It's Hump Day...

 

If this brought memories of the camel saying, "Mike, Mike, Mike, guess what day it is..." you get 10 bonus points for having those good memories.

A variety of things today: HOA stuff for the first couple hours.  If there seems to be a lot of that happening right now, its because... there is a lot going on.

Jump in the shower and get ready to head to Mark's to make some music.  We picked up an Oregano's pizza on the way for the guys, and the ladies when out to Kneader's.  We have a show scheduled for August, so we're working on a set list for that.  Once a week is about the best we can do to get the time together.

When Joan and I got home, there was a package waiting for me.  Not a surprise - I knew it was coming.

"Is it a guitar, Jim?"

Seriously, do you think I need another guitar?  So... yeah, it's a guitar.  This is a different situation and a very different instrument.  The company that makes Aeroband Guitar (in case you want to look them up) sent me a guitar to do a video review.  They would like a "geezer perspective" (my words) on this very different instrument.  It is certainly not a guitar in the traditional sense - we all know what acoustic and electric guitars are, I would consider this to be a digital guitar.  The neck is detachable and there aren't traditional guitar strings on the fretboard; rather, there are silicone "strings" and frets that are mounted on the fretboard.  Sensors under that produce the sounds.  So, it only needs a light touch on those "strings" to get sound out of it.  There is a built-in speaker in the body of the guitar; or, it can be plugged in via a 1/4 guitar cable to an amp or an audio interface to connect to a computer.  This instrument has midi built in, so when connected to a typical digital audio workstation, you can produce any kind of instrument sound with this.  As it is, there are 5 different guitar models (3 acoustic, 2 electric), bass, piano, banjo (no, I don't know why), and a clavinet.  All at the press of a button on the headstock.

And speaking of headstock, there are no tuning keys on this - it is always in tune because it is digital.  Using the app that comes with it, there are a bunch of different tunings (drop-D, open-G, etc, etc), as well as being able to change the tuning as if you were using a capo, in half step increments - an octave up and another down.  There are drum tracks built into it, as well.

The app has songs in it you can play along with (doubt I'll be using that).  You can make adjustments to "the strings" (each individually) for sensitivity.

There are some things this can't do compared to a regular guitar: bend strings (since there are no actual strings on the fretboard); play harmonics (guitar players will know what I am talking about).  As you get close to a fret, you may get a "warble" in the note as it tries to determine where your finger wants to be.  There is no nut between the fretboard and the headstock, so your fingers can slide beyond the first fret (never had that happen on a typical guitar).

Here's the first look at opening the box...

 I figure it will take me at least a week to get down the technique to best play this and then shoot and edit a video.  I'll post something here when that happens.

Playing it for an hour or so this evening, it is a unique experience; certainly not like any other guitar I've played.  At first blush, I'd kind of compare this to a regular guitar as playing a Casio keyboard with a bunch of built-in sounds to a Hammond organ.

This should be interesting.