Hi, Has anyone tried the new fretlight guitar? It looks interesting to as learning tool. Anybody? http://www.optekmusic.com/ I have no affiliation, I just am considering a neck retrofit.
At first I though "sheeesh, what is this?" But at second thought, it might not be such a bad idea. Especially if you have trouble learning patterns. If not, I think the money is better spent on a good teacher.
Thanks. In no way is this a replacement for a good teacher. To me this can help optomize lessons by accelerating the learning curve. I have only been playing electric guitar for three years and love music, so being able to get the burn in time for lots of this memorizing kind of info seems interesting to me. If I can drill all this info in my head during the week, then when I have a lesson, I can maybe get to some more interesting places with my teacher, thats my intent. I am just curious if anyone has tried it and how the funtionality of it translates to reality. For me, I want it during the day to practice at work because I can have an hour or two off during the day and want to maximize my time. I'm hopeing to get some feedback on it before I take the plunge.
You emailed me about making my book available in fretlight format. I couldn't find the words to reply but I'll try to reply here.. I haven't bought into fretlight yet. My issue with fretlight is that there are already 2 established methods of notation for guitar. 1) Standard music notation 2) Tablature I guess I don't understand the point in adding a 3rd. On top of that, a huge part of learning the guitar is in picking patterns (i.e. alternate, directional, pick-n-fingers, fingerpicking, thumb, etc.) As far as I know, fretlight does not address the picking issues. What it really boils down to is that fretlight is a new notational system and like tablature, it does not contain a full set of devices with which to properly notate music but in fact, without picking indicators it's even more limiting than tablature.
Phloored, Have you gotten your Fretlight yet? Any feedback and comments? Was it useful? I'm also thinking of getting one soon. Mike.
I'm interested in this subject also; I've been abandoning scalar playing in favor of soloing using chord tones and connecting passing tones and also using fretboard shapes as a marker for keeping your bearings on the fretboard and I'm thinking that the fretlight would be great for this; shapes lighting up... bob
I tried one once a long time ago, and it actually seemed less than helpful to me. The only step it seemed to address, was from glancing at a pattern on a page to "seeing" it on the fretboard, and that really isn't that big of a problem. If I sit down with a page from a book showing a fingering pattern for a particular scale or arpeggio, I can pretty easily glance at the neck and see it there and play it. And if I'm trying to learn it, memorizing the shape is actually hindered by having it drawn on the fretboard. There are a ton more things I struggle with, plus this approach adds to the issue of being locked into patterns rather than seeing the possibilities. Just give me a book and a guitar. And, of course, the patience & discipline to practice. Of course, anything that helps anybody is cool. I just didn't see it as helpful to me.
I had one and really liked it. It was an older one but I would put on a jam track and randomly select a scale or mode and experiment with which sounds I could produce realtive to the chord changes. It helped me hear the flavor of the sounds realtive to each other rather than just rote memorization or clinical studies of music theory. Its a useful tool in learning of which there are many.
That reminds me of the scene in "Searching for Bobby Fisher" when he sweeps all the chess pieces onto the floor so he can see "more clearly." I guess that might be analagous to transferring patterns to the fretboard. I've never seen or used a Fretlight guitar, I would imagine it's a good beginners tool, but not too cost effective. (s)
