Fretlight Guitar
I was wondering if anyone has ever used a fretlight guitar?
http://fretlight.com
Now before you go knocking, I've been playing for 17 years so I know a little bit about the guitar.
I just thought it would be cool to have a scale mapped out completely across the board. David Gilmour even bought one of these
Anyone ever used one of these how is it?
http://fretlight.com
Now before you go knocking, I've been playing for 17 years so I know a little bit about the guitar.
I just thought it would be cool to have a scale mapped out completely across the board. David Gilmour even bought one of these
Anyone ever used one of these how is it?
Comments
It does seem like a very good way to visualize scales and modes. Dont really care about having it play songs for me I can read tabs in my sleep if you know what I mean, I am going to be taking the plunge after the first of the year.
They sell guitars that were used in demo shows on ebay, for ~$289.00. Good way to save a couple hundred dollars.
1 - Knowing where the notes are is only half (probably less than half!) the battle
If you have been playing for 17 years you will know that it is not just about playing the right notes - but playing the right note at the right time - i.e. resolving to the root in a lick or moving somewhere else in the scale for different effects
This is something that comes with \"FEEL\" rather than learning scales, modes etc.
To quote the great Eric Morcombe:
2 - This type of learning CAN also be counter-productive (I say \"can\" as different people learn differently)
A good example is when you need to learn lyrics for a gig
If you print the lyrics out as an \"Aide Memoire\" and take them to the gig you may find that you end up reading them (and relying on them) and find it hard to commit to memory
If you rehearse the song over and over and listen to it you may find that you learn the lyrics faster and can ditch the paper
This would be my concern about the FRETLIGHT guitar - will it slow down the process of committing scales etc. to memory??
3 - Some guitar licks sound better when they venture \"out of scale\" - this is again related to \"FEEL\" in relation to what is going on in the music
As you are obviously an experienced player I am sure you will understand what I mean
I would therefore suggest that you take a moment to think about taking the plunge
Would the money be better spent on some one-to-one lessons with a few different guitar teachers - perhaps in styles you are not comfortable with - to advance your guitar playing and take it to a new level
You will not only get some scale ideas but you can interact with the teacher to find suitable \"situations\" for each scale/lick
I just wanted to give you something to think about before handing over those hard earned beer tokens!
Thanks for the long review. Yes I have thought about that, and it is what has me thinking hard about buying it. I can see where it could be counter productive.
There is that chance it could make me sound like a scale robot, I know my theory inside out, although playing 17 years I never took the time to memorize the scales completely from 0 to 22.
If I can find the box during an improvisation I can move between them fairly well.
The last thing I wanna do is lose my soul and feel. When I did recording jam session with 5 other guitarist my friends said \"that's you\" when it was my turn to jam. They said they could tell cause it had a ton of feeling to it.
So thanks for the review it helps me think even more about the decision.Wish there was some way I could try before buy.
Cheers
This is the truth. I have found myself doing this WAY TOO much over the past year. And not just lyrics, but because I play and sing, it's chord changes too. Now true, we do play a lot of songs in a night. And sometimes do theme nights where we'll do entire sets of music we don't normally do, and everything has to be really tight. But it just plain looks 1000% better if you are playing without the sheets, music stands/books, or whatever. That's one of my biggest goals in '09, GET OFF THE BOOKS & SHEETS!
It also makes me think of a documentary I recently saw on TV where they were talking about the great feats of memory in like ancient times. And oral traditions, where nothing was written down. And how today, in the digital age, we have become so accustomed to being able to instantly \"google\" anything, or digitally store it, that we are committing less and less to actual physical memory.