Topic: Finally learning to play guitar

[CBGhia]

*I got this for my daughter...  just for her...  I will not be using it...  OK  I will.

So,  I am finally going to learn to play the guitar, and this is how I will do it.   I just bought this Squire Strat.  It is a real honest to goodness guitar that plugs into an honest to goodness amp,  but it also plugs into a midi controller and that hooks up to my Wii.  Rock band 3 has lessons to teach you to play a little at a time.  Each "pro" song has a lesson attached to it, and different levels of how you have to play to keep up.

http://www.fender.com/promos/2010/rockband3/theguitar.php

I have heard some people say it sounds like crap, but I had a friend come over and play it and he said that while it is not a great guitar, he got some good sound out of it.  He tuned it a bit and adjusted the truss rod.  You just can't bend notes because it

Has anyone else played with it?  

[azuredesign]

Why can't you bend notes?? You don't seem to finish that thought.

[Skunk Stripe]

My wife has a squire strat and you can bend all day long. You just bend the string. now neck bends are harder but if you want to neck bend, apparently gibson is the best for that but then their necks have been known to break as the neck transitions to the headstock.

[CBGhia]

Sorry,  work distracted me.  You can't bend notes because the sensors are on the frets.  The fret under each string is separated by a very thin piece of plastic.  You can bend, but not very far because it hits the plastic piece. the transition is not so smooth, but it is the only way to have a sensor to know which fret your finger is on.

[Radam]

I would say that if you're just learning maybe you should learn the notes well before you worry about bending them. Have you learned a lot of chords yet? I learned to play on acoustic guitars and mainly play them when I play. An electric is way easier to play if you learn on an acoustic. That's my 2 cents, but what do I know, I'm a drummer.

[azuredesign]

Bending notes is a cool technique, and maybe when you're not hooked up to the Wii you can mess with bends straight through the amp. Have fun, it's great to learn enough so you can play with other people, which is even more fun!!

[CBGhia]

I am not even to the point in the software to learn chords.   That comes in a future lesson.  I am still trying to instictivly know which string I am trying to play. 

I am not trying to bend notes yet, just an observation that my friend made, and I figured that guitar players would care.