Guitar Pro 6 is much improved

April 30, 2010 Leave a Comment

Part of my toolbox for learning guitar is some software for TAB and sheet music.  I started off with Guitar Pro 5 and found it a little rough around the edges, especially for a 5th generation software!  It would stop responding occasionally and its intuitiveness took a little getting used to.  I also think the sound it emulates when playing back tracks is a bit too robotic.

HOWEVER, I just upgraded to Guitar Pro 6 which released recently and so far find it much improved.  The user interface is a lot more clean and up to date.  Most importantly it has remained responsive and not required any of those pesky ‘task manager forced shutdowns’.  I included some snapshots of GP6′s toolbox which isn’t all that more functional (except the EQ and effects), but certainly more ‘slick’ looking and easier to use!  I’ve only had this software a few days, but the last thing I wanted to point out was that in GP5, when you specified up-stroke and down-stoke on chords, they really sounded the same; in GP6 it sounds a bit more lifelike, but still on the robotic side.

Filed under Gadgets, Music Tagged with ,

Learning to play guitar

April 30, 2010 Leave a Comment

I decided to start playing the guitar in February.  My plan for learning is to combine formal lessons and internet lessons with Hal Leonard’s Guitar Method Series.

I can’t say that there was one really big reason for doing this, but I can say that it has turned out to be a great hobby.  Aside from the initial expense of getting set up, it’s just a matter of investing time…lots of it.  It turned out to be both more difficult and more rewarding than I thought it would be and I am looking forward to doing it for years to come.

My guitar is the Gretsch 5120 hollow-bodied electric guitar.  I selected this guitar because I felt I could get the best tones for the style of music I eventually want to play (Rockabilly and Blues).  I can rely on my amp and effects for tones you usually don’t associate with this style of guitar.

My amp is a VOX Valvetronix VT-30, which I picked up on sale at Guitar Center for $150!  It’s pre-owned, but I sure can’t tell!
I had actually started off with the Fender VibroChamp XD and upgraded to the VOX VT-30 for some features that The VTs have that the the Fender VibroChamp did not:

  1. Headphone Jack
  2. Foot Pedal Jack (w/ a Foot Pedal made for this amp)
  3. Customizable Preset Tone Bank
  4. More controls for the effects
  5. More amp models
  6. More wattage was nice too!

I did wind up keeping the Fender VibroChamp XD, for the time being, because I do like it.  The VOX VT’s  just do a lot more.

Filed under Gadgets, Music Tagged with , , , , , ,

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