• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Stropes Editions, Ltd.

  • Resources
    • visual index of notation symbols and competencies
    • Titles/Tunings Database
      • Alex de Grassi
      • Andy McKee
      • Ben Woolman
      • Billy McLaughlin
      • Dan Schwartz
      • Justin Roth
      • Leo Kottke
      • Lucas Michailidis
      • Matt Masotti
      • Michael Gulezian
      • Michael Hedges
      • Peter Lang
      • Pino Forastiere
      • Ray Kane
      • Sonny Chillingworth
      • Willy Porter
  • Shop
    • Alex de Grassi
    • Andy McKee
    • Ben McAllister
    • Ben Woolman
    • Billy McLaughlin
    • Dan Schwartz
    • Justin Roth
    • Leo Kottke
    • Lucas Michailidis
    • Matt Masotti
    • Michael Gulezian
    • Michael Hedges
    • Peter Lang
    • Pino Forastiere
    • Ray Kane
    • Rachael Carlson
    • Sonny Chillingworth
    • Willy Porter
  • News
  • Articles
  • Notation Project
  • Online Teaching
  • Stropes Foundation
  • Cart

News

Titles/Tunings Database — Phase 2

John Stropes
February 1, 2023

In the 1970s, it seemed like if you knew about dropped D tuning, open G and open D, and maybe even open C and DADGAD, you had alternate tunings covered. Today, with the great profusion of alternate tunings and the great music that has sprung from them, they have become a mainstay of contemporary fingerstyle guitar, and a new chapter in guitar education has opened. Since the mid-1990s when we…

Continue Reading Titles/Tunings Database — Phase 2

“Some additional thoughts …” on “Aerial Boundaries,” “Hot Type,” “Rickover’s Dream,” and “Ragamuffin” — now available online.

John Stropes
January 30, 2023

This series of essays — written in 1995 and 1996, following the publication of the first extensively-edited transcriptions of compositions by Michael Hedges — provides further background information and analysis of these groundbreaking compositions.

Continue Reading “Some additional thoughts …” on “Aerial Boundaries,” “Hot Type,” “Rickover’s Dream,” and “Ragamuffin” — now available online.

“Egg Tooth” introduction from Leo Kottke/My Feet Are Smiling

John Stropes
March 7, 2021

In the study notes for the transcription of “Egg Tooth” that we have published, I presented a chronology of the evolution of the form and, in the case of “Egg Tooth,” it is a long and winding road. The transcription itself represents how Kottke was performing “Egg Tooth” in the late 1970s.  But we often transcribe multiple performances and recordings of a particular composition as part of the process. Here…

Continue Reading “Egg Tooth” introduction from Leo Kottke/My Feet Are Smiling

Qin Tang Cup 2nd Annual Masaaki Kishibe Fingerstyle Competition

John Stropes
March 6, 2021

I have the good fortune to work with guitar players around the world—interesting, talented, diligent guitar players. Huang Cong, who resides in Fujian province in China aims to bring the music of Michael Hedges to the foreground in China. He recently won the Qin Tang Cup 2nd Annual Masaaki Kishibe Fingerstyle Competition playing “Light by Masaaki Kishibe and ”Aerial Boundaries” by Michael Hedges. Congratulations, Huang Cong!

Continue Reading Qin Tang Cup 2nd Annual Masaaki Kishibe Fingerstyle Competition

Leo Kottke and Mike Gordon – Ants (Official Art Track)

John Stropes
March 6, 2021

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NlMQsCs5rA “Ants” is a remarkable composition that represents a new direction for Leo Kottke. Like “Gewerbegebiet,” it is in open G tuning, but sounds in Dm. This unusual approach opens up new possibilities. A transcription of “Ants” is available at https://www.stropes.com/leo-kottke/.

Continue Reading Leo Kottke and Mike Gordon – Ants (Official Art Track)

Leo Kottke and Mike Gordon “Flat Top” from Noon

John Stropes
March 6, 2021

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpM1WYB12W4&t=6s Flattop was a villain in the early Dick Tracy comic strips. His son, Flattop, Jr., was the inspiration behind the title of this composition by Leo Kottke. This performance by Leo Kottke and Mike Gordon brings some joy to our pandemic world. A transcription of “Flattop” is available at https://www.stropes.com/leo-kottke/.

Continue Reading Leo Kottke and Mike Gordon “Flat Top” from Noon

11th Cambridge Fold Festival Pocket Programme cover with an orange and red colored monkey swinging on circle ring

11th Cambridge Folk Festival

John Stropes
January 16, 2021

Many thanks to Graham Pearson for contributing this rare “pocket programme” from the 11th Cambridge Folk Festival to the archives. On Saturday and Sunday, July 26 and 27, 1975, you could have seen Bert Jansch at 8:30pm and Leo Kottke at 10pm! Were you there?

Continue Reading 11th Cambridge Folk Festival

Man in black shorts with red striped shorts and grey t-shirt playing an acoustic guitar, wearing headphones in front of microphone

New Antoine Dufour Video

John Stropes
December 6, 2020

A wonderful surprise yesterday — Antoine Dufour’s new video, “Triad.” Antoine has taken a solo composition, “To Run in a Dream,” which he originally recorded in 2010 on Convergences, arranged it for multiple guitars, and produced a fascinating video. It sure is welcome in these stay-at-home times.

Continue Reading New Antoine Dufour Video

Pre-release of “Back from the Brink” from Billy McLaughlin’s Upcoming Recording Lost Souls

John Stropes
December 4, 2020

For more information visit billymclaughlin.com.

Continue Reading Pre-release of “Back from the Brink” from Billy McLaughlin’s Upcoming Recording Lost Souls

Wilson Center 2020 Guitar Competition Winners

John Stropes
December 4, 2020

Congratulations to the winners of the Wilson Center 2020 Fingerstyle Guitar Competition — Huang Cong, Matt Harp, and Zach Tremblay.

Continue Reading Wilson Center 2020 Guitar Competition Winners

two men wearing masks leaning over table discussing transcriptions and a mural of a lighthouse by the sea in the background

Michael Hedges/Rhythm, Sonority, Silence, second printing

John Stropes
October 31, 2020

Michael Hedges/Rhythm, Sonority, Silence, second printing Reconstructing the digital files for reprinting the book has been a daunting task. Thanks go to Brian Burke for his forensic investigation of data files, and to Ben Kammin who resurrected the original music files and reconstructed the right-hand string-stopping notation. Clay Feller, the graphic designer of the original book, replicated the design. I am grateful that the Hedges family was able to provide…

Continue Reading Michael Hedges/Rhythm, Sonority, Silence, second printing

Michael Hedges/Rhythm, Sonority, Silence reissue

brian
October 30, 2020

Michael Hedges/Rhythm, Sonority, Silence reissue Michael Hedges/Rhythm, Sonority, Silence was originally released in 1995 and, given the enduring influence of Michael Hedges’ music, Stropes Editions, Ltd. is pleased to announce the reissue of this groundbreaking volume. The acclaim it received upon first release established its place as a seminal document that created a new standard for printed music for fingerstyle guitar. Truly a work of art. It effectively raises the bar for…

Continue Reading Michael Hedges/Rhythm, Sonority, Silence reissue

Digital Downloads Now Available for All Individual Transcriptions

brian
August 22, 2020

In addition to digital downloads, high-quality print editions—printed at 1,200 dpi, on 28 lb acid-free paper, and presented in a foil-stamped folio cover—will continue to be available by mail. https://www.stropes.com/leo-kottke/

Continue Reading Digital Downloads Now Available for All Individual Transcriptions

Two-Hands-on-the-Fingerboard Arrangement of the Bridge Section for “Helms Place”

brian
May 25, 2020

Billy McLaughlin’s two-hands-on-the-fingerboard arrangement of the bridge section for “Helms Place” is now available as a free download. See the first system below, and download the full transcription of the bridge at the bottom of the page. “Helms Place” alternate measures mm. 42-57Download https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U77o4LdfFQQ

Continue Reading Two-Hands-on-the-Fingerboard Arrangement of the Bridge Section for “Helms Place”

Footer

Social

  • Facebook
  • YouTube

Newsletter

Stay up to date by subscribing to our newsletter.

Contact

Stropes Editions, Ltd.
1132 Lake Ave
Racine, WI 53403
262-994-8710

john@stropes.com

Navigation

  • Resources
    • visual index of notation symbols and competencies
    • Titles/Tunings Database
      • Alex de Grassi
      • Andy McKee
      • Ben Woolman
      • Billy McLaughlin
      • Dan Schwartz
      • Justin Roth
      • Leo Kottke
      • Lucas Michailidis
      • Matt Masotti
      • Michael Gulezian
      • Michael Hedges
      • Peter Lang
      • Pino Forastiere
      • Ray Kane
      • Sonny Chillingworth
      • Willy Porter
  • Shop
    • Alex de Grassi
    • Andy McKee
    • Ben McAllister
    • Ben Woolman
    • Billy McLaughlin
    • Dan Schwartz
    • Justin Roth
    • Leo Kottke
    • Lucas Michailidis
    • Matt Masotti
    • Michael Gulezian
    • Michael Hedges
    • Peter Lang
    • Pino Forastiere
    • Ray Kane
    • Rachael Carlson
    • Sonny Chillingworth
    • Willy Porter
  • News
  • Articles
  • Notation Project
  • Online Teaching
  • Stropes Foundation
  • Cart

Upcoming Events

View All

Copyright Stropes Editions, Ltd.