I Can Play Guitar
© 2007 Fisher-Price, Inc.
Like last year's I Can Play Piano, I Can Play Guitar doubles as both a stand-alone toy and a TV-toy that delivers screen-based drills on note/key matching. The software comes on plug-in cartridges (one is included), and the guitar is powered by four C batteries. As electronic toy guitars go, this one is the most detailed, with a small colored button on every note found in front of the fifth fret--that's 30 total, plus 14 more on the outer strings. In addition, each of the six strings can be strummed together for chords, or individually for a melody. Plus, there's that all-important whammy bar. Sound complex? It is. The sound comes through an onboard speaker or your TV speakers when it's in the teaching mode. Any comparison to Guitar Hero is not really accurate. While both use a "follow the moving note" process, and the color coding idea is certainly the same, this guitar is much more complex, with a total of 44 fretboard buttons compared to just five for Guitar Hero. That's because the pedagogy comes from Allegro Multimedia, which has been matching colors and keys long before Guitar Hero. Other problems with this guitar include an overly animated rock-star narrator that won't let you choose options before he's finished speaking, and a confusing button system that includes a power switch on the back of the unit. Testers complained that the colors on the screen did not match those on the fret board. The fact that you can slow the notes down to a crawl helps, but not much. The process is like paint-by-number guitar, where quick matching plays the notes, sans any talent or pitch. So does it work? Perhaps, but not with the kids we observed using it. In fact, the complexity of the process could create music haters. Fortunately, it looks like a guitar and the buttons are fun to push. So at the very least, you could turn the thing off and use your imagination.
$100, Smart Toy
Teaches: music, rhythm, guitar, pitch, musical notation
CTR Rating: 32%