eMedia and For Dummies Expand the Title Series
(ShackMan | Posted 2010-09-16)
While I usually espouse a strict rule that one-on-one lessons and classes are the best for a learning musician, eMedia Music Corp.'s For Dummies partnership has produced a new series that has made some recent developments that may make them worth another look. They will be releasing six new titles in the eMedia For Dummies line: Rock Guitar for Dummies, Bass Guitar for Dummies, Guitar for Dummies Level 2, Piano for Dummies Level 2, Guitar for Dummies Deluxe and Piano for Dummies Deluxe. They'll be in stores just in time for the Holiday season, and they all come with interactive CDs.
What makes these titles worth a second look is eMedia's new interactive Instant Feedback technology, which listens through your computer's microphone as you play and highlight correctly played melodies, blurring the line between teacher and computer. Certainly, technology could never replace what a live teacher can offer, but this at least makes it harder for a student to simply skip over lessons or play without any kind of feedback at all. In some ways, having yourself graded makes it like a video game in a sense, except that unlike Guitar Hero, the student is actually learning to play.
The For Dummies series presents rock songs, chords, riffs, and gear tips in a fast-paced learning environment that requires no previous music experience. Likewise, Bass Guitar for Dummies starts with tuning the bass and moves up to showing you an automated fretboard to guide you through songs, creating bass lines using triads and simple syncopation. Both titles include full-motion video and recorded audio, an automatic tuner and an animated fretboard, which guides you through songs and fingerings. Guitar for Dummies Level 2 adds on to the original with 90 new lessons covering reading tablature and the all-essential standard notation, along with playing melodies, fingerpicking, and more. Piano for Dummies adds 150 new lessons covering triads and chords, G and F positions, as well as traditional classical studies such as those from the piano virtuoso Hanon, playing scales, and a short trip through music history. The For Dummies collections also feature Deluxe sets which include Level 1 and Level 2 of the set.
All are scheduled for release in October 2010, just in time for post-Halloween holiday shopping, and will be available at retail stores nationwide and online for an estimated retail price of $29.95. the Guitar for Dummies and Piano for Dummies Deluxe Editions have an estimated retail price of $59.95. The CD-Roms will be hybrid formatted for use on both Windows and Macintosh platforms.
Also check out the entire For Dummies line, which covers not only music, but also health, history, sports, math, self-help, technology, travel, and a multitude more topics.
