Security Update, a Cool Website & the New Big One

New Security Updates: To keep the Liturgicalguitarist website safe, it has become necessary to add an additional layer of security. That is the reason why you must now create an account to access the free printable files for sheet music. I apologize for the small inconvenience, but it was necessary to make the change in order to give you the safest user experience.

Simply Liturgical Music (www.slmusic.org) has music composed by over 30 composers, of which I am one. They recently began promoting my guitar arrangements, as well. If you are looking for Psalm settings, new hymns or whatever, you should give it a look.

The new Big One: While On Eagles Wings has always been my biggest selling arrangement, Be Not Afraid is an equally popular hymn in the Church. I've tried to arrange it several times in the past, but it is very cumbersome on the guitar when played as an instrumental in the original key of G. I could find no guitar arrangements for it on YouTube, which confirmed my suspicions that it was just not a good piece for the guitar. But one day during Adoration (yes, I usually spend the last 20 minutes of my holy hour praying to Jesus through music), I was singing Be Not Afraid and had the idea to try arranging it in a different key. Turns out, it works quite well in D major. That is not a good key for singing the hymn, but it works well for a solo arrangement to use before or after Mass as prelude or postlude. And if the rare occasion arose when you needed more music to support the liturgical action after having finished all three verses, simply play an A7 chord to modulate into D major and you are off and running. It is such a beautiful hymn and suitable for so many different liturgical uses. You can find it in the Eucharistic and General Worship sections on my HYMNAL page. Check out the Be Not Afraid tutorial video to hear the arrangement. Though it is in the moderate to difficult range, it is still quite playable and worth the work.