[lYVgWWcP]

Recently the axis of evil, the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) the Music Publishers Association of the United States (MPA) and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) have shut down many guitar tab sites on the internet. For some of you, this is old news, for others, let me enlighten you. I've only been playing guitar for 2 1/2 years now and I'd like to think that I'm getting pretty good at it now. I can guaranty that I wouldn't be half as good as I am now without these tabs and I probably would have lost interest very early on without them. They are an essential part of any guitarist's ability to learn music, no matter what your skill level.

Bottom line, these tabs are not official song sheets ripped directly from songbooks with a hefty price tag, but they are individual guitarist's interpretations of the songs themselves. It's somebody like you or I who have put in their time and really learned their stuff and decided to make the job a little easier for the beginners and the not-so-musically-inclined. To sue these sites would be akin to suing you for copyright infringement for singing Panic at the Disco in the shower or Gnarls Barkley at your local Karaoke bar. Besides... The tabs created for programs like Power Tab and Guitar Pro make for a learning experience that a songbook could never possibly provide and there isn't any alternative to these programs as of yet.

Songwriters also get paid from the everyday jobs they do, just like you and I, and aside from some of the larger names, it has always been this way and guitar songbooks did nothing to change this. On top of the recording industries price gouging, you’ve also now added material costs of the book and the book publishers price gouging, not to mention the price gouging that the retailer does. If MySongBook was posting net profits, then there would indeed be a problem here, but they have very little advertising to speak of and it pays for the bandwidth and moderation of the site. Until a rich philanthropist like Bill Gates hosts a site like this out of the goodness of his heart, these sites will have to contain some form of advertisement to pay for bandwidth or they would be extinct.

I hope in the near future technology will allow us to completely cut out the middleman and the consumers can deal directly with the creative talent. The RIAA, MPAA, NMPA & MPA are well aware of this possibility and they are doing everything in their power to make sure that this is a legal impossibility before the technology and social climate allows for it to truly take off. It is sad that they use the artists and the songwriters as the pity pot here and so many people seem to buy their distorted version of reality.

There are a lot of people in America that are struggling to pay any of their bills. I happen to be a bit more fortunate then the poverty stricken, but I am not rich by any means. For the truly destitute who often find solace in drug abuse or violence, think of how much more enriched their life might have been if they had been given a guitar when they were a child that loved life along with a treasure trove of information to get them on their way to having a musically enhanced life. Before the recording industry had everyone in America listening to the same 50 bands at one time, there were traveling performers everywhere. People were more interesting and there was much more variety in life all around us. What the recording industry and their copyrights have done is stifle and destroy much of the creative juices of the masses which once made this country great. Now we all listen to the same stuff and buy the same stuff and are taught from childhood to do the best we can to conform to those around us.

Back in 1971 George Harrison was sued by Bright Tunes Music Corp because his song “My Sweet Lord” sounded similar to that of a song they owned called “He’s So Fine” which was written by Ronald Mack, and recorded by the Chiffons in 1962. Incidentally, Bright Tunes Music Corp wasn’t even the original producers of “He’s So Fine”. George Harrison lost this case in court and was forced to pay Bright Tunes $1,599,987, not only the earnings from that song, but earnings from other songs on the album that weren’t as popular that got sold, in the judges eyes, because of the popularity of “My Sweet Lord” which was ripped off from “He’s So Fine”. These are two very different songs, and it’s kind of scary when you think that creativity can be legislated in such a bogus way as this and be labeled as “PLAGERISM”, yet I have to hear the exact background beat on Puff Daddy’s “Satisfy You” as I do on Luniz’ “I Got 5 On It”. (And I know I’ve heard it in one or two others already). Modern watered down hip-hop is based on “Sampling” and is so blatant most of the time that it doesn’t take a judge to know that the tune was a rip off. What about Rhianna’s “S.O.S.”? I have to admit that I enjoy her shaking her thing on the video much more than I enjoyed the video for the song when Soft Cell made it in the 80’s and it was called “Tainted Love”, but this is honestly a much more blatant form of plagiarism and I haven’t heard anything about Rhianna or P Diddy going to court. This is because the record industry owns the rights to these songs and as long as they are making the money, they’ll use that same beat for 100 more songs over the next millennia, and they will label it benignly as “SAMPLING”. They own the copyrights on creativity now and they decide who can and who cannot be creative.

As I posted on my MySpace blog (http://www.myspace.com/6ixstringjack), I will be hosting all of my guitar tabs (somewhere around 100,000) in zipfiles which I will host on Rapidshare. I will make these available to anyone who wants them for free, and I hope that anyone intersted in music will download these for themselves if they play or for any of their familys and friends to use and to pass on. I wanted to post here to see what people thought about this idea as I have a limited audience on my MySpace blog. I will most likely be hosting these by Wednesday night and I will post the link here and on my blog then. According to some know-it-all lawyer that I saw posting in here on another thread reguarding this, as long as I'm not making any money off of these, it's not illegal for me to do this, and even if it is, I'm willing to be a martyr for the cause.

They can sue us till we're pennyless, but they can't stop the music.

[ZX3URrBH]

Your post is way to long to read. So I don't know and I don't really care what it is about. So Jack what is you connection to kendo/jodo/iaido/naginatado or budo in general? Or did you just come here to troll around?

[Justlovemy]

Not sure if youshould've posted that on kendo related forums. I read all of it, and there was something I noticed. I think you made only 1 spelling mistake. "PLAGERISM", but later you write it as "plagiarism", which is right.

When I first heard Rihanna's S.O.S, I seriously thought it was Tainted Love re-make. I wondered why they didn't sue her. I agree, there should be free tabs since I like printing them out and learning to play my favourite songs. My school has stockpiles of tabs for its music students so they can play what they want. I agree with you totally.

[abishiots]

Sorry to hear about your ADD affliction Mr T. I'm also sorry they cancelled your show back in the 80's too. I posted here because while I was doing some research on this topic, this blog came up and there was a lengthy discussion about this very topic, but it ended in mid 2005 and I didn't feel that I should pick that thread up with my post and decided to start a new one. Sorry if I offended anyone by posting it here in a Kendo forum. I think there are lovers of music in all walks of life. I think your post is pretty rude Mr. T and it seems like you're the one that's trolling by saying anything negative like that. If you didn't want to read it, you could have just left and said nothing.

Thanks for actually reading the post Boon and thank you also for the spelling lesson. I've never been a very good speller so I'm suprised that I did that well. It's great that your school offers those resources to you free of charge. If you need more, I'll have that link up tomorrow and you can download all of them. Some are Ascii, but a majority are for use with Power Tab Editor and Guitar Pro 5. If you've never used a tab program you need to check them out. They actually play midi versions of the songs while you watch which notes are being played and on Guitar Pro, you can actually slow the tempo down too. I won't be supplying the program as I'm truly not out to screw anybody here. I really believe in the freedom for people to share these works without fear of government action so it would be counter productive to give away software that costs money along with them. At Guitar-pro.com you can download a trial version and purchase the registered version for $59.00. Power Tab Editor (which is only slightly inferior in that you cannot change the tempo) is free and can be downloaded at Power-tab.net. Check em out, and check out my link when I post it tomorrow.

I apologize again if some feel this post is unwarranted here.

[Cvo1iRT0]

I agree with Jack, he didnt insult anyone or be rude, none of us own this forum and it is public!

[levitratestimon]

aye.. other thread already from a couple months ago.. http://www.kendo-world.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10207

Russia is now the world's guardian of free speech and musical research

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/

keep rock'n

[N9NACzws]

it being too long for me to be bothered reading,
i thought it was another spambot personally.
but then hes not from abu dhabi

[carlsberg21]

Sorry to hear about your ADD affliction Mr T. I'm also sorry they cancelled your show back in the 80's too.

$h!t, happens. Long live re-runs

I posted here because while I was doing some research on this topic, this blog came up and there was a lengthy discussion about this very topic, but it ended in mid 2005 and I didn't feel that I should pick that thread up with my post and decided to start a new one. Sorry if I offended anyone by posting it here in a Kendo forum.

It's not that I'm offended, but I don’t see the point of you making your first post about music instead of budo. It makes me wonder if you’re not better of at a music type of forum. You come here out of the blue with a huge post about a music related topic and you think it’s weird that I start to wonder what you're doing here? Maybe it isn't and it's you me.

I think your post is pretty rude Mr. T and it seems like you're the one that's trolling by saying anything negative like that. If you didn't want to read it, you could have just left and said nothing.

Blunt, yes. Rude, no. So my way of formulating my questions and comments isn't up to your liking. Sorry, but I don't intent to change it. Just because I say something negative doesn't make me a troll. I expect that you have a link or at least have serious interests in some kind of MA when you start posting on a forum like this. Otherwise it starts to make me think that you are here just to steer things up. I'm not know for being Mr. Nice guy and if you don't like me directness (is that a word?), sorry.

I still wonder, do you have any interest in budo?

[nd90t3sf]

Otherwise it starts to make me think that you are here just to steer things up.

The only one steering things up here is you. His thread is not kendo related and he posted it in the lounge. He isn't advertising anything, he isn't starting fights; he's done nothing wrong.
If he is a troll as you claim, then you are just giving him attention which is what a troll ultimately wants.

I'm not know for being Mr. Nice guy I wonder why?

[sbrthrds]

The only one steering things up here is you. His thread is not kendo related and he posted it in the lounge. He isn't advertising anything, he isn't starting fights; he's done nothing wrong.
If he is a troll as you claim, then you are just giving him attention which is what a troll ultimately wants.

If you read my posts a bit better, you would find out that I'm not calling him a troll. I just wondered what he's doing here instead of being on a music forum. That's all. If someone just pops up with a huge post it usually not a good thing. So I questioned his motives, Jack responded and gave some comments. I explained my response. Nothing wrong here.

Maybe I was bit blunt to our newcomer (you veterans know to take my comments with a grain of salt). So I'll try to be a bit nicer and more careful next time, OK?

I wonder why?

Take a guess

[IACJdKfU]

Russia is now the world's guardian of free speech and musical research

And larceny of intellectual property.

[BokerokyBan]

Sorry to hear about your ADD affliction Mr T. I'm also sorry they cancelled your show back in the 80's too.

No, no, no, no, if you feel sorry for him it should be because he does Iaido instead of Kendo as the majority does here. He can't help it, he actually likes it. Because of that, he is very serious about all things in life. When Iaido folk practice they look like they're constipated. But that's actually how it should be I've been told.
But he has a point, do you have any connection with Kendo? Or, god forbid, Iaido? If not hang around for some fun and education.
Carry on with the fight against the Axis of Evil and we will continue to clobber each other over the heads for World Peace...

[PaulRyansew]

When Iaido folk practice they look like they're constipated. But that's actually how it should be I've been told.

We're suposed to look constipated? Damn, I've been doing it wrong

Carry on with the fight against the Axis of Evil and we will continue to clobber each other over the heads for World Peace...

And world harmony

[PNCarl]

You guys (and gals?) are alright by me. Sorry again for starting a thread so seemingly unrelated in here. I myself don't actually study any form of martial arts, although I used to be a student of Kenpo when I was younger. (I hope that doesn't illicit too many giggles from the die hard Kendo crowd) Maybe if we got to play with swords I'd still be doing it. In fact, I didn't even realize what this forum was about until after I posted. Like I said earlier, I only started a new thread about this because I saw one that seemed to have died out about mid 2005. (Thanks for pointing that out Washington) No hard feelings Mr T.

I do have to say that a large contributor to those posts (and ultimately a main source of opposition to my train of thought here) was Ingatz on the other thread. I see I have your attention and it's nice to see you post here Ingatz. I'm assuming that you don't necessecarrily agree with what I'm saying, but I do take it as a good sign that you didn't quote anything I said (and lord knows it's a lot) and bash it. Could it be that maybe I do make some sense here?

[BEKREUNSEPBERw]

You guys (and gals?) are alright by me. Sorry again for starting a thread so seemingly unrelated in here. ............................
I do have to say that a large contributor to those posts (and ultimately a main source of opposition to my train of thought here) was Ingatz on the other thread. I see I have your attention and it's nice to see you post here Ingatz. I'm assuming that you don't necessecarrily agree with what I'm saying, but I do take it as a good sign that you didn't quote anything I said (and lord knows it's a lot) and bash it. Could it be that maybe I do make some sense here?

No you don't because the person you are talking about is named Ignatz as the cartoon mouse. He is also the life long President of the Greater Coalition of World Peace through the vigorous practice of Kendo. He doesn't like it when you you mix up his name. I'd be watching your back if I were you.........
What what's that sound back there. I think you'd better run while you can. And pray that nothing will happen..........

[GustavM]

this guy doesnt need any free tabs.
he can play by magic
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vUsu...elated&search=

[g4YthYXx]

Thijs just do a few hundred haya suburi if this guy is getting to you, then read what you got upset about again, if you still get upset do a few hundred more and try again until you're just too tired to even get bothered to get mad.

Then you finally get it due to being tired that it's not worth getting angry about because this is nothing more then some online thingy.

This guy didn't step on your iaito Thijs or wrinkled your hakama, he just seeked for some attention in a place called kendo-world where everybody would be such welcome people and friendly.

Yes he did write a post too long for me to read but I'm surely going to make sure that someone that normally reacts reasonable sensable will do it in the future too.

[gariharrr]

No you don't because the person you are talking about is named Ignatz as the cartoon mouse. He is also the life long President of the Greater Coalition of World Peace through the vigorous practice of Kendo. He doesn't like it when you you mix up his name. I'd be watching your back if I were you.........
What what's that sound back there. I think you'd better run while you can. And pray that nothing will happen..........

We have comedians in here too.... nice to meet you Fonsz. I mean no offence to you or Kendo or Ignatz of course, but if you check the link that Washington provided, you will see that Ignatz did indeed post in a thread many times about this very topic before. He seems to know much about the law, being a lawyer and all too. I wish I spent my time so productively.

[DoctorWeryDolt]

I myself don't actually study any form of martial arts, although I used to be a student of Kenpo when I was younger. (I hope that doesn't illicit too many giggles from the die hard Kendo crowd) Maybe if we got to play with swords I'd still be doing it.

Now it's time for you to bugger off Jack. I gave you the benefit of the doubt but now I side with Mr T.
If you don't anything to do with kendo or are not even interested you shouldn't be posting here. Bye bye.

[bpejjssoe]

And larceny of intellectual property.

gotta stick with what ya know.. at least they are consistent