New Free App from Hal Leonard Makes eLearning Easy
MILWAUKEE - The biggest names in musical instruments and music instruction have joined forces to bring you a cool, content-rich app for learning to play the guitar.
Fender Presents: Getting Started on Guitar is now available for free in the iTunes store for iPhone and iPad users.
Getting Started on Guitar offers clear, step-by-step instruction that incorporates easy-to-follow graphics. The app aims to teach users the essential chords, scales, and techniques used by guitar players in every popular style, including rock, blues, and country music.
The app's content is based on the book/DVD pack of the same name, featuring Musicians Institute instructor Keith Wyatt. This award-winning pack has sold more than a million units worldwide, in versions for electric and acoustic players. The new app combines the content and assembles it in a user-friendly way for beginning to advanced players.
The app is free and comes with a sample lesson pack that includes tips on equipment care and maintenance. In-app purchases let players delve deeper into specific subjects and even download jam-along tracks featuring a pro backing band.
Rob Wallis, the app's creator, says, "Thanks to the reach of digital media, you can now get great instructional video content delivered to your iPhone, iPad or iPod anywhere at any time. To now offer this award-winning content marks a breakthrough in learning to play guitar at your own pace."
Wyatt concurs. He comments, "When I started teaching at Musicians Institute over 35 years ago, the idea that you could carry a complete basic guitar method with video, audio, and notation in your pocket was a complete fantasy, but now it's real. With this app, all of the tools and knowledge that you need to start playing music on the guitar are available anywhere you go, any time you want. Short of a mind meld, learning the guitar is not going to get any easier than this."
"Fender believes in the power of music as an essential life skill," says Richard McDonald, executive vice president, Fender Brand. "Keith Wyatt is an extremely gifted and effective teacher of that skill. We're more than happy to partner with our friends at Hal Leonard to help create the next generation of players through Fender Presents: Getting Started on Guitar."
Fender Presents: Getting Started on Guitar is available now on iTunes and in the Apple app store.
Compatibility:
Requires iOS 7.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. The app is optimized for iPhone 5 and 6.
About Fender Musical Instruments Corporation
Fender Musical Instruments Corporation is the world's foremost manufacturer of guitars, basses, amplifiers and related equipment.
With an illustrious history dating back to 1946, Fender has touched and transformed music worldwide and in nearly every genre: rock'n'roll, country and western, jazz, rhythm and blues, and many others. Everyone from beginners and hobbyists to the world's most acclaimed artists and performers has used Fender instruments and amps, and legendary Fender instruments such as the Telecaster® and Stratocaster® guitars and Precision® and Jazz® bass guitars are universally acclaimed as design classics.
Fender corporate headquarters is in Scottsdale, AZ, with manufacturing headquarters and the Fender Custom Shop in Corona, CA. FMIC markets using the brand names Fender®, Squier®, Charvel®, Gretsch®, Jackson®, and EVH®.
About Keith Wyatt
Keith Wyatt has been performing and teaching guitar for more than four decades. Since 1996, he has been touring internationally and recording with the renowned Los Angeles-based "American Music" band The Blasters (albums 4-11-44, Fun on Saturday Night). From 1978-2014 he was a staff instructor at Musicians Institute in Hollywood, where he also served as both director of its world-famous guitar program (GIT) and VP of Programs for the institution.
Wyatt has written numerous books, including the Hal Leonard publications Blues Guitar Soloing, Blues Rhythm Guitar, Harmony and Theory: The Essential Guide (with Carl Schroeder), and Ear Training for the Contemporary Musician (with Carl Schroeder and Joe Elliott). Since the late 1980s has released more than a dozen best-selling instructional videos on various guitar styles and techniques, and for over 20 years, his columns have appeared regularly in guitar magazines including Guitar World, the best-selling guitar magazine in the US.