Unless faced with disobedient oxen or challenged to rebuild a city after a surprise Godzilla attacks, most skills honed from computer games are useless in real life. Today's side deal hums to a more valuable tune with $59 for a one-year membership to 3-D animated guitar lessons by iPerform3D. Don't be distracted by the interactive instruction's game-like façade. Aspiring strummers will learn to master hundreds of riffs, rhythms, and solos via the assistance of an avatar-presented instructor.
Zoom, scroll, and rotate your way through almost 200 lessons. The program includes 10 rock lead lessons for beginners and 22 acoustic finger-style lessons for intermediate-level players. Applicable for both Macs and PCs, the San Francisco–based company employs real teachers and performers (including University of Southern California and Berklee College of Music faculty members) to guide the courses. Students have the ability to customize the experience and learn to play popular songs. Easier than books and less intimidating than the pensive guitar teacher you found through a supermarket bulletin board, iPerform3D offers an interactive approach to lessons. Surprise your significant other with a serenade when he or she just suspected you were wasting time on Facebook, fulfill a New Year's resolution without leaving the house, or find a more productive form of online procrastination with today's side deal.
Reviews
Wired calls iPerform3D versatile and realistic. Harmony Central says it will speed up your learning:
- I’ve been watching lots of online guitar tutorials lately for another story I’m working on, and these use a totally different approach that lacks the warmth of an actual human being, but makes up for that in versatility and realistic motion capture. – Eliot Van Buskirk, Wired
- The animation works by modeling a real human playing the guitar. The movements are fluid and natural. But with your mouse you can zoom, track, and rotate to any angle—including behind the guitarist looking through the neck! This isn’t just technological wizardry: it speeds up the learning process. – Jon Chappell, Harmony Central
