Welcome to the Song Notes beta!

What's This About, In a Nutshell?

My goal is to add membership directly to my Song Notes website — and as of now, it's up and running on this test website you're viewing now — songnotes.net

As part of the test, you're given a free full-access membership on this site — and over the next month, can access all my premium content (for past and future lessons). My goal is to collect feedback from you & others in the test, while continuing to make improvements, before eventually opening this site up for the full public to use.

How to use your beta membership

Simply use this new website (songnotes.net) as you normally would to browse my lessons. This site is largely the same as my "normal" site – playsongnotes.com – but with one important feature: the ability for you to login. You can always find the login link (or, your account details) in the upper-right corner. It'll read "My Account" if you're logged in, and likewise say "Log In" if you aren't signed in.

When you're logged in, you'll be able to access (and sometimes download) any premium content available on whatever page you're viewing. In general, this will include things like:

Instructional PDFs
50% Discount Code (for licensed song sheets)
Members-only videos
Jam Tracks

Using this new website, you'll be able to access all items above without Patreon — meaning you won't need to click any links that jump you over to Patreon.com and require your login over there. Instead, everything will be right here.

Is there anything "new" on this test website?

Yes, there is — there's a brand new Community section which will be a robust message board & forum available only to Song Notes members. You're welcome to try it out now!

This will be a place where members will be able to share their favorite songs, ask questions, request lessons, and interact with David and other folks in the Song Notes community. This forum also supports video posting – so folks can also share their playing, should they want to ask for feedback or simply share their progress.

You can access this forum via the "Community" tab of this website at any time — or likewise by clicking the link above. This forum requires Song Notes membership — but the cool part is, your login at songnotes.net should automatically work, if you're alredy logged in to this site.

A note on which website to use...

During the test, note that I'll have two websites. It's important you use the correct one.

✅ songnotes.net – use this, it's the new website built just for the small group in the beta test! It's a clone of my "main" website but it has the added ability to log in. Once logged in, you can access all premium content directly on this site (without the need for Patreon – which is my goal).
❌ playsongnotes.com – don't use this site during the test! This is my public-facing "main" website – and I need it to remain as-is while I'm testing my new site (for everyone who isn't in the beta test). You won't be able to login on this site — instead, it links you out to Patreon for everything. After the test, I'll redirect all traffic to songnotes.net so you won't need to worry about the multiple website problem any longer. But for now, just be mindful you're using the correct site.

Who is in the beta test?

For this initial test, I've invited you and few dozen other folks — most all of whom are Patreon supporters of mine. Each member is someone I've discussed / emailed / messaged / chatted with about my website, in some form or another. At some point in early September, I'll invite additional members to this test – e.g. all existing members on Patreon.

Please don't view this test as any kind of chore or obligation. Only if you want, you're welcome to try out this new website while I finish preparing it for a full launch.

The test should last until the mid-late September.

A reminder on "what" I'm testing...

My goal is to create a membership experience that uses my website and not Patreon. The idea being, when you're logged in to songnotes.net, you get everything you used to get on my Patreon page – and more! I'm quite confident this new setup will be better for my audience (who wants to helpful, hassle-free guitar lessons), and also better for me (as a business operator).

For example, a big goal of mine in Q4 2022 (and beyond) is adding members-only courses. Doing this well on Patreon would be impossible, due to the way Patreon is built & how their posts are organized. Instead, I'd rather make the leap and "do it all" on my website — since I'll be able to fully control the design and member experience.

I do realize that change can be met with resistance. We all have habits built up, and it's not always fun to learn something new. But again — I'm incredibly confident that the upside of this change will drastically outweigh the temporary inconvenience of my audience learning the new setup.

And a final reminder – I don't plan on getting rid of Patreon. After the test, existing members there can continue their patronage. New members will even able to sign up on Patreon. I'll let existing patrons know how they can move membership over to songnotes.net if they wish. All this said, my plan is to eventually focus all my marketing efforts on songnotes.net membership — and not Patreon.

What happens now?

You can freely browse all my lessons here at songnotes.net! If you're logged in, any members-only content (PDFs, jam track, 50% discount code for Musicnotes, etc) will simply appear on each lesson page – assuming you're logged in.
I'll send you an email every time a new lesson is posted. This will include a link back to that lesson page on songnotes.net (this will be at my normal one-video-per-week cadence).
I may reach out with beta updates! Keep an eye on your inbox.

Need help or have feedback?

View my new Help & FAQ page. You can also email me at [email protected]

Thanks for joining the beta, and I look forward to hearing from you!

– David