Hey All,

  I've been thinking of getting a Fretlight to help with the learning process. I plan to mostly use it to practice scales, chords and such and then as my primary guitar for playing Rocksmith. Anyone had any experience with these and would you recommend it? Sweetwater has them on sale for $399 through the end of the year, plus they throw in a free copy of GuitarPro 6(Fretlight ready), and their dual foot switch. This is the one I am looking to get:

 

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/FG521SB

 

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!

No idea. The idea of those guitars seems pretty cool, but I guess my main question is of the quality of the guitar itself. My gut says they won't be built that good.

 

Although hard to know unless you try one out. I'd see if the neck was playable, not warped and the frets are okay, and that you can get decent string action on it. If you get one, I'd take it to a music store and pay a guitar tech set it up for you. They'll adjust the truss rod on the neck if needed, fix the notation, dress the frets if the frets are sharp (a lot of cheap guitars have sharp frets), and adjust bridge saddles, etc. 

 

After that, it should be playable. Most budget guitars aren't properly setup when they come from the factory, so you need to have someone do it for you (or do it yourself if you know how and have the equipment).

 

Guitar Pro is a handy app. I use it often for guitar tabs, so that's a nice throw-in to the bundle.

 

The lights on the fretboard may be handy, but you may outgrow it. Reading scale charts in tab on the computer or tablet is pretty easy, as well as chords. You can just buy Guitar Pro on it's own for reading and playing tabs. After awhile, you won't really be looking at your fretboard anymore as you get better.

 

I'd personally lean toward getting a decent guitar and get traditional in-person guitar lessons from someone. You can get a way better guitar for $400 than the Fretlight in terms of build quality. I recently tried out a Fender Modern Player Telecaster Plus at Guitar Center that felt and played great and I was shocked to see it priced at $399. A real Fender, not a Squire. It's made in China but by the same factory that built the popular Classic Vibe Squire Stratocaster and Telecasters. These Squire Classic Vibes are great, too, if you want more vintage style guitar. Even though it's a Squire, they rock. The Modern Player offers more versatility (humbucker with coil tapping switch, two single coil pickups, etc). Even though I have some expensive guitars, I'm tempted to buy one of them.

 

Anyway, while I'm not a master guitar player, I did teach a lot of people while I was at college, and that first 3 months is critical in learning a guitar.  That's when most people quit but if you have a teacher, it can keep you motivated.

 

Unless you sure you are good at self-learning on your own, then I'd suggest spending the money on a good budget guitar and get some lessons. Having someone early on correct your bad mistakes can be huge. Even if you just take lessons for a short while, then continuing on your own via DVD or online guitar lesson sites, I'd say that's better.

 

Besides those two Fender line of guitars, I'd also look at PRS SE, Sterling Music Man for other good quality budget guitars. Past 10 years, the budget guitar quality has gone up a lot.

You can get a way better guitar for $400 than the Fretlight in terms of build quality. +1

(below comments gives the quality of the guitar as Very nice quality)

 

After awhile, you won't really be looking at your fretboard anymore as you get better. +1

 

(Just play more on RS, "quickly" by ear you will ear when you're not on the good fret case).

@@fenrirwulf

I currently have the tele style Fretlight model (black with cream banding) and I like it very much.  Very nice quality.  Good tuners, and easy DIY adjustments.  Only downside with the tele and strats Fretlights that I have owned is that like almost any other single coil guitar you are going to get pickup noise.  You can minimize this on the Fretlight by shielding the cavity and properly grounding the bridge.  It's not hard to shield and ground a guitar if you have some basic mechanical skills.  Just Google it.

 

A copy of GP6 Fretlight Ready software and a foot switch could set you back around $100, so the price may not be as bad as first thought.  You may end up buying these anyhow, even if you don't get a Fretlight.  If you want the guitar cheaper look on Ebay for a used one or backlot issue.  Just make sure all the LEDs work if you get one of these.

 

I really enjoy watching my Fretlight sit in the guitar stand as it plays along (lights up) to a song with the GP6 software.  Very cool.

 

EDIT:  Forgot mention foot switch feature.  The Fretlight foot switch can also be used to control GP6 Fretlight software.  Start and stop the song, skip bars, forward, reverse.  Very customizable link between foot switch and software.

I got a strat style Fretlight a few years ago, still play it  with GP6 and sometimes when playing RS. It's actually great to help figure things out. Match it with GP6 and the Rocksmith to TAB converter that is posted someplace here, and it is a very useful tool for learning a song.

I personally have a hard time reading the note highway in RS, just not use to the "tab" coming at me. So I import the song to GP6 from RS and learn the harder parts that way. Combine that with the Fretlight and it's the best and fastest way to get riffs down!

 

As far as the quality of the guitar. It's really not that bad. Is it a high end ax that you want to shred with on stage...No, but it's a great guitar to help you learn. Be it Scales in a Mode you don't know or Chords you don't know it just helps the learning curve. That's really what this guitar is designed for.

 

Really wish there was a way to have RS work in combo with the Fretlight. I think cozy1 was working on something for that. 

@@cozy1...any progress on that front?

 

After awhile, you won't really be looking at your fretboard anymore as you get better. +1

 

(Just play more on RS, "quickly" by ear you will ear when you're not on the good fret case).

 

I have not seen the guitar to comment, but agree with Fracks 2nd point, in my experience after getting a few varied songs under my belt on rocksmith, you'll soon realise how little you actually look at the fretboard, it just sort of becomes instinct

@ChalkPhoto

Interface for RS to Fretlight is still under investigation.  I know what needs to be done now I need to figure out how to do it.

Very cool! Thanks everyone for the input. I plan to get it for X-mas, so it will become a useful tool while I learn.

@ cozy1

be more than glad to help out but i know nothing about writing code. I'm have more of  a marketing photo background!

Really think that RS and a Fretlight combo would be a top notch learning tool for guitar. Fretlight/GP6 combo is good but just lacks that "fun" factor that RS could bring to learning.

@@ChalkPhoto  Thanks for offer and moral support.  I need help from a someone who understands how data can be extracted/intercepted in real time.  A real debugging Sherpa.  I will keep you in mind if I ever need a tester.

Just ordered mine on Friday and it should be here in a day or two. Looking forward to it! Cozy1, I really hope you can figure it out, that would be an awesome tool to have!