In my search to find computer programs that are interactive with “real” guitars (Guitarware?), I have found Guitar Rising, and GuitarGames.net. Today I just found another one that is free (for personal use) and available rite now called Little Big Star.
I downloaded the beta and quickly discovered that it wouldn’t run on a 64 bit operating system. The fix is simple and I left instructions with the author in how to fix the problem. Hopefully the next release will have the fix in place. As for everyone else who runs the application, I keep seeing good feedback. The visuals are starting to look like the actual Guitar Hero and Rock Band interfaces of the popular video game consoles. In fact, the software states that you can even hook up one of the video game guitar controllers and play with that instead of a real guitar if you like.
The software has a few problems with chords. This isn’t surprising since Guitar Rising has been delayed until 2009 for the same issues. (This is cutting-edge technology). One trick that the author is experimenting with is to dampen the guitar using a sock at the base of the strings so that the notes do not interfere with each other. It appears a bit odd to me, but then again – I don’t know much about guitars in general.
Hopefully Little Big Star and Guitar Rising will really help a lot of folks (including myself) to learn guitar. The author of Little Big Star is learning guitar as well and has identified some interesting techniques to help people learn songs. One mode is to wait for someone to play a note before advancing to the next note. Both games offer the ability to slow down the speed of the songs. This is really going to be an exciting time watching the technology jump from video game simulation to real-world teaching tools that are fun. Guitar Rising comes with songs, but LittleBigStar does not (to avoid copyright issues).
