Beethoven Piano Sheet Music

Just posted -- new piano sheet music for L. V. Beethoven! Bagatelles, Cadenzas, Piano with Orchestra, plus much more on the way! Check it out at Free Sheet Music Downloads ... or go directly to the Beethoven Piano Sheet Music Downloads page.

Cigar Box Guitars

Just received a slew of website submissions -- having to do with "cigar box guitars"! These are really cool instruments -- basically homemade and custom-made electric guitars with cigar box bodies! Not all are six strings -- three strings seems to be a popular choice.

Check out the newest listings (they're at the bottom of the page) at http://www.freesheetmusic.net/Guitar10.html. You'll find videos of the guitars in action, as well as instructions for building your own!

Folk Songs!

We're going strong with Folk Songs right now! Have posted nearly 2,000 MIDI's and PDF's for world folk songs over the past week ... and there're plenty more to come! Sign up for our Free Sheet Music Newsletter to hear firsthand when we add new tunes. Subscribers (it's free, by the way) receive advance notice of new tunes and get free access to the tunes before they're posted for the general public!

So ... check out tunes from Russia, Ireland, Scotland, and Belgium right now at our folk tune page! Newsletter subscribers already know about the new sets of tunes that are coming up! Give us a visit and see for yourself!

Loads of Classical Music

Wanted to let you know about a new site I've learned about -- Hemingway's Studio ... dedicated to the "appreciation and performance of classical music in the home studio"!

There are tons of classical music downloads (over 3,000 right now with around that many more to come!), all in PDF format. No fees either ... so give them a visit if you get a chance!

Luchenbach, Texas!

Did you know that the Guiness World Book record for the largest Guitar Ensemble ever is 1807 guitarists -- and it's held by a group in Germany!

I have nothing against Germany -- beautiful country, wonderful people -- but really. You could drag a net down any street in Austin or Nashville and snag more than 1807 guitar players after a block and a half!

This record should be held in America -- and if you're anywhere around Luckenbach, Texas on August 23rd (it's near Austin), you can be a part of it!

Here's a note from the Kerrville Folk Festival who is aiming to bust the record.

"The Voices of a Grateful Nation/ Welcome Home Project has teamed up with Luckenbach Texas, Kerrville Folk Festival and Cheatham Street Warehouse to organize an attempt at the Guinness World Record for the largest Guitar Ensemble ever assembled! We are holding the event in on August 23rd, 2009. Gates open in Luckenbach at noon and the record attempt will be at 2pm. We will also be announcing some special guest so that day will be even more unforgettable!

That ' s why The Kerrville Folk Festival and Cheatham Street Warehouse have teamed up with historic Luckenbach to break the record while benefiting the Voices ...

We will have most all of the Voices artists playing and singing on stage and we are inviting all Texas Musicians to join us when we take the record from Germany. They are the current record holder with around 1807 guitars and we are well on our way to register 2000 players! We anticipate that we will have both television coverage, as well, we are doing a video documentary for the event. This event is a benefit fund raiser for the Welcome Home Project to help pay for guitar lessons for Veterans with Traumatic Brain Injuries as music therapy and healing upon their return home from Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Pickin' for the Record is going to be a wonderful and challenging day!. The songs that we will be doing are “Back to the Basics of Love” the Luckenbach song and “This Land Is Your Land” the Woody Guthrie original! If you can play a "G", a "C", and a "D", you're in!

Please lend us a hand, too by emailing the link or the attached information to all the pickers' and fans on your email network! We are gathering two thousand guitar players together and need all the help we can get, so please spread the word and ask them to register now at Voices of a Grateful Nation .


See you in Luckenbach on August 23rd!"

Visit Voices of a Grateful Nation to sign up and be a part. Word is there's a surprise guest we'll be backing (I don't know, but I'm hoping his first name begins with "Willie"!)



Hope to see you there!

Neat Keyboard Tips and Techniques

Looking for some neat keyboard playing tips -- things like using a suspended chord to spice up any song?

Then give this site a look! Other tips, too. How about a cool technique to introduce any song ... or a secret trick to improvise a chord progression based on I-vi-IV-V -- or the 3 things you MUST do to end a song. Much, much more! Check it out here!

James Burton - Wild Man of the Telecaster!

This site rates a 10+++++ on the cool meter -- James Burton - Wild Man of the Telecaster!

Burton's one of the greatest lead guitar players ever -- you probably first saw him on the "Ozzie and Harriet" show playing with Rickie Nelson -- and he's played with most every great ever since then!

I still drop everything everytime PBS replays that incredible black-and-white Roy Orbison super show (with Elvis Costello, James Burton, Bruce Springsteen, k.d. lang, Bonnie Rait and loads more).

Burton's probably best known for his lead guitar work with Elvis Presley (beginning with the Las Vegas days) -- also noted for his Fender Telecasters -- especially that Pink Paisley one!

The site's really well done, great pictures, great information -- and also offers free guitar tabs for some of your favorite Burton lick's and solo's!