Learning to play an instrument can be a frustrating process, but not anymore.
There's a real guitar with a high tech twist that can help you learn to play without a lot of fuss.
Fretlight guitars are real instruments that you can plug into an amp and play all day. But they also teach you where to put your fingers and how to move them, with a series of tiny lights that turn on and off to the notes. Follow along and you too, can make music.
If you've ever tried to learn to play a musical instrument yourself, it's a lot harder than you might expect.
And learning from a book hasn't changed much in years
"The guitar industry's very conservative, if you look at the publish date, go down to the store, they're still selling books published in 1958," Fretlight guitar inventor Rusty Shaffer said.
Shaffer thought things could be easier so he invented Fretlight guitars.
"Now the Fretlight's a real guitar. All it has is it has lights in the fretboard. You connect it to the amplifier the same way so whether the lights are on or not you're going to play it the same way you play a real guitar," he said.
Learning to play is as easy as following the lights.
"We have full lessons for a beginner that would know nothing about playing guitar. And teach you how to hold it, what the names of the strings are and so forth, we get you going," Shaffer said.
The guitar plugs into your computer with USB and lets you play along to your favorite songs and learn from videos online.
"We've put information right under your fingers," he said.
The song library is huge. Now you can find literally millions of songs in tablature on the Internet, and it will play them, and light them up on the Fretlight.
While we consider our intern Kylie a rockstar around the office, learning to play on the fretlight is slowly but surely giving her some musical cred too.
Fretlight electric guitars come in a variety of styles, starting at about $400. The company will soon add an acoustic guitar to its lineup.
There's a real guitar with a high tech twist that can help you learn to play without a lot of fuss.
Fretlight guitars are real instruments that you can plug into an amp and play all day. But they also teach you where to put your fingers and how to move them, with a series of tiny lights that turn on and off to the notes. Follow along and you too, can make music.
If you've ever tried to learn to play a musical instrument yourself, it's a lot harder than you might expect.
And learning from a book hasn't changed much in years
"The guitar industry's very conservative, if you look at the publish date, go down to the store, they're still selling books published in 1958," Fretlight guitar inventor Rusty Shaffer said.
Shaffer thought things could be easier so he invented Fretlight guitars.
"Now the Fretlight's a real guitar. All it has is it has lights in the fretboard. You connect it to the amplifier the same way so whether the lights are on or not you're going to play it the same way you play a real guitar," he said.
Learning to play is as easy as following the lights.
"We have full lessons for a beginner that would know nothing about playing guitar. And teach you how to hold it, what the names of the strings are and so forth, we get you going," Shaffer said.
The guitar plugs into your computer with USB and lets you play along to your favorite songs and learn from videos online.
"We've put information right under your fingers," he said.
The song library is huge. Now you can find literally millions of songs in tablature on the Internet, and it will play them, and light them up on the Fretlight.
While we consider our intern Kylie a rockstar around the office, learning to play on the fretlight is slowly but surely giving her some musical cred too.
Fretlight electric guitars come in a variety of styles, starting at about $400. The company will soon add an acoustic guitar to its lineup.
