Seeking Guitar Teachers

We realize with a high speed affordable MIDI guitar like ours it opens up a whole new world with your budding guitarists. We want everyone to play numerous guitars and enjoy acoustics and electrics galore. We also understand that new guitarists are often coming from gaming and to them just having to tune a $150 guitar can be a lesson in patience like no other.  We want to help. (Our guitar never needs tuning)  Please let us know about yourself and how we can help you.  info@inspired.com

Also see what Berklee performance grad, author, teacher Karl Aranjo has to say.

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Music is About Fun – a la YOU ROCK MODE

No rulers across the wrist here, no boring repetitive droning of your scales and tabs.  The great thing about getting into Guitar Hero and Rock Band  is that you “feel” the emotional impact of performing. OK, you only end up with some very fast rhythm experience, but your long way from really rocking.  And let’s face it, it’s not any fun playing on an out-of-tune electric guitar, or crashing though some bad partial riffs and misfinger chords.

So what if there was a way to NEVER have to tune the guitar and what if you could go into a mode where you could only play the correct frets for the chords you were jamming to?  Guess what my young Padawan?That’s exactly what we did with the You Rock Guitar.

First, you never need to tune a You Rock Guitar.
Second, in the You Rock Mode jamming with our loops, we map the frets out so you can literally run your fingers up and down or if you want to really get to rockin,  you learn the main patterns and pentatonic riffs that every guitar player needs to know. It’s all about muscle memory and we make that part fun. Here comes guitar 2.0.

Danny Gokey is the better man – heart and soul

Gokey said he tried to rearrange more songs, but those didn’t always make it on the show.

“People want to see a creative element,” he said. “They want to see an old song made fresh again. I think ‘Idol’ from this point on, ever since last year, you can’t go on singing the same arrangement of a song. You’ll get bashed.”

Gokey auditioned for the show only four weeks after his wife, Sophia, died last summer from surgery for a congenital heart defect. Sophia loved the show, and they had agreed he would try out.

 

Slideshow   It’s down to 2 on ‘Idol’  Kris Allen and Adam Lambert will compete for the season 8 crown on “American Idol.”

Besides touring this summer with the top 10 finalists, Gokey plans to grow Sophia’s Heart Foundation, which he started after she died. The foundation helps children who need “restoration in various areas of their lives,” according to its Web site. 

Gokey, known for his assortment of spectacles, plans to start his own eyeglass line or even model them to raise money for the foundation. He said he has about 50 pairs now, up from the 15 at the show’s start.

He also wants to make a “soulful” album with rhythm and blues beats and a hint of salsa and meringue.

Gokey said he was proud of his accomplishment, although there were things he would have done differently. Not only did he try his best despite his insecurities in competition, but he had to deal with his grief.

“I saw strength in me that I didn’t know I had,” he said.

Now he wants to tell people: “If I can do it, you can do it.”

GUITAR GAMES INSPIRE KIDS TO TRY THE REAL THING, SAYS INSTRUCTOR

A lot of kids have been getting into [guitar lessons] because of games, especially ‘Guitar Hero. Kids who might never have become interested in learning to play the guitar are now coming to us… The game is a completely different concept from playing a real guitar, but it does help with dexterity in their fingers.

Kids are coming to me wanting to learn to play, which is wonderful… It’s nice that bands like Foghat, the Steve Miller Band and the Rolling Stones are cool again. Kids come here focused and with a game plan.

For guitar players, it’s all about songs like ‘Smoke on the Water’ and ‘Sweet Home Alabama…’ And what’s great about some of those power chords – the garage rock songs – is that they’re relatively easy to play. If that inspires a kid to pick up an instrument, I think it’s great.

SOURCE: GamePolitics.com

Educators Hail Jimi Hendrix As Role Model for Teachers

Are the San Francisco school district in a purple haze?

Because they have chosen one unusual role model to grace the cover of their new education guide, and some residents are questioning whether the decision is a good message to send to the city’s youth.

On the cover of the new district guidebook – aimed at changing the educational “experiences for every child in each of our schools” – is a portrait of 1960s rock legend Jimi Hendrix, known as much for his fatal drug habit as his revolutionary take on rock music.

The district’s manifesto asks readers to remember “the first time you heard Jimi Hendrix,” before proclaiming “our plan is as transformational now as his music was then,” according to a report in the San Francisco Chronicle.

But the image of Hendrix – who didn’t make it through high school – is not limited to the cover. Indeed, Hendrix’s face appears on nearly every page and the manual, which also comes with a Hendrix poster and canvas tote, all distributed to hundreds of administrators in Superintendent Carlos Garcia’s district.

Garcia told the Chronicle that he was simply trying to “revolutionize” the district and felt comfortable with Hendrix’s controversial image because “Hey, we’re in San Francisco.”

But not all administrators feel the same.

One concerned “liberal hippie educator” in the district – who went unnamed for fear of retaliation – told the Chronicle, “I find the choice of Hendrix as inspiration to be used in an educational setting rather strange and out of touch.”

Born in 1942, Hendrix rose to fame after delighting audiences with an innovative, experimental sound and his remarkable skill as a guitarist. His shows often included outrageous stunts such as playing the guitar with his teeth or lighting it on fire.

He enjoyed short-lived but significant success until his untimely death at the age of 27 whe he died after choking on his own vomit after a drug overdose.

SOURCE:FOXNEWS 5-7-09  http://bit.ly/Nld8z

Learn – Create – Share

Life is about learning new things, creating and then sharing that with other people. It doesn’t matter if its finger painting at 5, guitar 101 at 13 or jazz at 70. Humans of all ages have an innate desire to learn, create and share.

We have gone the extra mile to make those three legs of expression integral to the way the You Rock Guitar will walk you through learning, creating and sharing a guitar-like experience.

The You Rock Mode is unique in that you will learn your finger positions and modes by doing rather than studying. You will not make a mistake and want to stop because you sound bad. The whole idea of muscle memory is essential to learning the guitar. The patterns and outright fun you will have with the You Rock Mode will transfer directly over to a real guitar.

You Rock Mode and recording. Imagine learning a new chord progression and you have created melodies for them. Then imagine recording your performance with what you have learned. Now play the recording or play live to your recording and share your expression. In the You Rock Mode, you will sound good. You will want to play more and you wil want to create more.

Learn – Create – Share

Teachers & Educators

The You Rock Guitar makes the teacher’s role easier & better because of its USB and MIDI interface:
The inherent properties of the You Rock guitar make it easier for students to plug into computers via USB and stretch their creativity with music composition tools.

Measure progress; when connected to a computer, the instrument you will be able to keep track of every/all you notes/chords and practice, and provide you with ‘reports’ on what/how you did, what errors/mistakes where ‘corrected’ and behavioral trends. (We’re looking for developers now!)

Custom learning; The instructor can utilize future tools with the SDK to create customized learning plans to meet specific needs of students as they see fit and based on measuring and analyzing that progress
Fun will drive more players into the market for real instruments; driving demand from more students and the desire for more lessons – translating into increased revenues.