Tired of being a warrior or mage? Become a Bard!

To those of you who just picked up Skyrim in the Steam summer sale... WELCOME! Also, please check out this introductory guide to using the Steam Workshop. Happy modding!

This mod lets you play all of the instrumental and voiced songs included with the game or choose from over 125 new songs added by this mod.

• You can pick up and play any instrument in the game, including the war horns. Whenever you have an instrument in your inventory, you will have a related ability in your spell menu that lets you play the instrument.
  
• You can purchase instruments and songbooks from Viarmo at the Bards College in Solitude.
  
• To play a song, equip a musical ability in your spell menu. Press Z to use the ability, just like you would with a shout.
  
• You can add your own songs and play them in-game. See instructions below.
  
• Each time you perform, your Bard Skill will increase.
  
• Your follower will play along with you to any song with two parts. (You can tell by ear if a song should have two musicians.)
  
• NPCs around you will react.
  
• You can go up to any innkeeper and tell them you would like to perform. The tips will be minimal (10-25 gold without perks), but it should be enough for a meal, and you also get a free room for the night.
  
• Once you earn one of the bard perks (see below), you can request to perform for a jarl. Jarls do not pay money, but if they like your performance there is a chance they will give you a gift (random enchanted item).
  
• If you complete the Bards College quest line, your Bard Skill is high enough (50 or higher), and you have earned one of the bard perks described below, Viarmo may have additional work for you.
  
• You can see your Bard Skill and track your performances in the Bard Journal that will be added to your inventory or in the MCM (MCM requires SkyUI).
  
• Optionally, each time you play, your Speechcraft skill will increase. This is configurable via the MCM (requires SkyUI). By default, it is turned on.
  
• The volume of your songs is adjustable in the normal Skyrim options menu under Audio. Adjust the very last slider, Player Songs.
  
• Once you start playing, you can stop playing at any time by pressing the "Z" key again. With the 5 default bards songs, such as Ragnar the Red, etc., you will have to wait until the current verse finishes. Also, if you stop before the end of a song, you won't get the skill increase.

As you perform in taverns, you can earn the following Perks:

• Experienced Bard: Earned by performing in taverns at least 15 times. Pay from performing at taverns increases (2X base).
  
• Well-Known Bard: Earned by being an Experienced Bard and performing in at least 10 different taverns. Pay from performing at taverns increases (4X base). Replaces Experienced Bard.
  
• Renowned Bard: Earned by being a Well-Known Bard and having Bard Skill of at least 100. Pay from performing at taverns increases (8X base). Replaces Well-Known Bard.

Configuration:
The MCM referred to above is the mod configuration menu from SkyUI. You can get SkyUI here. SkyUI and SKSE are not required, but they are recommended. Some options will be inaccessible without the MCM.


Added Music:
If you like the music you can play using this mod, you can find more by the artists by clicking the links below.
Jon Sayles[www.jsayles.com] -- I would especially like to thank Jon for his very generous permission to use tons of his work in this mod. If you have an interest in early music, you should definitely spend some time checking out his web site.
Aislinn jamendo[www.jamendo.com]
Andrew Foy youtube
Andrew Savini jamendo[www.jamendo.com]
Asteria http://asteriamusica.org/
Carlos Vargas jamendo[www.jamendo.com]
Ceili Moss jamendo[www.jamendo.com]
Cromanon nexus[www.nexusmods.com]
Franky Joe Texier jamendo[www.jamendo.com]
GEM (Jeremie Hout) jamendo[www.jamendo.com]
Greg Reiter jamendo[www.jamendo.com]
Harry Murrell youtube
Julien Petitjean jamendo[www.jamendo.com]
Kevin Loh youtube
Le Collectif Unifié de la Crécelle jamendo[www.jamendo.com]
Lemonflower myspace[www.myspace.com] or itunes[itunes.apple.com]
Milagro Acustico Medina Sound jamendo[www.jamendo.com]
Malukah youtube
Ofri Eliaz jamendo[www.jamendo.com]
Oursvince jamendo[www.jamendo.com]
PremiumMusic jamendo[www.jamendo.com]
Randy Granger youtube
Raulin de los Bosques jamendo[www.jamendo.com]
Rebonnat Mostha jamendo[www.jamendo.com]
Sabrina Valenzuela youtube
Saskia Kusrahadianti youtube or bandcamp[saskiakusrahadianti.bandcamp.com]
Sean Gordon youtube
Sióg Acoustic Duo jamendo[www.jamendo.com]
The Taalbi Brothers youtube
Thomas Berghan http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/tom/
Ton jamendo[www.jamendo.com]


Expansion Packs:
Anduniel's Songbooks
Add yours here! Contact me in the comments below to learn how.


How to Add Your Own Music:
The video above (from twistedmetal23) shows what you can do with the Custom Songbook. See the detailed instructions and Help Forum here. Also, check out the Become a Bard facebook page maintained by Speziax.


What if I don't like using Steam to manage my mods?
No problem. You can download the latest version here[www.bardsandmerchants.com].
The most current version is 4.2.11, released on Nov. 11, 2014.


Redistribution:
The music added by this mod is copyright of the respective artists and is used either with permission or via a Creative Commons license. Please see the links to the artists above to find more detail about their terms of use. It is fine to translate this mod and post it on a non-English-language site for non-commercial use. You don't have to ask.