My Electric Guitar
© 2009 eMedia Music Corp.
This well-designed electric guitar tutorial follows the same tried-and-true formula as the other eMedia music titles. It consists of 62 sequential lessons infused with audio and video demonstrations (in QuickTime). It is easy to skip around in the lessons; like flipping through a book. The teacher is an animated character named Rocky the Guitar, who leads children through lessons designed by Charles McCrone, a graduate of the Guitar Institute of Technology. Lesson one starts with the basics: tuning the guitar and strumming chords, and then moves on to playing songs, learning riffs, and reading tablature notation. The program features an animated fretboard to show children where to put their fingers for playing notes and chords, and MIDI tracks allow sections of songs to be sped up or slowed down so children can learn at their own pace. In addition, song looping lets them practice by repeating sections of songs, and a series of timed drills make learning chords fun. Other features include an automatic tuner that lets kids play into their computer's microphone to tune their guitar, a metronome, a digital recorder, and a chord dictionary with 250 chord charts. Kids can click on a chord to hear what it sounds like and see the correct fingering for it. It is very unlikely that such a title can replace traditional guitar lessons, unless a child is very motivated. But it certainly can't hurt, and for $30 (the cost of just one lesson) this title makes the first steps to playing the guitar a little bit easier.
$30, Windows, Mac OSX
Teaches: music, guitar
CTR Rating: 94%