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One Year Running a Custom Sheet Music Business

Hi there, I’m Sam, and today is my Tunescribers birthday.

On 15 August 2025, it is exactly one year since I officially took over as Owner and Director of Tunescribers. It has been a year of challenges, learning, and incredible music-making, and I am both proud and grateful to still be here, working with so many talented people and serving our wonderful customers.


How I Got Here

I first joined Tunescribers back in 2017 as a part-time transcriber. At the time, I was a working freelance musician; I would do solo piano arrangements in the quiet moments between students, and work on huge wind band scores while sitting in the passenger seat of the band van, travelling to gigs.

Sam, playing accordion back in the touring days.
A younger Sam, on tour

I never imagined that seven years later I would be offered the opportunity to purchase the business and put my own stamp on it. 

Over the past twelve months we have transcribed more than 175 hours of music, covering everything from intimate solo pieces to large ensemble arrangements. Along the way we have also reached some important milestones.


Our Biggest Milestones This Year

Our First Tunescribers Arranging Competition

Tunescribers Arranging Competition 2025

Earlier this year, we ran our very first arranging competition. Entrants were given a public domain melody and a creative challenge: to produce a short piano arrangement. The level of talent on display was outstanding, and it was inspiring to see so many creative approaches. You can see the shortlist here.

A Brand New Website

Before and after Tunescribers website redesign

When I took over, our old website was slow, difficult to update, and weighed down by years of technical debt. Over the past year we rethought almost every aspect of it. The result is a faster, cleaner, and far more user-friendly site that better showcases our custom sheet music services.

A Whole New Look

New Tunescribers logo designed in 2025 rebrand

Alongside the website rebuild, we worked on a complete rebrand for Tunescribers. This included a new visual identity and a fresh logo, beautifully designed by the talented Sarah Aanchal.

Our New Browser Extension

Tunescribers browser extension for custom sheet music quotes

Most recently, we launched the Tunescribers browser extension, available for Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Microsoft Edge. It lets users quickly request quotes for sheet music transcription, arrangement, and backing tracks while browsing the web. It is free to use, and you learn more about it here. If you already use it, please consider leaving us a review in your browser’s add-on store.


The People Behind the Music

Tunescribers has always been a team effort. From our skilled musicians to our brilliant developers and designers at Rubico, many people contribute to making your sheet music projects a success.

I would especially like to thank:

  • Leo Downs and Danisa Alesandroni, our crack QA team, who check over each project in detail and constantly push us towards higher musical standards.
  • Ignacio Quiroz, our social media wizard, who has grown our channels from almost zero to many thousands of followers in less than a year.
  • Jimmy Abraham, project lead for the website rebuild, whose careful planning kept everything on track.
  • Sarah Aanchal, lead designer, for our stunning new logo and brand identity.
  • Jeff Pepper, founder of Tunescribers, for his continued support and valuable advice throughout the year.

What’s Next for Tunescribers

Our focus for the year ahead is simple: do what we already do, but bigger and better. We want to help more musicians, collaborate on more inspiring projects, and continue to deliver the highest quality custom sheet music services possible.

If we have worked on a project for you over the past year, from a first dance arrangement to a full musical score, we would love to hear about your experience. You can leave us a review on:


A Thank You and a Gift for You

To celebrate this first year, I have set up a special one-day-only discount, limited to the first 20 orders. Use code SAMSFIRSTYEAR to get 25% off your next sheet music transcription, arrangement, or backing track. This code is valid for only 20 uses, on 15 August 2025.

Thank you for reading, and for being part of the Tunescribers journey. Here is to many more years of making music together.

Sam from Tunescribers

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What Are Chord Symbols, and How to Get Them Your Way at Tunescribers

If you’ve ever played from sheet music and seen something like Cmaj7, F#m, or G7 above the staff, you’ve encountered chord symbols. These little annotations are small in size but huge in function. They tell you the harmonic structure of the music and guide players (especially guitarists, pianists, and arrangers) on what chords to play.

At Tunescribers, chord symbols have always been part of the custom sheet music experience by default. But here’s the thing: many customers didn’t know that!


Why Chord Symbols Matter

Chord symbols serve a few key purposes:

  • They let rhythm section players improvise: Guitarists and pianists can comp without reading every note.
  • They help with quick harmonization: If you’re writing a horn arrangement, for example, you can build voicings directly from the chords.
  • They simplify music for learners: Beginners can focus on chord shapes rather than notation.
  • They’re essential for lead sheets: When the melody and chords are the whole song.

What We’ve Changed (and Why)

To help clarify things, we’ve added a new question to our order form asking for your chord symbol preference:

Chord text (default)
🎸 Chord text + guitar diagrams
No chord symbols

We were already including chord symbols by default, but many customers didn’t realise this—so we added this question to make the option more visible and give you more control.


When Should You Use Chord Diagrams?

Guitar chord diagrams are perfect when:

  • You’re arranging for beginner or intermediate guitarists
  • You’re creating educational materials or songbooks
  • You want to make performance easier at a glance—especially for visual learners

They’re not ideal if you’re writing for piano, ensemble, or professional musicians who may find them unnecessary or cluttered.


What Happens If You Choose “No Chords”?

We’ll omit all chord symbols and diagrams from your sheet music—great for projects where harmony is already notated in full (e.g. orchestral scores or classical arrangements), or where you simply don’t want them.


Small Change, Big Impact

This minor update makes it easier to:

  • Know what you’re getting
  • Customize your chart exactly how you want it
  • Avoid back-and-forth emails

We’re always working to improve the ordering process, and small tweaks like this are all part of making your custom sheet music as smooth as possible.


📥 Want Custom Sheet Music Your Way?

Whether you’re a guitarist, composer, teacher, or just someone chasing down that perfect lead sheet—we’ve got you covered.

👉 Place your order now and tell us exactly how you want your chords!