Holiday Gift Guide Music

The gift of music is a great idea at Christmas time.  Children and teens who learn guitar or other instruments can benefit from the feelings of accomplishment and having a fun and enriching hobby.  I found some great ideas to share with you for the Holiday Season.
Staring our kids out young with guitars can be confusing on what to buy.  You want something that isn’t too expensive, but will also work well.  I found iplaymusic.com has a great package just for kids at a great price.  They have a  “pony” or “dino” guitars with the complete bundle that are the perfect starter package for young kids.  The guitars are well-crafted instruments designed to be the right size for playing comfort and include nylon strings, which are more comfortable for smaller fingers — the perfect starter instrument for toddlers and young children!  Little Buddy LOVED the DVD and is having fun with his guitar.  His older brother plays, so he feels very proud that he can be just like him now.   The Kids Starter Bundle comes with:

• “Pony” or “Dino” Guitar
• Play Music Together DVD (winner 2007 Parents Choice Approved Award)
• Tuner
• Picks
• Strings
• Free online support

The Play Music Together DVD, winner of a 2007 Parents Choice Approved Award, is designed for you to learn guitar and sing with your whole family! For parents and older children, the DVD features simple lessons that make it fun and easy to play songs on guitar right away. For pre-schoolers, toddlers and infants, the DVD includes entertaining teaching segments with our playful puppet “Capo” who helps the instructor introduce musical concepts then dances and sings along with the music, encouraging younger children to do the same. Preschoolers develop an understanding and appreciation of musical elements including rhythm, tempo and pattern while parents and caregivers play along and join the fun.

Featured Songs:

* If You’re Happy and You Know It
* The Wheels on the Bus
* He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands
* I’ve Been Working on the Railroad
* The Crawdad Song
* ABC Song / Twinkle,Twinkle Little Star Medley

I highly recommend the bundle and the other starter DVDs are great too!(they are on sale right now!)   You can purchase the Kids Guitar Bundle at www.iplaymusic.com

WorkshopLive is a new kind of online music lesson, that are given directly by rock stars and Broadway starlets and are available only at Best Buy this holiday season. The economy has forced many parents to cancel their kid’s $60/hr music lessons so until times are better it would be a good idea to have them continue with an online teacher for just 99 cents per lesson.  They have assembled the best teachers in the U.S.   Learn to play, or sharpen your skills, with the fun and simple online lessons from WorkshopLive.

WorkshopLive combines extraordinary videos, superb audio, and helpful graphics to give you effective music instruction. You will feel as if the award-winning instructors are sitting in the same room with you, helping you every step of the way, making your guitar or keyboard lessons easy to follow and digest.  I don’t play guitar, but my older son learned guitar online and these lessons are fantastic!  He tested out the lessons by Joe Satriani, who is a famous guitarist who teaches on one of the lessons.  He is only one of the more than 50 instuctors.  You can try a free 7 day all access pass and also test out other free lessons.

You can buy the cards at Best Buy, punch in the code online, and practice anytime you want.  These are a great gift idea for someone who wants to start out, or are advanced.  Go to www.workshiplive.com for more information.

Fretlight is the world’s first real computer-powered teaching guitar that is like having your own personal guitar teacher inside your guitar.  Think Guitar Hero, but with a real guitar.  You know how the buttons light up on Guitar Hero?  Well with Fretlight Guitar’s their guitars light up to show you where to place your fingers.  How cool is that!  The Guitar connects to your PC or MAC with the USB port and then use one of the software titles that teaches the lessons and lights up your guitar.  There is a variety of software from beginners to advanced.  The guitar my teenager sampled is just as well made as his Gibson.  He had tons of fun trying it out and learned a lot.  He said he highly recommends it for anyone who wants to start or improve their guitar playing.  He didn’t want to send it back, so he may find one under the tree this year!  Sshhh.  Go to www.fretlight.com to watch a demo.  Right now you can  buy the Fretlight Guitars and software bundle at www.fretlightstore.com and save $100 through January 1st.  I think the  Guitar Packages are the way to go.  Below is the information on what comes in the Electric Guitar Package.  If this will fit in your budget, someone will love this gift!

The Starter Electric Package. Get exactly what you need to get started in one streamlined package. Includes the Fretlight AccessoryKit free.

We absolutely LOVE our Wii! We got it for Christmas last year and have had bowling tournaments among other things.  This year Nintendo has come out with Wii Music. Now you can play instruments and not have to buy any at all!  Wii Music is a fantastic invention from Nintendo. We love this game and it’s fun for all ages.  You can play with family and friends and form your own band or you can play by yourself.  Of course you will need more controllers if you play with more people,  but it is really fun when you are a band.  It also has several fun musical games you can play.  One is Mii Maestro where you conduct your own orchestra.  Wii Music would be a fun Christmas gift for the family and even better, it is a game everyone can play, bond and have fun with together.  I really like that!  We are taking ours with us to our Christmas gathering with family, it will be a blast!  You can buy Wii Music at major retailers and on Amazon. Here are the product details below:

When it comes to music and rhythm games, Wii Music stands in a class of its own. Unlike other music games, which penalize players if they don’t play perfectly, Wii Music is a musical playground where there are no mistakes. Here anyone can pick up and master the huge array of instruments available, through simple motions like strumming and drumming. Musicians in your band jam by simply playing their instruments to the beat of a song or by improvising to their heart’s content. Play faster. Play slower. Skip a beat, or throw in 10 more. No matter what you do, Wii Music automatically transforms your improv stylings into great music.

Gameplay: Getting Your Band Together
In Wii Music every band has six members: Two play the main melody, two cover the percussion beats, one covers the bass groove and one uses the song’s chords to support the melody. As a band, the six members often play their special parts at the same time, though each player can jam however and whenever he or she wants. Play all at once. Take turns in the spotlight. Pair up in creative ways throughout the song. You can bring the band to life by yourself, playing one part at a time-or with up to four players. See game mode below:

• Solo Play: When you play by yourself, you can add one part at a time to arrange the whole song exactly how you want. The Tutes are on hand to back up your band in any parts you need filled.
• Multiplayer: When in a band with friends, up to four people can be band members.
• Wii Friends: Using WiiConnect24, you can send your jam videos to Wii Friends who own Wii Music. They can then watch your performance, modify it to their liking and send their jam videos back to you.

Key Game Features:

* Easy to Play Improv Jams – All members of your band jam by simply playing their instruments to the beat of a song or by improvising to their heart’s content. Play faster. Play slower. Skip a beat, or throw in 10 more. Wii Music challenges you to transform your improv stylings into great music. There are no mistakes and no game scores-just playing for the pure joy of playing.
* Wii Controls Immerse You in the Music – You can play most of the 60-plus instruments in Wii Music using simple motions with the Wii Remote and Nunchuk controllers. Strum to play guitar, banjo and sitar. Drum to play jazz drums, congas and snare drums. Hammer away to play piano, vibraphone and marimba. Unlike most music games, Wii Music doesn’t make you use many complex buttons. You only need to imitate playing the instrument.
* Virtually Endless Ways to Make Music – You choose the song and instruments and decide whether to blaze through a rock take on classical songs, put a jazzy spin on folk tunes or transform Nintendo classics like the Super Mario Bros. theme into Latin-flavored numbers. The song list is only a takeoff point-it’s how you improvise with the songs that matters.
* Share Your Band Jams With Friends – They’ll see your Mii band members, your players’ improv styles and your instrument selections. They can watch your recordings, or play over parts of your song, then send their modified recording back to you. So you can send improv jams back and forth over WiiConnect24, changing them again and again.

60+ Instruments
You can play most of the 60-plus instruments in Wii Music using simple motions with the Wii Remote and Nunchuk controllers. Strum to play guitar, banjo and sitar. Drum to play jazz drums, congas and marching drums. Hammer away to play piano, vibraphone and marimba. Unlike most music games, Wii Music doesn’t make you use complex buttons. You only need to imitate playing the instrument. Wii Music offers virtually endless ways to make music.