May 13 2008
Air Guitar Never Sounded So Good.
Ok, I know you do it. We all do it. You could count how many times you have done it in your life, but there is no way you could remember all of them. Besides, even I do it without even realizing it sometimes. What am I talking about, you might say? Playing the good old air guitar, of course. What else would I be going on about? Anyways, whether I am in the car or out in the mall, I always find myself breaking down into some guitar riff that happens to be playing in the background. There are typically two problems when this happens, though. One being I have no guitar in my hand. The other is that my kids get embarrased to be near me. The second one doesn’t bother me, nor should it being a father of five. My sole purpose in life is to embarrass them beyond belief, which I succeed in doing very well I must say. The first one obviously doesn’t get to me, either. Of course, I have always dreamed of playing the guitar riffs for real, I know I couldn’t even come close, so the air version works for me.
Ok, so where am I going and how does this relate to the gadget world, right? Well, with the great success the Guitar Hero video games have been experiencing, they have licensed a new spin on their big seller: the Air Guitar Hero. It is a simple little device that will have you acting like Eddie Van Halen in no time. It comes with a mini amplifier that hooks to your belt, along with a belt buckle that has a sensor built in. All you do is wave your struming hand, as if you were playing a real guitar, and the motion is picked up through the buckle and out comes the sound through the amplifier. The faster or slower you go will effect the way the riff is played. There are 10 different guitar-friendly songs that are included. All of the songs are from the Guitar Hero series of games, so if you are familiar with those you should have no problem. You could spend hours trying to get it to sound right, all while impressing your friends at your guitar mastery. From what I read, there will be an option to purchase additional songs once you get sick of the first ten, which could happen very quickly. And it does have an output jack for headphones, so parents will like it too. Of course parents like me will be fighting over it with the kids.
I am pretty anxious to get my hands on this, to be honest with you. I have yet to really see them in stores at the “Try Me” kiosk, but I am sure one of my kids will be getting this for their birthday soon. But don’t take my word for it, look at what this guy thinks. He is even dressed for the part, sporting the Air Guitar hair-do and everything. It’s all about attitude, man.
