Mountain Sentinel Tablature Archive

On the left is a picture of my Great Grandfather, William Feldpausch (playing violin), and his brother, Richard (playing guitar). The brothers used to perform at halls, barns and farmhouses in South Central Michigan around the turn of the century (1900). On the right is my Grandfather, Ferris Feldpausch, holding his tenor banjo. Ferris played at halls, farmhouses and barns with his father William and his brothers in the early 1900s. To his right is his cousin, Edgar. To his left is a cousin whose name my grandmother cannot remember.

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Free speech is under assault within the US by market forces. Consolidation of our media has resulted in a situation where most people are unable to make their voices heard on the television, on the radio, in the newspapers, or within the publishing industry. The only sanctuary of free speech at the dawn of the 21st Century is the internet. And now the internet is under assault as well.

Most recently, the internet providers are attempting to double charge for their services. They want to erect toll booths on the internet that will limit access to websites which do not pay for faster service. This would effectively silence the many blogs, alternate news services, file sharing networks, and websites such as this one. So far, the major internet providers have not been able to carry out this plan due to the outcry of media activists, but they have poured a lot of money into lobbying for internet toll booths, and they are determined to win.

The media conglomerates are also endeavoring to limit free speech, fighting a pitched battle to put an end to music and video filesharing. They hide behind the claim that filesharing hurts the artists. This is not true. Most artists must sign away their rights to their creative products in order to receive a contract with a major label. Furthermore, the artists were able to make a living before the birth of the recording industry and the motion picture industry, much less the modern publishing industry. Composers wrote for commissions, writers wrote for a large number of newspapers, magazines and book publishers, and musicians and actors made their living performing for audiences. It is only the media conglomerates that are hurt by filesharing.

In the most recent assault, the music publishing industry has rallied to put and end to free music and lyric sites on the internet. Just a couple of years ago, there was a wealth of music tablature, chord charts, midis, and lyrics available freely over the internet. It was an excellent medium whereby musicians (a segment of the population noted for its limited monetary resources) could communicate, sharing ideas and musical arrangements. Tablature software has allowed musicians to quickly write out music, edit arrangements, and play them back as midis. As a classical guitarist, I was given access to a library of musical compositions -- both in standard guitar notation and in tablature which opened up a rich new world for me. Much of this music was simply unavailable, either in libraries or in stores. This great wealth has allowed me, along with many other amateur and professional musicians, to find my voice.

Free tablature available over the internet was a major learning aid when I picked up the 5-string banjo a few years ago. Without it, I would probably be struggling along with a small repertoire and a limited knowledge of technique.

This is not to say that I have only pursued music that was freely available over the internet. I have purchased a number of music books, recordings, and instructional DVDs. Many of these purchases were suggested to me by explorations on the internet. And I have heard many other musicians say the same thing.

Without free tablature and music scores found on the internet, the world for musicians would shrink to an impoverished shadow of what it is today. Most of these tab and score sites could never afford the proposed fees to be charged by internet providers, and so would be lost on the internet slow lane.

It is in honor of free tab sites that I humbly offer some of my own tablature arrangements here for free download. May they benefit others as similar websites have benefited me.