This was one of the toys that I really wanted to see at CES 2010. Fortunately, I made it back to the You Rock Guitar booth and got to see the guitar close up. I’ll get right to the point – the You Rock Guitar is definitely more guitar than it is video game controller.
Sure, you can hook it up to your Xbox and play some Rock Band with it; however, you’ll still find it lacking as an in-game guitar. Basically, you just need to finger the right fret for the game and pick the string and you’ll get your note score in Rock Band. Is it an improvement over the button mashing fest? Yes. Have we arrived for music video games? Not quite.
The real joy with the You Rock Guitar is the portability and the fact that it’s always in tune. You can also break the guitar down and stuff the neck and body in your backpack for travel.
The You Rock Guitar has several connectivity and playing options. We’ve already touched on the video game aspect. But there are ports for midi, iPod, headphones and, of course, a plain old guitar amp.
The You Rock Guitar will let you choose from a variety of built-in amp models so you don’t have to worry about monkeying with foot switches or external processors. Additionally, it also has built-in loops that you can play along with. Above, I mentioned the iPod connectivity – well, you can plug your iPod into the guitar and then play along with the songs on the guitar.
The You Rock Guitar also aids in one of the common complaints from new guitar players – it’s easy on the fingers. If you’ve played guitar before (or have tried to), the you know that it takes a little while to condition the tips of your fingers that make chords on the fretboard of the guitar. The You Rock Guitar has a rubbery feeling fretboard and a sort of nylon feel to the strings, making it much easier to finger the frets.
While the You Rock Guitar certainly won’t serve as a replacement for a musician’s real guitar, it is a fun and quite alternative when you just want to pick for a bit. There’s no room for bends, but hammer-ons and pull-offs are a go. For folks looking for a little more realism when playing Rock Band or Guitar Hero, the You Rock Guitar delivers just that – a little more realism.
