Another Summer Bites the Dust

Fall in Minnesota can be beautiful. September was warm and dry, ideal for doing just about anything outside. October brought much cooler temps and much needed rain. Acorns and black cherries are falling abundantly from the trees, and soon the leaves will begin to join them on the ground. I would love fall more if it weren't followed by such long and bitter winters as we have here in Minnesota.

I have begun to list my transpostion books "Guitar Player's Friend" on eBay again. I didn't list them much during the summer primarily because I had more pressing priorities to take care of this summer. I did spend some time learning a few new songs that I will be able to perform at the monthly jam sessions. I have about 27 songs that I can play and sing from memory. My goal is to learn one a month for the next year. That is not a difficult task, it requires just a little more effort during the hour or two of daily practice that I normally fit in my schedule. I have at least 50 music books that I have accumulated over the years, so there is no shortage of good songs that I really want to learn.

There are some great sites online where I have found lyrics and chords for songs that I really like from long ago. One of my favorite websites is Cowboy Lyrics.com. If there is a particular artist you like, you may find exactly the song you always wanted by that artist. There are quite a few similar sites that are easy to find if you spend a little time with google. Just enter a song title on google search and you will get a ton of results to point you to sites that have recordings, lyrics, sheet music, chords, and tabs. I have bought sheet music this way, but most of the time I just look for the free stuff that provides the lyrics and chords.

Usually, what I do is edit what I find online to put all the lyrics on one page and transpose the song to a key that suits me. Many times you will find that there are errors in what is posted online, but it is not hard to figure out what they are and make the appropriate changes. The biggest problem I have found is that when you copy from the website to MSWord on your computer, you may lose the format so the chords are a little out of position. My solution is to print directly from the website so I can make the appropriate format corrections by using the hard copy as a reference.

I'd be happy to hear any tips you might have to pass along to our guitar playing friends.