This is a unique musical artist website in several important respects. For one thing, it’s a little unusual for a musical artist to have recorded four catalogs of music comprising 43 albums and 516 songs (344 originals, 136 covers, 24 Christmas carols, and 12 cowboy songs). I compiled the five Greatest Hits albums, all of which have been released commercially on multiple digital musical platforms, in order to emphasize what I consider to be some of my best original songs and cover arrangements. Another uncommon feature of this website is the fact that 3 albums of original songs in the D.L. Stieg Catalog are companion works to works of fiction also written by me (a novella, a musical play, and a short story). Further, this is not a typical musical artist website in that there is no need for advertising and promoting my upcoming performances, because I no longer perform, other than on recordings. I did, however, have a fairly successful run of a dozen years or so, in the 1970’s and early 1980’s, playing solo gigs in small clubs, restaurants, and lounges. Still another reason this is not a typical musical artist website is the fact that the recordings featured on this website are all home-produced rather than professional studio productions. The recordings are unique in another important way, in that they do not include any percussion tracks, bass guitar tracks, or lead guitar tracks. Rather, they consist solely of rhythm acoustic guitar tracks (often in duet arrangements), vocal tracks (often with vocal harmonies), synthesized instrumental tracks (mainly string orchestra or Dixieland combo), and keyboard tracks. All of the music on the recordings was arranged, played, and sung entirely by me.
But the most uncommon aspect of this website, and the most obvious way in which this is not a typical musical artist website, is the fact that this website is intended mainly as a resource for learning rather than as a means for promoting myself as a musical artist. Early in 2002 I resolved to return to, and hopefully finally complete, extensive projects in music and music education that I had undertaken, and made significant progress on, many years earlier. Since that time, I have created a comprehensive collection of music learning materials based on innovative notational systems of my own invention. The educational purpose of this website is given mainly by the fact that for every guitar arrangement included on the recordings, you can purchase a song chart that shows all the correct chords required for playing the song, including the correct timing of all the chord changes. You can also purchase a chord doc that shows all the exact chord fingerings used.
Together the charts and chord docs make it possible to learn to play the guitar arrangements in only a fraction of the time it would take otherwise. The charts, which are fashioned so as to allow for playing along with the recordings from start to finish, are also an effective tool for learning to play the songs by anyone who plays an instrument that makes chords. This is so because the charts also include the names of the actual chords sounded in cases where they differ from the names of the guitar chords used (for example, when a capo is used on the guitar). Keyboardists in particular, regardless of their level of skill or degree of familiarity with music theory, might want to consider reading Keyboard Harmony, a brief overview of the process of transforming a song chart into a keyboard arrangement. Guitarists of all skill levels who would like to expand their chord vocabulary are encouraged to consider purchasing Acoustic Guitar Chords, my comprehensive manual on the subject. Experienced acoustic guitarists can find many more charts and chord docs for the original artists’ guitar arrangements for popular songs at www.chartsandchords.com. At politicalrock.com, a website devoted solely to center-left politically themed songs, charts and chord docs for 18 songs are available free of charge. Beginning guitarists, as well as more experienced guitarists who want to expand their knowledge of music and the guitar, are encouraged to visit the original Twelvemonth Music website (http://schools.twelvemonth.com). There you will find comprehensive music and guitar learning methods based on visualinear tablature, an innovative notation for guitar music. The numerous music learning materials contained on the Twelvemonth Music website, as well as the song charts and chord docs contained on this website and on the chartsandchords.com website, are all offered in the hope that they will enable people to expand their musical horizons and make music a more pleasurable and more rewarding part of their lives.
D. L. Stieg, Founder
Twelvemonth Music
