Most of us love to listen to music, but there are those who not only love to listen to music or songs but they also like to try out singing or playing the tune on a musical instrument available to them. It’s good to play the music of a song and it is even better if you know the right notes as that can help in getting the track accurately.

So this is where www.8notes.com comes to the rescue and provides you with loads of free music sheets for more than 25 instruments! Wow! So whatever instrument you have available, you can play any song on it now.

You can view and listen to the tunes but if you want to download the music sheet, then you must create an account. The home page is interesting with all the instruments’ tabs; clicking on any will open everything about that instrument, for instance, if you click Piano; you will have beginners, easy, film music, advanced, classical, rock and pop, latest, traditional, etc., all tracks and lessons in ‘piano’ category; and there you have it 25 instruments to choose from. The categories are also given in the menu at the top centre with drop down list of all 25 instruments; there is separate category ‘Styles’ which include jazz, classical, traditional, rock and pope, etc., and in the ‘Artists’ category you have legends like Beethoven, Mozart or Chopin, etc.

All lessons teach music theory, song components and explain musical elements; other tools and resources include an online guitar tuner, and guitar and piano chord charts, which feature audio files so you can hear chords before playing them.

You can also read biographies of musician spanning from Beethoven to Beyonce and look up terms in a musical glossary.

8notes.com connects you to a solid music library that includes classical pieces and a few contemporary favourites. However, the site claims to have more than three quarters of its sheet music, lessons, and jam tracks for free, but you may be frustrated to find that many of the rock and pop sheet-music selections have to be purchased.

So it’s time for some music classes this weekend on www.8notes.com.

Published in Dawn, Young World, January 30th, 2015