little brighter, prompting us to take a look into the deepest depths of our sheet music to look for your favorite Halloween songs over the years. Watch for more spooky updates as Halloween creeps closer.

We’ve just contacted our musical elves and they’re busy working on our Christmas sheet music page. Watch for updates in a few weeks to bring a contemporary look and feel to the page, and make your browsing easier! Remember, if you’d like to start putting together a concert for the holidays, be sure to check out our Musicnotes Editions; with these arrangements, you get full performance rights so you could record a CD, charge concert admission or make your own arrangement of Musicnotes Editions Christmas sheet music favorites.

Thanks to your continued feedback and support, we’re happy to spend the time updating the Musicnotes.com site for a better shopping experience.

Until next week’s musical finale, we hope you stay tuned and “in tune.” Watch for more during the week on our blog as we continue to get into a groove.

In celebration of Guitar Guru’s ability to be used on a Mac or a PC, we’re offering every fan of Guitar Guru an exclusive one-week only coupon. Buy one Guitar Guru Session, get one free!

In addition to explaining the coupon’s terms, I want to take a few minutes and help you understand what this new compatibility means to our new-and-existing Guitar Guru fans with a quick Q & A. Remember, if you have comments or questions to share please let us know. It’s because of you, our loyal customers, that we’re able to offer new enhancements to Guitar Guru to help guitarists learn songs and make music!

What are the Terms for the Buy One Get One Free Guitar Guru Session Coupon?

This coupon is good for $7.50 off any Guitar Guru purchase of $15.00 or more. The average price of our Guitar Guru Sessions is $6.95, which includes the session and a guitar tab for the song.

Coupon Good only for Guitar Guru Sessions: Here is a full list of our Guitar Guru Sessions on Musicnotes.com
Restrictions: Limit one coupon per customer.
Expiration Date: Offer expires 11:59 p.m. Central Standard Time on Saturday October 25th.
Coupon Code: GGMACPC at checkout.

I’m an existing Guitar Guru user. Do I need to re-download Guitar Guru?

Guitar Guru’s new compatibility with a Mac does not affect PC users, nor does it have any new features for the PC. For a preview of what features Guitar Guru offers for your operating system, click on our What is Guitar Guru? page. You will also be able to download Guitar Guru for free on that page.

Do I have to buy my Guitar Guru Session all over again?

Due to copyright restrictions, your purchased Session should remain with the operating system you bought it on. However, you do not have to re-purchase your Guitar Guru Session when a new version of GG is released. If your computer physically breaks, please contact us and we will help provide you with additional downloads of the music you purchased.

What do I get when I buy a Guitar Guru Session?

Every Guitar Guru Session comes with a printable guitar tab for the specific song you’d like to learn. Each GG Session features animated fingering placement so you can learn at your own pace, more in-depth notations for techniques than a tab (pick, upstroke, downstroke, fingering), ability to loop challenging sections in song to practice difficult areas over again and more!

What are the differences between Guitar Guru on the Mac versus the PC?

There are two differences between the Mac version and the PC version due to the way their operating systems function. Voice command is only available on the PC. On the Mac, whenever you use the adjustable playback feature, your “pitch” always stays the same, so you never have to drop your session an octave when you’re playing it at a different tempo.

They all have Guitar Guru Sessions on Musicnotes.com! If you’ve used a Guitar Guru Session before, you probably know how up close and personal you can get with your music. If you haven’t, here’s a brief glimpse of how our technology has reinvented the way you learn how to play guitar.

Using a unique approach removing the need for standard music notation or traditional guitar tablature, Guitar Guru Sessions play the original music and simultaneously show both left and right hand movements on a realistic guitar display.

On the fingerboard, a dot’s color indicates which finger to use. Similarly, whenever a string is struck by a finger on the pick-hand, a colored dot appears over the string in the pick-hand view. On songs best played with a pick, proper pick action is displayed. –SOURCE: Guitar Guru Sessions Overview

We’re getting ready for a big announcement here about Guitar Guru within the next couple of days. But before we do, I wanted to highlight some of my favorite bands we’ve added for Guitar Guru Sessions since we first released this new take on guitar lessons.

My Favorite Bands and Songs on Guitar Guru Sessions

• System of a Down
• Steve Vai – Eugene’s Trick Bag (From the movie Crossroads)
• The Beatles
• Sweet Home Alabama Lynyrd Skynyrd
• Somebody to Love Queen
• Van Halen
• Rolling Stones
• Jailhouse Rock Elvis Presley
• Symphony of Destruction Megadeth
• Eric Clapton

In addition to these bands, we have a slew of other sessions like our Christmas Guitar Guru Sessions in Musicnotes Editions. Check out our growing list of new releases of Guitar Guru Sessions and let us know if you have a song request. We take your sheet music and Guitar Guru Sessions requests seriously, so please feel free to let us know using our Suggest Sheet Music to Musicnotes.com page.