Finding and buying sheet music

I've got a fairly good "ear" and given enough time can figure out a lot of guitar chords and notes just from mimicking what's being played on a source like an MP3. But then there are other times when I just can't figure it out. I bet there are a lot of players like me.

So then it comes down to finding either tabs or sheet music. Most of the time tabs from places like "Chordie" will suffice. But what if you like to learn music that never really made the hit lists? You have to dig for the sheet music somewhere. I'm not having much luck with doing that on-line for finding the pieces I'm looking for.

Question: When music is copyrighted and published, don't "they" create a piece of sheet music to establish their copyright claim? Can musicians find the original copyrighted piece of music by looking it up somewhere? Is there a sure-fire resource for finding all sheet music that has been published?

Originally Posted by: Ebonius
Question: When music is copyrighted and published, don't "they" create a piece of sheet music to establish their copyright claim? Can musicians find the original copyrighted piece of music by looking it up somewhere? Is there a sure-fire resource for finding all sheet music that has been published?

It doesn't need to be written down to be considered copyrighted. All they have to do is record it.

Most stuff isn't written out, so you won't find sheet music for it. Tabs are your best bet, but that is all done by other people. So you have to hope they tabed it right.

You buy them :) Its around 4$ for one song at my music store. You can also take a look at sheetmusicplus.com or musicnotes.com if your local music store dosnt sell single song sheets. They both have a good database of songs and books.

Also, keep in mind that even printed sheet music isn't 100% accurate. They are written by other people. Very rarely do bands work on their own sheet music books.

So any tabs or sheet music you find should only be used as a guide. Your ear is your best bet in the end. Then again....a ton of people have horrible ears it seems.When I go to tab sites to get a better idea of how songs go, I hear people claiming that they have tabbed it out 100% the accurate and "real way" to play the song. Then you play it and you know it's completely wrong....

Yup, yup and yup.

Given that I don't like the $6.95 price I find online, and given that the two url's above didn't have the song I was looking for, and given my ear is only good enough to get me 'most' of a song, I'm wondering....

Is there a legal reason why we couldn't share tabs here in the GT forum? Could we not post requests for 'help' and get tabs from each other? Might even be a sticky post or it's own sub-forum...

Originally Posted by: SebastBergYou buy them :) Its around 4$ for one song at my music store. You can also take a look at sheetmusicplus.com or musicnotes.com if your local music store dosnt sell single song sheets. They both have a good database of songs and books.

The band Orleans from the late 1970s had several hits including "Still The One" and "Dance With Me." The former was on the album "Waking and Dreaming." Also on that album were another three or four songs that charted well at the time including one called "Reach" - a sort of upbeat funk tune. I can't seem to find any tabs or sheet music for any other songs from that album other than "Still The One" and "Dance With Me."

So yes Mr. SebastBerg, I know about sheetmusicplus and the others. It's just that like I said, if a song did not reach "hit" status, it's hard to find sheet music or tabs for it. That's why I'm asking. :-)

Oops sorry I didnt read your title well. I didnt see the "buying" word. That's why I suggested to buy them since most of the "good products" nowadays (Like GT) you have to pay to have it.
Indeed, they are hard to find those good "no hitters". I tried this morning to find you good music sheets of Orleans without success. I'll check at my local music store out of curiosity. A lot of time they surprised me by having sheets of songs that never made it big. Do you have a software to slow down songs like song surgeon for example? It helps me a lot to break down songs, at a faster rate.

There was a post not so long ago of someone asking is being able to read/write music was that important. I forgot who it was but here is the perfect exemple why it is such a great tool to have to being able to write in standard music notation. No need to buy or download tabs/sheets anymore.
Offcourse you need a fairly "opened ear" to translate on paper.

Thanks for doing that research on Orleans. If you come up with anything, please let me know. You are too kind. I did not use the word "buying" in my first post. I should have. In my daily life I am a working commercial photographer and I am a staunch supporter of creative artists' rights. I register formal US Copyright after each and every photo shoot. So if I can pay for sheet music, I certainly would do it. But if no one made it available, then what's a guy supposed to do? :-) Not to be harsh on myself, but I guess I would have to copy it from somewhere and beg forgiveness from the creative gods.

If you come up with anything, please let me know. Meanwhile, there is one last approach and probably the best one: I know where to find the guy who wrote most of the music for Orleans. He's New York State Congressman Jon Hall, formerly the founding member of Orleans! He actually sang a duet last year with Stephen Colbert. Life is one curiosity after another, isn't it?

Hello,
For me...If I can find the root and some notes in the chorus or certain changes in the song, I can usually figure it out. But, I try to play it two, three or more ways. Use chord inversions, partial chords, etc. When I see a band in concert unless they are stuck to a click track, they usually play the song a little different anyway. One time they will play a progression in the 1st position and the next time play much of it in the second and third or use inversions where ever they can stick it in. Since they wrote the song or re-did someone else's who's to say they didn't play it right? Work out a song, arrange it, stick in an odd chord here and there and you've got your version of that song.
G1619T

Here's my two cent worth
http://www.johnhallmusic.com/

Originally Posted by: compart1Here's my two cent worth
http://www.johnhallmusic.com/

How is that related to this topic?