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.

Go to the e-commerce site to open an affiliate account.

Music Made Mobile for the Masses

First Timers:

• The You Rock Guitar is a great learning tool for anybody that wants to play because:

• No stringing required offers a smoother learning curve while maintaining the feel of frets & strings all the way up & down the neck.

• No tuning – Chords don’t sound ‘off’ because of the constant retuning requirements of strings.  The two features combined allow you to pick it up and play right away – no wasted time setting up or adjusting.  It’s truly plug & play.

• Ease of Use – Between the strings and the You-Rock Mode that auto-corrects common finger-positioning mistakes, early practice is a lot more rewarding as users sound good from the get-go.

• Versatility – It can emulate almost any instrument, providing the user with a wider choice of songs to play. The Chord-progression modes help the player growth and expand his/her musical horizons at their own pace.

Composers/Musicians:

The You Rock Guitar is a great compliment to any guitar player because:

It is small, lightweight, and portable – perfect for travel/on the road playing

Versatility of multiple sounds/instruments in one – don’t have to carry multiple instruments with me to write/compose different sounds on different instruments.

Plugs into headphones or amps so I can use it anywhere (plains, trains, automobiles)

Long battery life (~8 hours) – compose from LAX to Heathrow airports.

Fun; all the different effects, sounds, recourses of the instrument push the boundaries of creativity.

Video Gamers

The You Rock Guitar is the first instrument to truly bridge the worlds of gaming and real music, enabling you to use an actual instrument right from your game.

In 2009, those benefits are limited only by the games themselves.  While the instrument (combined with the Game Flex Module) works out of the box with existing games, there is no additional/incremental functionality to the experience other than hitting strings instead of buttons.

But as game developers/publishers takes advantage of a new peripheral that begins where today’s accessories end, there’s no limit to what kinds of innovation will be possible through the You Rock Guitar.  Here are some obvious examples:

Games will be able to offer modes that increase in degree of difficulty by more closely associating in game notes to real notes played in any song.

Speed, rhythm, number of notes, complexity of notes, chords, and songs, will enable a continuous transition from simple/easy beginners, to ‘playing along-side the real music’ as the actual performers would see fit.

Both developers’ and gamers’ creativity will drive game development and a natural evolution between 100% game (role play) and 100% performance (music play).

The game’s appeal will broaden, as more people of all ages & skills will relate to the experience.

Teachers/Educators

The You Rock Guitar makes teachers’ roles easier:

• The properties of the guitar inherently make it easier for students to immediately see results – the satisfaction comes quicker and hurdles are overcome more easily.

• Measure progress – when connected to a computer, the instrument can keep track of every note and chord that you play, and will provide you with ‘reports’ on what/how you did, what errors/mistakes were ‘corrected’, along with behavioral trends.

• Custom learning – The instructor can utilize the SDK to create customized learning plans that meet the specific needs of their students and that assist in measuring and analyzing their 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.

About the Founders

Cliff Elion, President and Kevin Kent, CEO have known each for almost 3 decades. Meeting at Linn Electronics in the early 1980’s– both brought on to launch the Linn 9000. Cliff was in the engineering department and Kevin Director of Sales and Marketing. Even during the trying time of launching the ill-fated the Linn 9000, the two shared a common love of music and technology and they both shared a similar quirky sense of humor. One from the south of California, one from the South of Africa. They left Linn to launch K-Muse with a patented guitar pick-up technology. That product came to be the Photon guitar, used by luminaries such as John Mcglaughlin, Bunny Brunel, Larry Coryell, Brian Bromberg, Carlos Alomar, etc.  They later sold the company off to Gibson Guitar Corporation.

Getting back together after almost 20 years to complete the development and launch the You Rock Guitar. Taking the original G-Stik concept and creating one of the world’s most versatile musical instruments they are very pleased with the progress of the You Rock Guitar. “There has never been an instrument that touches so many consumer electronic customers.” states Kent.

Games continue to appeal to a broader audience

Videogames attract more players
Two-thirds of Americans play; 42% own a game console
By Susanne Ault — Video Business, 6/2/2009

JUNE 2 | PHYSICAL: The Entertainment Software Assn. reports that 68% of U.S.
households enjoy computer or video games, representing a 3% uptick over
2008.

Adult gamers have been playing for 12 years on average, marking a decrease
from 2008. That indicates to ESA that more people are picking up game
controllers for the first time.

Releasing the study during the annual E3 Expo game conference, which it
produes, ESA touted the category¹s ability to attract new players.

³This is the new golden age of entertainment software. Our products are now
being enjoyed by over two-thirds of Americans,² said Michael D. Gallagher,
CEO of the ESA. ³As the findings of the 2009 Essential Facts illustrate,
more and more Americans across all demographics are now embracing the
interactive entertainment experience that computer and video games provide.²

In other findings in ESA¹s Essential Facts study, 42% of Americans own a
game console. The average player is 35 years old, and 43% of players are
female.

Almost half of all games sold are rated ŒE¹ for Everyone by the
Entertainment Software Ratings Board.

Gaming is increasingly a family activity, adds ESA. More than 60% of parents
with children under 18 believe gaming is a positive part of their kids¹
lives. These parents are present when kids purchase/rent games 92% of the
time. Also, these parents say they monitor their children¹s play 91% of the
time.

©2009 Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights
reserved.

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.

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

iTunes as your back-up band?

Wanna practice quietly in the room, dorm or on the train, plane or automobile?
Simply plug you iPod stereo-mini output into the You Rock Guitar.
Next, plug your headphones (another stereo-mini) into the guitar too.
Find the song you want to jam with and hit play.
You can adjust the volume on the guitar for the overall mix and adjust the iPod level for the balance between the two.

YRG TIPS & HINTS

Go to some of the chord or tab web sites and download a few songs you want to learn, print them out and take them with you for learning “on the road”

Your band’s got some new tunes you need to learn? It’s time to learn your part. Put the song in your iTunes library and set it to loop.  Play it over and over till your your rockin “just like the record.”

One last tip. OK, we know you can’t bend our fretboard strings, but if you use the whammy bar you’ll get it down the same way, then when you switch to your electric, wham bam, thank you Mam, let’s rock.

Lastly, our batteries will take you from LAX to London on a 747 (without too many stopovers) but if your on a long haul over 9 hours, bring an extra set of batteries.

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.