[twitter]There’s a kid across the street learning the violin, one a few doors down learning piano, and our next door neighbour is doing his degree in jazz drums. How do I know? I hear all of them.
It’s beautiful and plaguing at the same time. Beautiful because kids are learning music, plaguing because the entire community is listening to them learning music. Learning an instrument is not pretty. From the broken notes, to repetitive drills, to constant banging of the walls, I’ve heard it all this summer and fall as the community band gears up.
Last summer Zacharie picked up my sister’s broken old guitar and took a fancy to it. So we brought it home, this untuneable guitar and it’s ear splitting sounds. I loved that Z would pick it up and strum it every now and again, I dreaded it equally.
He’s taken a shine to music. He was giddy when he met Trevor Guthrie, he’s writing his own songs in Garageband, so I’d like to encourage his love of music. I want him to learn guitar, I just don’t want him to learn on that guitar.
So the Jamstik+ is a dream come true. It’s billed as a SmartGuitar and it is. The Jamstik+ is a guitar that syncs to an iPhone, iPad, or Mac and makes it the perfect way to teach your kids guitar .. with headphones on.
Here’s how it works:
The Jamstik+ is the meat of the guitar, the neck, the frets, and the strumming area are all there, the twist is that the Jamstik+ syncs to your device via Bluetooth and the sound comes from the secondary device. Slap some headphones on your student and .. they learn and it doesn’t make a sound.
The Jamstik+ really is a great entry into guitar playing. Yes, there are a number of instruments you can choose to play on your device (from 12 string guitar to electric to drums to saxophone), and you can freeplay and record your pieces for editing and mixing in Garageband.
Check out the kind of magic you can do with it:
But first you’ve got to learn how to play.
So we have the Jamstik+ so Zacharie can learn.
You work yourself through a series of coaching exercises where you learn proper position, proper playing movements, and then you take tests to measure your progress. Since the Jamstik+ is synced to your device, it recognizes if your chords are correct and if you’re playing in time. It’s a little like Guitar Hero or Rock Band, except you’re learning to play guitar, not a video game.
The Jamstik+ is available for right handed players or left, comes in blue, black or white, and is available directly from the site for $299.99
Disclosure: We received a review copy of the Jamstik+