Holiday Gift Guide: Bandfuse: Rock Legends

Complimentary product received in exchange for an honest review.

BandFuse: Rock Legends provides a pick up and play experience for musicians of all skill levels. Whether you’ve never held a guitar or bass before or you are already lead guitarist in your own band, BandFuse: Rock Legends will have you rockin’ with your favorite songs in minutes. BandFuse: Rock Legendsconnects REAL guitars, bass and microphones to your game console, unleashing a full band experience for players of all skill levels.

A unique interface using animated tablature simplifies music for beginners, showing them where to place their fingers and when to strum the strings. Experienced guitarists will be challenged to master solos and advanced techniques, playing along with songs exactly as recorded by the original artists.

BandFuse: Rock Legends isn't just another plastic guitar game. BandFuse: Rock Legends is not only a fun game to play, but also a deep way to learn guitar, and an incredibly useful tool for any musician to use.

Our Thoughts:
Ever wonder what it would be like to play guitar? Do you play, but would love to learn more? From beginner to advanced, BandFuse: Rock Legends is the perfect fit for any guitar enthusiast! What's even better is that you don't need a fancy toy guitar, you can use any REAL guitar, or bass. Have an acoustic? No problem, you just need appropriate adapter and you're set! 

Hearing from some of Rocks greatest such as Zakk Wylde (founder of Black Label Society), Slash (guitarist for Guns'N'Roses), and Zoltan and Jason (Five Finger Death Punch) makes BandFuse: Rock Legends even better! These guys give you advice and insight on how to be a better guitarist. From learning your scales to what it's like on the road, they are your source for knowledge in BandFuse: Rock Legends!

Up to four players, you can even add a microphone to sing along. You can sing just for fun, or you can choose to be a Vocalist and be judged on 5 different levels of difficulty. Who wouldn't want to have a jam session with three of your friends? BandFuse: Rock Legends is the only game that allows this many players on one console.

You learn how to read tablature, and proper finger placement. This isn''t a game; this is guitar lessons taken to the next level. Whether you've just picked up a guitar or you've been playing for years, this game will help you hone your skills, or help you re-master techniques you've forgotten. Learning techniques such as bends, trills, hammer-ons, and many more are just one of the incredible aspects you will find in BandFuse: Rock Legends Shred-U course.

BandFuse: Rock Legends tracks your progress. You can go back and review it at any time to figure out where you may need that extra bit of help. Afraid things will go to fast? Don't be! You can slow just about everything down to your speed, and when you master it at that one, just keep increasing until you're playing at full tempo! It's a great tool to have, to be able to track yourself and play at your own pace! You don't have anyone one sitting and watching over your shoulder, so there's no need to be nervous about doing it wrong!

Built in tuner so that you're never out of tune, amplifiers and pedals at studio quality to change the sound of your guitar, and real music videos are all amazing bonuses! Don't like the preloaded sounds of the amps and pedals? You can change them and make your own unique sound! 

My husband playing. He's played for years, but this is giving him a work out!

BandFuse: Rock Legends is slammed with ways to learn that you wouldn't have thought a game would have. Five different levels of difficulty so that you can pick where you're at already, or start at the very beginning and work your way up! Level one starts out with one note, and it continues to increase all the way up to playing every note like the original artist at level five. Mastered all those? Play on Pro Mode where there are notes available for you to use as a guide! 

This will be one of the hottest games this holiday season! Pick up yours today for the Rock enthusiast in your family!

Holiday Gift Guide - Fretlight Guitars

 ***Complimentary product received in exchange for an honest review***

Fretlight Guitars are high-end acoustic and electric real guitars (not Guitar Hero or anything) but unique in that they use LED technology to light up on the neck of the guitar where finger placements should go.  You can plug them into a computer through USB for real time interactive lessons, but again, can be used as a regular guitar when not plugged in.  They make learning the guitar easier and faster than the traditional method and are perfect gifts for anyone in the family who wants a new hobby or has always dreamed of rocking out.    

My Thoughts 

My daughter has wanted to play the guitar for awhile now. Her father bought her an acoustic this summer, but we live in such a small town, I can't find anyone to give her lessons. Her school has band but no guitar lessons are available. My husband are I are both musically inclined but I play the violin and he plays the saxophone so we aren't familiar with cords. She's spent the last few months trying out different online programs and never had any success. At thirteen, patience isn't a virtue, and she was getting pretty frustrated. Then a few weeks ago, we received our Fretlight Guitar and her outlook has completely changed.

Fretlight Guitars are high-end guitars just like the ones you'd get in any music shop. Ours is a Yamaha, one of the most popular brands out there. However, there is one important difference. These guitars come with a special USB cord that you hook into your computer. Using LED technology, when it's hooked up, the neck of the guitar lights up, showing you where to place your fingers on the fret to create cords. 

Using the guitar was way easier than I expected. It comes with a software program designed to help you learn. Insert the disk into your computer and enter the code inside the box and the program is installed. In minutes you can begin your lessons and you can work at your own pace. The system walks you through scales, cords, and riffs. The lights show you exactly where to place your fingers, making it easy to play the right cords. There are even full songs available including My Girl and Here Comes the Sun. You can slow the tempo when you first start out until you get comfortable with where to place your fingers. Once you get more advanced, you can gradually increase the tempo.  After you've mastered the songs on the disk, there are plenty more available that can be downloaded for an additional fee, so there is always new music to learn. Once you get the hang of the instrument and no longer need the assistance with finger placement, you can still use your Fretlight like any other acoustic guitar.

Another perk worth mentioning--the guitar comes with a gel-type pack that you can drape along the strings and it helps it stay in tune. When it arrived at our house, it was still perfectly tuned. I found this amazing because, being a violist, I know how easily stringed instruments fall out of tune even on a ten minute car ride. This guitar came through UPS and who knows how many transfers.  

My daughter has been playing around two weeks. She uses her guitar about an hour almost every day. While she is certainly no master musician yet, the progress she's made it well beyond anything she accomplished in the six months prior. I feel confident that with continued practice on her Fretlight, she will be able to play at least a few songs independently very soon. 

 If you're planning to get a guitar for your child or even for a beginner adult, the Fretlight is a great option. They don't cost much more than a traditional model and have so many more benefits.  In addition to acoustics, Fretlight also offers a large selection of electric models and a bass. To learn more about Fretlight Guitars and all they have to offer, you can visit their website. To keep up with new products and software, be sure to follow them on face book.

***Please note that I received no form of monetary compensation for this post. I did receive a sample of the product to try in order to write a fair and honest review. The opinions expressed in this review are my own and were not influenced in any way. ***