Troops in Iraq Jamming to a New Tune

Troops in Iraq Jamming to a New Tune

Military to receive free music lessons

ORLANDO, Fla., Feb. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- A Central Florida company that develops innovative music instruction products will be giving American soldiers in the Middle East something not usually found in a war zone: guitar lessons. Beginning February 26th, 2008, TalkingTabs will begin sending thousands of free Play-It-Now Tunes, which are audio guitar lessons for popular songs, to be packaged with the next 500 guitars being shipped to Iraq by Operation Happy Note. Included with these exciting guitar song lessons will be the TalkingTabs All-Audio Guitar Instruction: Complete Beginners Series. This beginner guitar course provides over 20 hours of easy-to-follow audio instruction delivered entirely on CD.

"Everyone at TalkingTabs wanted to thank the guys and gals in Iraq for providing us the security to pursue our dreams," said Mark Hara, President and founder of TalkingTabs, LLC. Hara selected classic hits for the troops, including Eric Clapton's Wonderful Tonight and Black Sabbath's Paranoid. "Since we know that stress and depression are results of war, we wanted to provide our soldiers music, which is a very powerful therapy. Learning to play the guitar and popular songs will bring our troops a lot of happiness. We couldn't feel more proud."

Experts have estimated there are thousands of guitars currently within the military force overseas. Beginning in February, American soldiers in Iraq will be able to listen to Play-It-Now Tunes song lessons on CD players, or download them from a computer onto mp3 players and take them anywhere they go. The audio lessons include a re-created Play Along that allows the soldier to play the guitar part with the band.

The 2,500 lessons being sent to American Troops in Iraq include:

1. Man In Black, by Johnny Cash
2. Pride and Joy, by Stevie Ray Vaughn
3. Paranoid, by Black Sabbath
4. Bad Moon Rising, by Credence Clearwater Revival
5. Satisfaction, by The Rolling Stones
6. Free Bird, by Lynyrd Skynyrd
7. Rock and Roll, by Led Zeppelin
8. Wish You Were Here, by Pink Floyd
9. The Dock Of The Bay, by Otis Redding
10. Wonderful Tonight, by Eric Clapton
11. Shattered, by the Rolling Stones
12. Imagine, by John Lennon
13. Brown Eyed Girl, by Van Morrison
14. Keep Your Hands To Yourself, by Georgia Satellites
15. Feelin' Alright, by Traffic

"Becoming the leader in all-audio music instruction has allowed us to make contributions to many people," said Hara. "Our mission has now become the soldiers in Iraq. The details have been ironed out and it shouldn't be long before our men and women in uniform will be learning to play their favorite songs with Play-It-Now Tunes."

TalkingTabs, LLC was founded in 2005 after Hara's 13-year-old son Jared lost his sight and then proceeded to become an accomplished guitarist simply by listening to verbal instructions he received from teachers. After witnessing the ease and effectiveness of audio instruction, Hara assembled TalkingTabs with the finest musicians, educators, engineers and management to cultivate this new methodology. TalkingTabs instructors' philosophy is that it is through the ears and the hands that music is absorbed and created, not the eyes. By eliminating reading materials, TalkingTabs has proven that playing can be realized much more quickly and effectively for everyone.

Operation Happy Note is a volunteer effort to send musical instruments to our deployed service men and women throughout the world. Steve and Barb Baker from Fergus Music started Operation Happy Note after their son was deployed to Iraq. They had sent him a guitar and then a buddy wanted one. These soldiers were so pleased with having these instruments over there that Steve and Barb wanted to find a way to get more instruments to our troops, hence "Operation Happy Note." Since March of 2005 they have sent hundreds of instruments, including guitars, mandolins, banjos, violins, harmonicas, and accessories. "We can't stop now!" says Barb, just because her son is now back home with his family.

Click below or copy and paste to your browser to view a picture of a soldier who has received his guitar and TalkingTabs lessons.

http://tinyurl.com/3dy5hx

For more information, please contact:

Annie Binion
407-539-0107
annie.binion@talkingtabs.comhttp://www.talkingtabs.com/

This release was issued through eReleases(TM). For more information, visit http://www.ereleases.com/.

Source: TalkingTabs, LLC

CONTACT: Annie Binion of TalkingTabs, LLC, +1-407-539-0107, or
annie.binion@talkingtabs.com

Web site:

http://www.talkingtabs.com/
http://tinyurl.com/3dy5hx

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