First guitar scale - C major

The fingering is exactly the same as the fret numbers. So on the third fret you use your third finger, on the second your second finger, and when you play an open string, obviously you don't use a finger ;-)

(Notation and tab created with Tux Guitar)

Testament: The Bible in Animation

Years ago an excellent series was produced for TV by S4C, showcasing different animators and treating various Biblical characters and stories. The results for the most part were excellent, a kind of predecessor of The Miracle Maker (Il était une fois Jésus).

Some bright sparks have put the episodes on Youtube, so here they are in a playlist for your pleasure and enlightenment :-) Apparently they are also available on DVD now through the Bible Society shop : http://www.bibleresources.org.uk/9780564038862/ for a modest £19.99.

NoiseTrade.com - Check them out!

I posted a couple of links to some albums available via NoiseTrade.com recently and have been looking into them a little. Personally I really like what they're trying to do: Here's a quote from the "about us" from their website:

"Artists want to know, connect with, and be supported by music fans. Music fans want high-quality, free (or variably priced) music and to be rewarded, not punished, for sharing the music they love with their friends. We believe that if artists and fans work together, everyone can get what they want. . . Who needs peer-to-peer when you can have artist-to-fan?" Derek concludes, "If artists and fans realized how they could help each other and started making direct connections, without a middleman, the whole industry would change overnight. It would start a revolution."

Well worth checking out: http://www.noisetrade.com

Free music - Esterlyn

Another excellent group I discovered a while ago is Esterly. Thanks again to www.NoiseTrade.com through whom the band are offering two albums - for FREE! One is only a 5 track acoustic EP "Mending the Meaning", but it is so cool! The other is a full blown album, called "Lamps". Check them out while you can!

Again, you can also check them out at : www.myspace.com/esterlyn

Free music - Salient

I just discovered this site today : www.NoiseTrade.com. It's a site that allows you to download music for free, in exchange for your email and sharing about your download via Facebook or Twitter. Thanks to the site I discovered this excellent group called Salient. They have a new album available on the site called "Constant State of Change", and yes it's the whole album that's available. Check it out here :

Alternatively you could check out their website and myspace page:
www.salientband.com
www.myspace.com/salient

Free Music - Michel Dalle Ave

I just stumbled upon an excellent French fingerstyle/classical guitar player who's offering two of his previous albums as free downloads.

The first is called Atico, and the second Cordes'ialement. Excellent stuff!

Click on the pics below to go to the download page (www.guitare33.com/aticordes/), and while you're there check out his more recent offerings.

Click on the picture of the albums ;-)

And I forgot to mention that because he's obviously a generous fellow, he's also made available scans of the covers of the CDs plus music notation and tab in PDF format and PTB (PowerTab Guitar Editor - www.power-tab.net/guitar.php)

Le jardin (Music 4 the Soul 2010)

Voici une vidéo du concert à Vitré de l'équipe Music 4 the Soul 2010, avec une chanson écrite par Michel Sanz, (avec quelques ajouts par moi-même et un ami).

Concert - 15 juillet 2010 à 20h

La semaine prochaine débute un camp musicale, basé à Laval. Pendant une semaine des jeunes musiciens français et britaniques vont se rencontrer et préparer un concert d'une heure et demie avec des chansons françaises, anglaises, du style pop/rock. Ensuite ils partiront faire 4 concerts, à Laval, Quimper, Guincamp, et Vitré.

Venez donc nombreux pour une soirée superbe, le jeudi 15 juillet à l'Eglise Protestante Evangélique, 15 rue de Rennes, Laval à 20h. L'entrée est gratuite.

Pour plus de renseignements, écrivez-moi, ou allez faire un tour sur http://www.myspace.com/m4ts ou encore http://m4ts.blogspot.com

Advice to aspiring music artists from Francesca Battistelli

True, she's probably only just starting on the road as a "recording and performing artist", but she has some intelligent things to say; both in this video and her songs. Check her out at www.francescamusic.com

L'espoir

Voici le film "L'Espoir", un DVD sorti en 2002 qui présente la Bible en 12 chapîtres. C'est un moyen innovateur pour découvrir la Bible à travers des images, des vidéos, des commentaires, etc.

Le Messie - Manga (A feuilleter !)

Voici un extrait du Manga - Le Messie qui est sorti l'année dernière, il me semble. (Voir Manga - Le Messie

Open publication - Free publishing - More messie

Et voici quelques pages en plus du même livre :

Open publication - Free publishing - More messie

West United - Unique

Je suis en train de répéter pour une prochaine sortie à Nantes avec le groupe qui anime les soirées "West United". La prochaine aura lieu le samedi 13 mars à l'Eglise Protestane Evangélique, 137 rue du Corps de Garde, Nantes. Une soirée de louange contemporaine pour les jeunes et les jeunes d'esprit !

Cabaret Concert à Coudray le13 février

Le samedi 13 février il y aura un cabaret concert à Coudray, les bénéfices de cette soirée serviront à l'achat d'un défibrillateur ou à une participation à la formation es Coudréens aux PSC1 (Prévention et Secours Civiques niveau 1). La soirée est en honneur de Donovan, un jeune qui se battait pour la vie il y a un an..., et qui prenait des cours de guitare avec moi dans l'association Challenge & Musik. Heureusement pour Donovan, un prof avait reçu cette formation qui lui a permit de garder Donovan en vie jusqu'à l'arrivée des pompiers. Aujourd'hui Donovan a reprit des cours de guitares avec Nico.

Le cabaret concert est 16 euros pour les adultes, 8 euros pour les enfants de moins de 12 ans, qui comprend le repas (crêpes et galettes) et concert. C'est Pierre Bouguier et les artistes de Challenge & Musik qui assureront la musique, y compris moi-même.

Alors, si vous êtes dispo, venez nous soutenir :-)

Free Music - Sacred Warrior

Wow! Sacred Warrior, a Christian progressive/melodic metal band from a few years ago have reformed and are getting together a new album. Through Myspace, I recently discovered that they've made 4 of their previous albums freely avaiable for download on the music section of their site www.sacredwarrior.net. What a Christmas present! Their kind of similar to Queensryche, if that helps in any way, go check them out!

FREE - Open Source music sequencer/workstation

FRINIKA is a free (licensed under GNU GPL) complete music workstation software containing sequencer, midi support, soft synthesizers, audio recorder, piano roll/tracker/notation editing and more. The goal of Frinika is to be a complete platform for making music with your computer, using the versatile Java platform to be able to run on several operating systems, and being open source to be able to embrace the best open source technology being available at any time.
Source: www.frinika.com

More info at www.frinika.com

FREE - Open Source guitar tab programme

Tux Guitar is an excellent open-source programme for writing and reading guitar tab. It also has the wonderful ability to open and read GuitarPro files :-)

For more information, visit http://tuxguitar.herac.com.ar/

FREE - Open Source Word Processing and Desktop Publishing

There are two pretty good open-source programmes available on the net, which are worth keeping track of.


ABIWORD is a word processing programme, very similar to Microsoft WORD. Find out more at http://www.abisource.com



SCRIBUS is a desktop publishing programme, not particularly easy to get to get to grips with, (unless I'm just a bit slow) but excellent results. Find out more at http://www.scribus.net

Happy Christmas!

Le samedi 19 décembre nous organisons un "Carol Service". C'est-à-dire, une réunion où le but est de fêter Noël à travers des chansons traditionnelles de Noël, des lectures de l'histoire du premier Noël, la naissance de Jésus, et des "Mince Pies"! Mais puisqu'on est en France, on va mélanger le français et l'anglais pour avoir un "Carol Service bi-lingue".

Ca commence à 20h à la Salle Gothique, (Couvent des Ursulines) et c'est ouvert et libre à tous.

Alors venez nombreux !



This Saturday we're organising a "Carol Service" at the Salle Gothique, (Couvent des Ursulines) to celebrate Christmas with traditional and contemporary carols, readings from the Christmas story, and Mince Pies! The songs and readings will probably be in French & English soo everyone can participate!

The evening starts at 8pm and all are welcome and invited.

See you then!

La foi de Jean Calvin - Pierre Wheeler

Voici la vidéo d'une conférence que Pierre Wheeler a donné à Château-Gontier pendant son exposition sur Jean Calvin, que l'association protestante évangélique castrogontérienne a organisé pour commémorer la 500e anniversaire de la naissance de ce réformateur français.

Free Music - Bill Hammond

I came across this guy while looking for some acoustic guitar music to use in a video project. He's excellent! He has a CD entitled "Speechless" available for purchase here: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bhammond

He also has available on his site a free download of another album he recorded, which is since out of print: "Skywriter". Here's the link, it's a great listen for acoustic guitar lovers, and roots/folk based music lovers: http://billhammondmusic.com/skywriter.html



Here's the video with the music in, just a little souvenir of the exhibition created by my kid's school, "Ecole Maternelle Jacques Prévert", as part of "L'art dans les jardins 2" exhibition.