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• Kiddie Guitars for Your Rock Star Toddler

  Lil E is only a summer away from being three. He is full of energy, songs and silly rhymes. He is way into music. I mean, booty-shaking, lyric-perfecting, cheesy-stage-smile into music. He is still devastated Gina was sent home from American Idol and he spends a good amount of his toddler-sized attention span on pulling the microphone out of the stand (well, actually...pulling the broken golf club out of the baseball tee, as it were) for his act. Sure, he's into construction, talking about poop and sports, too. But music is definitely up there, which is why I let out a little eeeee when I saw these electric guitars made wee-size just for jam out toddlers like Lil E.  BabyGadget's not too keen on amping up your kiddie instruments but I'm thrilled about the electric guitars. Necessary for pre-K musical development? Of course not. A way-cool chance for your kid to hammer out a neighbor-cringing version of Wheels on the Bus while you fill up hours of video camera tape to send Star Search your in-laws? Absolutely. The miniature electric guitars have most of the same features as big-boy guitars but are created with a built-in amp so you're not in for buying loads of extra, expensive equipment just to get your child strumming and don't have to stress about your kid jumping off yet another platform surface. Since Santa paid $25 for an adorable little orange acoustic guitar for Lil E last Christmas, I don't even think the price tag - 60 pounds from this UK online retailer -- is that hefty. After all, we've all invested that kind of cash on plastic crap our kids haven't touched since they've opened and that offers zero chance for your child to earn back the cost in playing open mic gigs around the city this summer.     Posted Jun 11 2007, 02:29 PM by Jessica Ashley (Sassafrass) with | with no comments Filed under: products, musical instruments, babygadget

• Guitars for Girls? Rock-On Little Ones, Rock-On

  My dad tried to get me to play guitar when I was almost a teenager, but his horrible taste in sad, drunken country music -- combined with a guitar neck that felt like a tree trunk in my hand -- left me feeling like I had better uses for my time. If only, I sometimes wonder, I could have gotten my skinny hands around that thing, maybe I could have been good. Maybe I could have been a contender. Or at least more fun at high school parties. So it was with great joy that I read today about a new brand of guitars made especially for young girls -- they're smaller, so kids can get their hands around them, and they're, well, prettier. The Daisy Rock Guitars come in a rainbow of colors -- and they're selling like hotcakes. Read More... Posted Mar 14 2007, 12:57 PM by Mike Adamick (Cry It Out!) with | with 4 comment(s) Filed under: activities, music, children's music, cool toys, children's products, musical instruments

• New Toy Guitar May Be Ticket on Crazy Train

  Hasbro's Tiger Electronics division previewed their new "Power Tour Guitar" at a recent media event. Hot on the heels of Guitar Hero's success, this little axe has preloaded songs that your child can play by "strumming" lighted sensors. But is it really playing the guitar? Not by a long shot. As recent Newsweek piece points out, playing Guitar Hero on the Playstation is far from learning to master the real thing, and Power Tour Guitar looks like it's not much different. Aside from that, it's a noisy electronic toy that probably eats batteries by the caseload, although it does bear a strong resemblance to a Gibson SG, giving it enough rock and roll credibility that it will probably be popular with alternadads nostalgic for their own rocker pasts. But parents who really want to foster a love of playing music might be better off with a real child-sized acoustic guitar. My four year old hasn't mastered a single barre chord in the year that she's owned hers, but she's spent countless happy hours banging away at it anyway, and the noises she makes can be any song she wants them to be--the only preloaded songs are whatever's loaded into her brain. And better yet, the noises she makes don't freak out the neighborhood dogs. Still, we'll probably give the Power Tour Guitar a look-see when it hits stores in August. The alternadad at my house is kind of jonesing to play with it.   Posted Jan 29 2007, 05:27 PM by Patti with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: children, music, toys, tiger electronics, hasbro, guitar, musical instruments